WOMEN’S ELIMINATIONS 8-14
The athletes had a second early start on day five of the competition to take advantage of the 8-15 knots of cross offshore breezes blowing over Hvide Sande’s beautiful dunes just after dawn.
Nia Suardiaz clinched her second world title in less than a week when she won the FreeFly-Slalom discipline at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Denmark in Hvide Sande which gave her the coveted crown.
The remarkable 16-year-old athlete was so dominant she has won four of the five FreeFly-Slalom stops on this year’s GWA Wingfoil World Tour. Barely four days ago she won the Surf-Freestyle contest in Hvide Sande, which gave her the world title even with two world tour stops remaining.
“It feels really good to be world champion in both disciplines, FreeFly-Slalom and Surf-Freestyle,” said Suardiaz, as she came to the beach. “I didn’t really think that would be possible a year ago. But this year I was super-motivated. I’m so excited to win both of them. I’m so happy.”
The battles in the women’s division were tight. The fight for the second podium could hardly have been closer. French team mates Kylie Belloeuvre and Orane Ceris constantly swapped places and sit just a few points apart on the leaderboard. Belloeuvre was happy with her second spot.
MEN’S ELIMINATIONS 6-10
The course laid by the race director was a mirror image of the first day’s track. The 10-leg course, which featured a triangle with an upwind section and pump track, was designed to favour “regular” riders.
Julien Rattotti, the GWA Big Air World Champion, cemented his third place in the standings with a first in one round and a clutch of consistently highly-placed finishes that give him a good chance of a podium finish.
Titouan Galea who was leading overnight lost the lead. In one important heat, he had a terrible crash at the starting line with his closest competitor, Francesco Cappuzzo. This made both of them fall back.
On count-backs Cappuzzo sits top of the leaderboard thanks to marginally better scores from previous rounds than his rival. The battle could have not been more thrilling and the riders are ready to battle it out, though the wind forecast looks difficult for competition today.
“As we’ve said since the beginning of the year, it’s going to be really tight,” said Cappuzzo. “Basically we’re close in everything, and [the title is] going to come down to the last event. I really enjoyed it. It was a really good day.”
Read all about Day 5 here
