Wingfoiling
GWA Wingfoil World Cup 2024 – Dakhla (MAR)
Spaniard Moreno and American Berzolla win second stop in spectacular Wave discipline
In the men’s final, Berzolla comes out firing from the start, hitting huge scores of 9.73 and 9.23, bringing his total to 18.96 points out of a possible 20 for his two counting scores. His rival from Maui’s North Shore, Otis Buckingham (USA), does his best to stay in touch, putting up some big wave scores, but it is not quite enough in the end, with a total score of 16.50 points. Great Britain’s 14-year-old Leon Schiel, the youngest rider in Dakhla, goes up against Vinnicius Martins from Brazil in the Mini Final. It is a very tight outing, but the youngster from Great Britain prevails in the end, claiming 3rd place with a margin of 2.04 points.
On the women’s side, it is a close affair between Bowien van der Linden (NED) and Spain’s Elena Moreno. Moreno starts off slowly and trails before punching out a big wave (8.40 points) that helps her secure the win. Van der Linden opens strongly with solid scores above 6 each but cannot quite keep up with Moreno. The second Spaniard on the podium, Nia Surdiaz, wins the Mini Final versus Francesca Maini from Great Britain with a small difference of just over a point.
GWA Big Air Wingfoil World Championships Gran Canaria 2024
Suardiaz and MacDonald are world champions taking a new discipline to new heights in one of the closest finals in GWA history
“It’s impressive how much the level has changed since last year,” said MacDonald, who won the GWA Surf-Freestyle World Championship 2023 title. “After the first double, I knew I could do it and things were easier after that.” The eight riders wrapped in their country flags stood for the final photos on the sun-beaten, rocky shores of Salinas de Tenefé and ushered in a new era for Big Air competition. All the riders in the GWA Big Air Wingfoil World Championships Gran Canaria 2024 are fully switched on to the new discipline and judging by how much higher and further they went this year, there’s much more progression left for 2025