The World Cup in Cauipe, Brazil, will be the last showcase for the wingfoil pros this year before the 2024 season continues with a packed tour calendar after a short winter break. As the freestyle world championship titles have already been awarded - Chris MacDonald and Nia Suardiaz have already been crowned winners - one might assume that the air is a little out. Nevertheless, a look at the list of participants shows that many top stars will be competing in Brazil. Apart from that, there are also title decisions to be made in the FreeFly Slalom discipline.
The aim of the first day was to focus on the surf freestyle discipline among the 32 men who had registered. The two best waves surfed and the two best freestyle tricks were taken into account in the scoring, meaning that the riders could collect a maximum of 40 points per heat. "For the freestyle tricks, we look at height and technical difficulty when judging. As far as the waves are concerned, the choice of wave plays a decisive role in their evaluation," explained head judge Alvaro Oneiva.
Wanted - tricksters with surfing skills
Malo Guenole (FRA) achieved the highest score of the day during his showdown in Round 3. The 2022 Surf Freestyle World Champion thrives in a mixed format like this as the conditions here are very similar to his hometown in the north of France. As a rider who has particular strengths in riding waves, his two wave scores were 7.10 and 7.80 and his freestyle tricks also scored highly: He followed up a Radiculo 7 with 8.83 points with the new trick called Backmobe (7.67 points), setting an impressive durft mark.
His Gong team-mate Bastien Escofet and water sports legend Balz Müller also performed superbly. Both scored over 25 points in their respective heats. Müller, who has not competed at every tour stop this year, showed his usual combination of innovation, risk and technique - always willing to try out new moves and push the boundaries of wingfoiling - Balz also made it through to round five. However, victory at the World Cup Cauipe will once again only go to world champion Chris MacDonald. MacDonald, who can surf without pressure after his secure title win, also put in another impressive performance in the first rounds.
The first four rounds of the men's event were completed on the first day of the event. As the wind forecast looks good, there should be more action in the coming days. Then the women and the slalom protagonists are sure to get in on the action. We will keep you up to date.
The highlights of day 1 at the World Cup Cauipe
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Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
