Report from Day Nine – Saquarema, Brazil
Photos: Svetlana Romantsova
- On day nine, we moved to a location that had more suitable conditions for wingfoilers
- We reached the women’s finals, where you’ll see Moona Whyte go against Nia Suardiaz
- On Wednesday, the wingfoilers are released
The Copa Kitley GWA Wingfoil World Cup Rio is the second wave event out of three. Moona Whyte won the first stop in Cape Verde’s Ponta Preta against Nia Suardiaz. Whyte, who also won the Copa Kitley Kite-Surf World Cup, aims to repeat her success against the 16-year-old Suardiaz. However, Suardiaz has surprised by winning Surf-Freestyle and FreeFly-Slalom events this year.
Yesterday, Suardiaz started strong by defeating former world champion Bowien van der Linden in the first heat. Meanwhile, Whyte faced Rocio Reigert and Laeticia Nakiri. With her experience, Whyte easily outperformed her opponents. In a later round, Nakiri faced Van der Linden, who had another chance to advance. Van der Linden progressed to the semi-final against Whyte.
In challenging conditions with knee-to-waist high waves and 12 to 13 knots of breeze, both competitors scored reasonably well in a 14-minute heat. Whyte narrowly won by 0.07 points, securing her spot in the final. Van der Linden took her loss gracefully.
In the other semi-final there were no close calls. Suardiaz comprehensively overhauled the Argentinian Reigert with a heat total of 9.44 that sees her clear into the final.
But the wind refused to play ball and dropped shortly afterwards. The mouth-watering prospect of another match-up between Suardiaz and Whyte will have to wait for the coming days. Join us here for all the action when we return.
