Report from Day Eleven – Saquarema, Brazil
- Spain’s Nia Suardiaz adds a wave discipline win to her growing haul of honors
- The 2022 Surf-Freestyle World Champion, Malo Guénolé, secures the victory at his first wave competition
- The grand finale of the wave discipline will take place in Dakhla this September, where the World Champions will be crowned
On Day 11, everything came together perfectly. The wind and waves greeted wingfoilers early in the morning, marking the exciting final day of the Copa Kitley GWA Wingfoil World Cup Rio.
A perfect meter-high swell and 15 to 20 knots of wind awaited the women’s finals, where Spanish youngster Nia Suardiaz triumphed against veteran Moona Whyte in the thrilling final. Nia Suardiaz said, “I’m super-happy to have won this competition. I’ve been training a bit since Cape Verde, and the conditions here were super-good. We had some nice swells and good wind. I want to become World Champion in Surf-Freestyle and FreeFly-Slalom really badly, so I didn’t expect the win here.”
On the men’s side, it all boiled down to a showdown between two young riders – 2022 Surf-Freestyle World Champion Malo Guénolé and Hawaiian, Cash Berzolla, who competed for the second time on the tour. Malo emerged victorious, stating, “It’s my first wave event ever. I’m pretty stoked because the conditions are feeling like back at home. The waves are my favorite thing in wingfoiling because I come from surfing. So, yes, over the moon.”
Now, everything hinges on the upcoming wave event in Dakhla, scheduled from September 22nd to October 1st, where we’ll crown the Wave discipline World Champions.
COPA KITLEY GWA WINGFOIL WORLD CUP RIO RESULTS
Women
1 Nia Suardiaz (ESP)
2 Moona Whyte (USA)
3 Bowien van der Linden (NED)
4 Rocio Reigert (ARG)
Men
1 Malo Guénolé (FRA)
2 Cash Berzolla (USA)
3 Hugo Marin (FRA)
4 Tom Auber (FRA)
Photos: Svetlana Romantsova