In the surf freestyle discipline, the World Tour is increasingly developing into a neck-and-neck race between Paula Novotna and German-Spanish rider Nia Suardiaz. On the very first day of the Wingfoil World Cup Lanzarote, Prague-born Novotna seized the opportunity and won her second event on this year's tour.
The positive trend towards growing fields of participants also continued on Lanzarote - 48 men and women came to register on the first day, although the majority of the field was still made up of men. The women's contest was dominated by the duel between Suardiaz and Novotna. Suardiaz had won the first event of the year in Leucate, Novotna the second at Lake Silvaplana. The final on Lanzarote was characterised by numerous lead changes and a noticeable increase in the riding level - the first backflips have not (quite) been landed yet, but not much time will pass before that happens.
In the end, the pendulum swung very slightly in Paula Novotna's favour at the Wingfoil World Cup Lanzarote, with the final result being 23.50 to 21.40 points. This meant that Novotna drew level with Suardiaz in the World Cup points standings ( HERE go to the ranking).
The small final for third place was once again an all-French affair - Orane Ceris and Flora Artzner faced each other here. The first landed backflip in a women's heat was also in the air in this heat, but neither of the two rivals was able to land it cleanly. In the end, the fluid wave rides and solidly landed frontside 360s tipped the scales in favour of Flora Artzner, who ultimately won clearly with 17.28 points against Ceris (13 points) and consolidated third place in the world championship standings.
As the wind and waves were still firing, the men's contest started immediately after the women's award ceremony. With almost 20 knots of wind and some good waves, the best action was on offer from Heat 1 onwards. In 12-minute heats, the three best tricks and the best wave ride were to be included in the ranking. At the Wingfoil World Cup Lanzarote, the trend that the field of riders is one big surprise bag is clearly continuing: no established rider should be too sure of finishing the heat as the winner in the face of a supposedly unknown opponent - the performance of local Jeremy Burlando, who secured the highest score in round 1 with 26.46 points, was a good example of this.
Here's the highlight clip:
The weather forecast promises more action in the coming days. We will report on a daily basis. Stay tuned!
