Gerard and Suardiaz fêted as they take wins at groundbreaking indoor world cup during boot Düsseldorf show
boot GWA Indoor Wingfoil World Cup Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf | 17-19 January, 2025
The first GWA Indoor Wingfoil World Cup featured at the leading international trade show, boot Düsseldorf, Germany, opened the season with a bang as the world’s best riders wowed the crowds around the XXL pool with their insane skill.
The special invitational event was won by two teenagers, multiple world champion, Spain’s Nia Suardiaz, and France’s Axel Gerard, who clocked the fastest times of the three-lap course in the finals.
Sixteen-year-old Gerard, who has landed podium places at numerous other GWA events in various disciplines in the past year, just got the better of Switzerland’s Balz Müller right at the end of the contest.
Fans who gathered at Hall 17 of the trade show gave the riders from all over the world a rock star welcome. The crowds who witnessed the novel event were among the 200,000 visitors who will attend during the nine-day show.
Some of the athletes also competed in the inaugural event of the SFT Surf Foil World Tour, a new non-wind driven pump-foil competition which launched at boot Düsseldorf ahead of stops around the world this year in its five disciplines.
Time-trial slalom
The new Indoor Wingfoil World Cup played out over three days in the 60×20 metres pool. The first day was given over to training to give the athletes a chance to get their game dialled, using a wake cable to tow them up to foiling speed, with huge fans along one side of the pool powering their wings.
The first day of competition ranked the athletes after their best times over two laps of the pool, with the 12 top riders battling for a share of the €5,000 prize purse on offer in the finals.
The closing day of the competition saw the 10 men and two women try to get the upper hand as the carved their way around the two buoys over three, fast and furious laps of the pool.
Best times on final day
1 Axel Gerard 40.98 secs
2 Balz Müller 42.19 secs
3 Benjamin May 44.02 secs
4 Alan Fedit 45.45 secs
5 Michael Naef 45.90 secs
6 Titouan Galea 46.16 secs
7 Riccardo Zorzi 47.12 secs
8 Hubert Christahl 47.32 secs
9 Ancor Sosa 48.45 secs
10 Nia Suardiaz 49.40 secs
11 Finn Flügel 52.97 secs
12 Viola Lippitsch 58.10 secs
Local favourite
Axel Gerard got the win when he got around the track more than a second faster than Balz Müller, a regular at the boot Düsseldorf who had seemed on course for the world cup victory.
Local favourite, Benjamin May, was the highest placed German in third place, just ahead of France’s Alan Fedit and Michael Naef, of Switzerland.
In the women’s rankings, Nia Suardiaz’s experience was telling and she got the better of Austria’s Viola Lippitsch. France’s Orane Ceris took the third podium place, capping three days of action at the first boot GWA Indoor Wingfoil World Cup.
GWA Indoor Wingfoil World Cup Düsseldorf 2025 results
Men
1 Axel Gerard (FRA)
2 Balz Müller (SUI)
3 Benjamin May (GER)
Women
1 Nia Suardiaz (ESP)
2 Viola Lippitsch (AUT)
3 Orane Ceris (FRA)
words: Ian MacKinnon
images: boot Düsseldorf
