World Cup: Mondial du Vent starts in Leucate - with all the top stars

After Tauranga/New Zealand and the epic Wave World Cup in Cape Verde The event in Leucate is already the third encounter of the wingfoil elite this season. After numerous top stars skipped the tour opener in New Zealand due to the extremely high travelling costs, Leucate should be the first real test of strength - all the stars will be at the start.

Two disciplines are once again on the programme: The new FreeFly Slalom is expected to be another exciting race. After a flying start, there will be several jibes and a pump corridor in which the riders only have to pump over the foil with a neutral wing position. In addition, the freestyle discipline will once again be all about the most radical tricks and the greatest creativity.

Suardiaz with points cushion

The women's World Cup Leucate will be the first meeting of the top female athletes.

Flora Artzner, the reigning world champion in slalom, will be competing in her home event for the first time; she had also planned the opening event in New Zealand as a scratch result. The same applies to Czech Paula Novotna, 2022 World Champion in freestyle. Both are reliant on a good result to prevent Nia Suardiaz's lead from becoming too big. Suardiaz won both disciplines in New Zealand and will therefore start with plenty of tailwind and a points cushion in France. A total of 15 participants will be competing in the freestyle and 20 in the FreeFly slalom.

World Cup Leucate with big names

The first real showdown is also expected in the men's event. It is clear that the traditionally strong French riders in particular have big plans - in freestyle, the brothers Julien and Camille Bouyer and world champion Malo Guénolé are likely to be the main contenders. However, there are also numerous other top international riders at the start who have already won individual events or finished on the podium in the past.

The US American Chris MacDonald, Riccardo Zorzi and the crazy Swiss rider Balz Müller in particular are always good for top placings. The same applies to Gollito Estredo, who dramatically lost the World Championship title to Malo Guénolé at the last event in Brazil in 2022, which he thought was almost certain.

The wind forecast promises plenty of action, especially for the first two days, but after that it looks a little less promising. To get you in the mood, here's the event teaser, then you can read the latest reports from the Wingfoil World Cup Leucate here on the website.