Spain's Elena Moreno caused a real surprise on Sal when she beat the top favourite and reigning world champion (USA) to secure her first victory on the GWA Wingfoil World Tour. In the semi-finals, she first beat shooting star Nia Suardiaz, and in the final against Whyte she didn't let a heavy wipeout and a torn wing stop her and ultimately won over the judges the most: "It's a privilege to be able to surf in these conditions"said Moreno afterwards. "There were a lot of crashes and it wasn't always easy to keep my nerves under control out there, an experience I'll never forget."
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Guénolé in the flow, Berzolla innovative
Frenchman Malo Guénolé won the men's race in Ponta Preta. Last year, Guénolé had to miss out on Sal as he was busy with his final exams at school: "Last year it was very frustrating for me not to be able to be here"Guénolé said afterwards. "I would never have dreamed that the conditions would be even better this year." Guénolé impressed the judges above all with his fearless approach, stringing together fluid and very vertical turns to book his ticket to the final.
This was a repeat of the final at the last wave event in Morocco. Judging by his performance in the previous rounds, Cash Berzolla even went into the final as the favourite, as he had managed to conjure up several 10-point waves on the scoresheets along the way and knocked a number of big names out of the way with Benoit Carpentier in the quarter-finals and the Maui-based Canadian Finn Spencer in the semi-finals.
The final between Guénolé and Berzolla then turned into a neck-and-neck race, with just 0.24 points separating the two friends in the end. Guénolé repeatedly got frighteningly close to the breaking part of the wave, pulled off fluid roundhouse turns on the smoothly blown walls and also incorporated small airs. Berzolla countered this with lipslides and 360s on the wave, but also paid for his urge to innovate with a hard trip onto the rocks, which cost him a lot of time. The fact that he let the wing fly at the end and only tried to go into the tube with the board rounded off an epic finale. Berzolla: "When you're in the final, you want to win. But I had the opportunity to surf Ponta Preta today on my own with my mate and in perfect conditions, that's as good as it gets. I'm definitely taking home a few bumps and bruises, but I hope it was fun to watch the action."
Did you miss the action? Then you can watch all the heats again in the live recording here:
The wave specialists won't be back in action until the end of September in Morocco, while for the other riders the season enters the next round at the beginning of April in Leucatte, France, with freestyle and slalom. We will of course also be reporting from there for you.
Wingfoil World Cup Ponta Preta 2024 - the results
Gents
- Malo Guénolé (FRA)
- Cash Berzolla (USA)
- Nathan van Vuuren (RSA)
- Finn Spencer (CAN)
Ladies
- Elena Moreno (ESP)
- Moona Whyte (USA)
- Nia Suardiaz (ESP)
- Bowien van der Linden (NED)
You can find the complete results and the tour plan HERE.
