GWA Wingfoil FreeFly-Slalom World Cup

Francesco Cappuzzo and Nia Suardiaz win the FreeFly-Slalom titles on Fuerteventura

July 21, 2024 - Excitement at its best - the new regatta format made for thrilling finals. The battle for the limited places in the final was particularly exciting in the men's event. Only the best eight riders competed and there were some extremely close decisions.

Gollito Estredo failed by a hair's breadth at the finish in the second quarter-final and had to end the title race prematurely with a seventh place.

Francesco Cappuzzo and Oscar Leclair had already qualified directly for the final with first and second place in the four races of the qualifying round.

The two Frenchmen Julien Rattotti and Bastien Escofet made it through to the final by winning their heat in the two quarter finals.

And that brings us to the special feature of the new regatta format: as the best rider in the four qualifying rounds, Francesco Cappuzzo had secured a so-called 'bullet'. Bullet means nothing other than a race win.

And race wins are what counts in the final, as the champion is the rider who achieves two race wins (bullets) first.

Francesco Cappuzzo started into the first final with a bullet in his pocket, but made a mistake at the end of the freefly section and was then unable to catch up with the other three. Julien Rattotti was the first to cross the finish line and also received a bullet for his efforts.

And the situation in the next race suddenly appeared different. In the second final round, Julien Rattotti could have become champion with another heat win. Or Francesco Cappuzzo.

The Italian kept his nerve, shot past his rival downwind after the start and never relinquished the lead until the finish. Bullet number two made Francesco Cappuzzo the winner of the freefly slalom discipline at this year's GWA Wingfoil World Cup on Fuerteventura.

Julien Rattotti came second with a bullet in his pocket. Bastien Escofet secured third place on the podium ahead of Oscar Leclair. Neither rider had collected a bullet yet, so the result of the last final run was decisive.

When asked how the first final went, Francesco Cappuzzo replied: “I didn't feel comfortable from the start of this run. I had missed my timing a bit and was then running in third position. To get to the front, I wanted to turn earlier on the downwind leg, but that didn't work out in the end. I then abandoned the first final, I had never done anything like that before.”

The Italian, who is currently well on his way to the world title, continued: “I had to regroup mentally. I then told myself that I was here to win, blocked out everything else and continued to follow my plan - and it worked perfectly, I led from the start to the finish.”

Nia Suardiaz's victory in the women's race was a clear-cut affair. She won all the classifications in qualifying and also achieved a start-to-finish victory in the final race. Two unchallenged bullets - and the title belonged to the young Spaniard. The fight for the places behind her was more exciting.

Kylie Belloeuvre had already entered the final as runner-up in the qualifying round and had to hold her own against Orane Ceris and Bowien van der Linden. She succeeded in doing so and the Frenchwoman climbed to second place on the podium.

Third place went to Bowien van der Linden, Orane Ceris crashed in the final run and finished the competition in fourth place.

Francesco Cappuzzo and Nia Suardiaz lead the FreeFly-Slalom competition after two completed race laps

July 20, 2024 - The second day of the World Cup was the first day of competition for the wingfoil racers. A downwind slalom course took them around six jibes towards the finish line.

A lot of height had to be gained on the fourth leg, as not all riders managed to round the buoys on the first attempt.

And it was precisely at this point that a second challenge awaited: Those who wanted to save a few meters by passing the buoy particularly close could catch the anchor line with the foil. At least five riders suffered this fate today.

The buoy was relatively close to a sandbank and the line ran under water at an increasingly shallow angle due to the outflowing water. This situation was eliminated during the course of the competition by moving the buoy.

The second challenge was the free-fly section, where the wing had to be kept neutral. The choppy sea caused by the strong offshore wind did not make pumping easy and some wingfoilers got out of step. This made the races particularly exciting.

At the end of the day, Francesco Cappuzzo came out on top in both final races, with a first and a second place putting the Italian in the lead in the overall standings.

Frenchman Bastien Escofet is in second place with a second and a third, followed by Gollito Estredo, who won one B final and then the second final at the end of the day.