The third day of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Leucate awaited the participants with a whopping 40 knots, with gusts whistling through the village of Viglamo in the south of France early in the morning. The judges decided to continue directly with the surf freestyle discipline. In the first rounds, the riders had seven trick attempts, three of which counted towards the final score. The riders had between ten and 20 minutes for each round, depending on how many riders were taking part in the round. How windy was it really? Most of them were travelling with wings between 1.8 and 2.2 square metres!
The men were the first on the water and battled for points in these difficult conditions. The 17-year-old Austrian Tomas Acherer scored the highest heat of the first round with 22.57 points. He continued his winning streak into the quarter-finals, where he also dominated his heat and secured a place in the semi-finals. 16-year-old Noé Cuyala (FRA) was also one of the outstanding riders of the day. In the first rounds, he impressed the spectators with perfectly executed frontside 1080s and backflip late 3: "I trained a lot in my home country of Corsica during the offseason"said Cuyala. "I focused a lot on getting consistent with the frontside 1080, one of my favourite tricks, and the backflip late 3. I'm also really enjoying the combo tricks. I hope I can make it onto the podium tomorrow."
Raising the bar
Hot on Cuyala's heels was the reigning world champion Chris MacDonald (USA). MacDonald managed to secure the highest trick score of the day with a whopping 9.33 for a perfectly executed frontside 1080. He also presented some new combos. MacDonald won his quarter-final together with Luca Vuillermet from France, who finished a close second. Both qualified for the semi-finals. Former world champion Malo Guénolé (FRA) secured his place in the semi-finals after an impressive performance in the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, he will have to show all his skills in the semi-final if he wants to take home victory at this event.
Men semi-final 1
- Axel Gerard (FRA)
- Luca Vuillermet (FRA)
- Tomas Acherer (AUT)
- Noé Cuyala (FRA)
Men semi-final 2
- Xavier Corr (ESP)
- Malo Guénolé (FRA)
- Bastien Escofet (FRA)
- Christopher MacDonald (USA)
World Cup Leucate - Suardiaz once again unstoppable
In 2023, Nia Suardiaz (ESP) came out on top in both the FreeFly Slalom and Surf Freestyle disciplines and established herself as the rider to beat among her competitors. On the first day of competition, Suardiaz once again demonstrated her superiority by securing the highest scores of the day and becoming the first woman to land a backflip to 360 combo in her quarter-final run. Spain's Mar de Arce also put in an outstanding performance in her run. On the first day of the competition, the women had to contend with gusts of up to 45 knots. However, this huge challenge did not stop them from pushing themselves to the limit and raising their level.
Women Semifinal 1
- Mar de Arce (ESP)
- Zara Maillard (SUI)
- Sofia Marchetti (ITA)
- Bowien van der Linden (NED)
Women Semifinal 2
- Christina König (GER)
- Enoha Laurent (FRA)
- Kylie Belloeuvre (FRA)
- Nia Suardiaz (ESP)
For the fourth day, even stronger winds are forecast for the semi-finals and finals of the surf freestyle disciplines before the FreeFly slalom competition begins. The skippers' meeting is scheduled for 09:00 (CET), with the first possible start at 10:00. We will report back - stay tuned!
