Copa Kitley GWA Wingfoil World Cup Brazil 2022
Taiba, Brazil: 16 – 20th November
Current discipline: Surf-Slalom courses including a pure pumping section – men’s, women’s and South American National eliminations
Judging Criteria: Winner is first across the line in a series of elimination races
Wind conditions: 20 knots (windier today)
Waves: Shorebreak
LIVETICKER DAY 5 (GMT-13) – 20 November
Read the final day Surf-Slalom report and watch the highlights here.
15.24 – MEN’S SURF-SLALOM WORLD CHAMPION CONFIRMED
1 Titouan Galea (FRA)
2 Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA)
3 Camille Bouyer (FRA)
15.20 – Women elimination 11
Artzner best start for a while – got out front. Chased down by Suardiaz.
By the end of the downwind section,Suardiaz way out front and Artzner in fourth, that’ll do.
Over the line: 1 Suardiaz, 2 Novotna, 3 Beleouvre, 4 Artzner – and should be enough for Artzner to take the title, but let’s see about protest confirmations!
15.00 – Men’s all-important 4th elimination final – Cappuzzo needs to finish 4 places ahead of Titouan to win WC – but Bouyer also in the mix, this all depends on protests and discards.
Awful start for titouan. Ghio and Tomassi out front.
Big wobble from Capuzzo early on. Galea picked up places on first tack upwind. Once again he goes widest, but more followed him.
At top mark, Ghio, Tomassi, Bouyer….
Bouyer comes out from pump track in third.
Titouan still way down. But pumping wide and making it into fourth!
And into third with three buoys to go.
Ghio wins way out front, Tomassi second, Camille third, Titouan fourth, Cappuzzo fifth. (It’s going to take a bit of working out now for the title!)
14.37 – Semi final 1 Elim 4, featuring Titouan, Francesco and Bouyer:
Very tight hustle on the start, Fedit streaked ahead then Cappuzzo and Boutyer, with Titouan in a busy section, but then cleared himself on way upwind. Once again everyone turns early on the first tack, but Titouan continues way out wide. At the top mark, Capuzzo just ahead of Galea who was in 4th. Top five all reached the pump section together. Cappuzzo and Galea halfway down the track in front, then Capuzzo lost momentum and Galea streaked off. Five riders behind him in the remaining race for top five. Cappuzzo was in second round the last buoy, but went wide and everything bunched on the line! He goes through in third, but sadly it was Bouyer who crossed the line in sixth and misses out on the final! So contenders Titouan and Francesco will battle it out in the last final of the season!
14.17 – Men’s elimination 4, heat 1 (re-run after Titouan smoked the first race that needed re-running. Cappuzzo gets another life, as he was down the pack).
In the re-run, Titouan pulled away from Cappuzzo and Bouyer after the pump section, but all three cruising in the top five to qualify for semis, with the RRD boys certainly easing off.
13.44 – End of the course changed to add an extra downwind leg finish towards the beach… men’s elimination 4 starting now
13.40 – Women’s elim 9
A clean win for Novotna, with Nia in second and Flora in third.
13.14 – Women’s elim 8 result:
Flora lying in third at the event ahead of this. Finishing in fourth overall she’ll still take the title, so as things were starting to get sticky she slipped in a big race win here, dominantly so. Spannu second. Ceris Third. Suardiaz and Novotna not where they wanted to be further down the field.
13.04 – Result from the men’s elimination 3 final
With Titouan out of it, could Bouyer and Cappuzzo gain some big points on Galea?
Ghio first, Fedit second, Cappuzzo third – what will that mean for championship? All going to come down to fourth elimination now, still the same scenario – if Titouan finishes ahead of Capuzzo, he’ll be world champ.
12.57 – All-important men’s 3rd elimination final about to begin…
12.50 – Ladies elim 7: Novotna and Artzner led up to the first buoy. Nia closed the gap big time on the downwind and then overtook Artzner on the reaching section. So Novotna first, Suardiaz second, Artzner third. If it continues like this and Flora doesn’t finish any worse than fourth overall at this event, she will still be world champion.
12.43 – Yikes! Titouan Galea has finished sixth in semi-final 2 so doesn’t qualify for the final of the third elimination! Can Cappuzzo win that final and push it to a fourth elimination for the title?
12.18 – Crucial men’s semi-finals on live now for elimination 3. If Titouan wins this elimination, he’s world champion.
11.55 – To see the latest results, from yesterday and today, scroll down on this page and click the ‘ELIMINATION 3’ tab to see the men’s current races, and the ‘ELIMINATION 7’ tab for when the women’s races begin.
11.45 – Find out the scenarios for this, the final day, of the final event of the season!
MEN’S SURF-SLALOM WORLD TITLE SCENARIOS:
1) If Titouan finishes in front of Cappuzzo in the 3rd elimination round (which is the first of today’s races) he’s the world champion.
2) If Titouan doesn’t win, it will come down to the 4th Elimination round and it all depends how Titouan, Francesco and Mathis will finish.
WOMEN’S SURF-SLALOM WORLD TITLE SCENARIOS:
1) Flora Artzner simply needs to finish in fourth position or better to become World Champion. So far she’s second at this event, so she’s still leading.
2) If Flora finishes fifth or worse here in Brazil and Nia wins, Nia would become the World Champion.
07.10 – Good morning from Taiba for the final day of competition at the Copa Kitley GWA Wingfoil World Cup Brazil! We are hoping to kick off the action on the livestream from around 11am with the climax to the Surf-Slalom championship!
Read the story of yesterday’s action and watch the highlight video here.
LIVETICKER DAY 4 (GMT-13) – 19 November
Scroll down to watch the livestream – and scroll down further for the Surf-Slalom elimination ladders
Summary of the day – read it here.
First possible start Sunday – the final day of the event – 11am.
17.00 – That’s the end of the day. Come back tomorrow for the final day to see if Titouan Galea and Flora Artzner can hold on to their leads and win the championship!
16.50 – The women’s seventh and final elimination race on the water now – click ‘elimination 7’ in the scoring tabs below for the result once done.
15.30 – To see the current Men’s results, click on the ‘Elimination two’ tab below.
15.00 – Winners of the first elimination, Titouan Galea is right where he needed to be with title contenders Camille Bouyer in 3rd and Francesco Cappuzzo in 5th. Nia Suardiaz took the women’s. Dudu Mazzacato the South American race.
Race order info:
The objective over the next two days is to do at least four elimination ladders for men and the women will perhaps achieve around nine eliminations (as each elimination for them is only a single race).
For every elimination ladder of men, it’s likely that three women’s races and two South American races will run. The focus will switch back and forth between the different fleets.
13.40 – Livestream on and heats about to begin.
Who can become the Champions? To find out about how the Surf-Slalom World Championships can be won at this final event of the season, scroll to the bottom of this feature!
Today’s Fleets:
38 men and 14 women make up today’s Surf-Slalom World Cup fleet
The GWA Wingfoil Race Class South American Championships is also running at this event, which features 7 men and 4 women.
07.30 – Good morning from Taiba where we will be switching focus from Surf-Freestyle, which finished yesterday, to the Surf-Slalom discipline. First possible start is 11am local time. The livestream will begin broadcast at 10:45am if that start time holds. More updates here as and when they come up! Set your reminder on the livestream YouTube player below.
LIVETICKER DAY 3 (GMT-13) – 18 November
Scroll down to watch the livestream
16.04 – That’s the end of the day – scroll down to see the heat ladders and more from today, on the day that Malo Guenole won the world championship, before both he and Flora Artzner went on to become the deserving event winners too, after leading the charge throughout.
16.00 – MEN’S FINAL
Malo Guenole 22.44 V Camille Bouyer 19.24
Wind averaging around 18 knots, some fun waves out there, title in the bag, Malo could finally relax after fulfilling a big challenge here.
Malo failed front side 7 attempt as he did in the semis. Camille saw that and decided to go for a front flip instead, just upwind of Malo. Importantly, he was into the lead.
Next came a front flip into the wave attempt for Malo, he’s not landed that yet at this event.
Camille fluidly ripped the waves behind, two waves back to back, arcing back and forth.
But then, as expected, Malo was up on points from a massive frontside 7… he doesn’t often fail those twice. Right after that he hooked into a steep section and cranked back and forth. Now he looked like he was having fun.
Camille then made a front flip into a wave – an amazing attempt, but the wave didn’t form up well after, so not as impressive a score as it could have been.
Half way through, six minutes to go, the score was 19.60 to 19.24 to Malo, who made another front roll attempt into a wave. This time he landed in the pocket, but he landed too deeply and up, over the falls he went.
Once again Malo showed how he could read the wave perfectly, spotting the perfect moment to punt high off a wave face for maximum height for grabbed air. Back into the critical section, he carried on and slotted a 7.47 for that. He hit 22.44 points with Camille still trailing on 19.24, but surely Bouyer could improve his lowest wave score of 4.97.
Both riders tacked out with two minutes to go, 22.44 to 19.24.
Last two minutes and only small waves, so Camille had to start going on what he could find. In the end there was nothing to improve that 4.97 score, and it finished 22.44 to 19.24 in Malo’s favour.
The new world champion and rightfully the winner of the event – Malo Guenole!
Malo: “After winning the title, it was all fun and when you have fun it’s easier to ride well. I’ve been in Brazil for three weeks, so now I think I have to go home and do school again for a bit!”
15.12 – WOMEN’S FINAL
Bowien van der Linden 14.00 V Flora Artzner 15.10
The two most fluid wave riders made the final. Bowien got off to a fast start, once again getting a freestyle move frontside 3 in early.
Waves few and far between in this later evening session, but Bowien was finding the scores. She led with both riders up to three scores, 14.00 to 11.77.
Flora started to get to work displaying the clean mechanics that we’ve seen of her so far. Even on a dirty wave she managed to pump her way along it and maximise its distance and, with that, and with big smiles on her face, she over took Bo. 14.80 to 14.00.
Flora was back to where she’s been all event; in front. She had two attempts at furthering her 5.0 score for a frontside 3 – knowing that she’s capable of scoring better – but they didn’t pay off.
Bowien worked the next wave nicely but got the wing caught in the wave. She was ripped from the board and wiped out. When the white water cleared Bowien appeared with a big hole in her wing! Flora was already ahead, could Bowien get another wing?
Flora meanwhile caught wave after wave trying to improve her scores.
Bowien was still changing her wing, but then Flora was also on the shorebreak on the inside. Flora made it to her feet first, 90 seconds remaining, 15.10 to Flora, 14.00 to Bowien. Bowien would only have time to hit a kicker for a trick… but a huge set came through and sadly was wiped out.
This wasn’t the best heat for either rider, but in the end the event’s best wave rider came through a big battle here, and takes her first Surf-Freestyle win in this her maiden season!
Flora: “I feel very happy. It’s the first time i’m competing in proper waves. I’m used to training in the Mediterranean. I think maybe I don’t realise that I’ve won! I want to ride bigger waves. Even inbetween my heats I was on the water, riding all day. I was watching the guys and how fluid they are, and I want to do the same.”
14.30 – Men’s semi-final 2 result:
Maxime Chabloz 17.83 V Camille Bouyer 22.30
Super super tight here with a very busy heat. Both these guys good in waves and freestyle, but Maxime continued to exhibit very aggressive wave riding turns, with his surf style top to bottom carving… clearly mixed with his ferocious competitive natural nature.
Every time he he tacked out it was like the waves were coming to Maxime… but crucially the individual wave scores were in Camille’s favour, maximising his chances.
Five minute left and Camille was still left to register a third score, meanwhile Maxime stomped a front flip.
Moments later Camille stomped his own – finally a third score for him… and he overtook Maxime and became the third rider to break 20 points. 20.87 to 17.83.
In the last two minutes Camille was off his board on the inside as Maxime tried an innovative toeside 3 into the wave to start his wave ride, then pumping the wave on the inside but the wave lost energy. No improvement to his score.
In the last minute Camille had another superb wave, he made it three good 7 points scores making up his heat score, the highest heat score on these semis and he’s through to meet Malo in the final!
Camille: “I’m so happy that finally we have waves at an event, and this is my first final of the year!
14.10 – Men’s Semi-final 01 result and New World Champion declared!
Titouan Galea 20.33 V Malo Guenole 21.90 (WC!)
Huge back and forth carves opened the heat for Titouan in the first minute, all the way to the inside, risking the white wash early on but no problem – hecarved off the back and slotted a big 7.10 wave score to begin.
Malo decided to open up with a big frontside 7 attempt, but not quite getting the last bit of rotation for the landing.
It was all about Titouan in the early moments, but then Malo stomped a big frontflip. He could have been shaken by the first crash in this most important heat. Titouan answered with his own nice flip moments later, just .3 less than Malo’s.
Malo was soon cracking out the big wave hacks of his own, working that backside style of his, up and down all the way to the inside. Big scores were already loading in the heat board, but Titouan was ahead after one wave each and one trick: 14.40 to 14.00
Gollito meanwhile was laying on the beach, quietly watching on. But Malo was now focused… his backside top turn is so good when combined with airs at the top he’s on another level. Finishing that air’d wave off with front side 3 in the wave to finish! Boom into the lead her went.
Crucially when Titouan’s third score dropped things tightened up massively, but Malo was still infront as both riders went past 20 points: 21.90 / 20.33. Malo had a higher heat score yesterday, but this was already Titouan’s best performance. Did he have more to give?
Four minutes to go, Titouan again picked out a clean face, working, working, working those turns, but not quite the best set wave.
Malo’s connection with the wave was on point, shredding all the way to the inside. He expertly tacked off the back in the shallows, maintained glide over the coming white water and was safe. The camera flicked to Gollito on the beach who puffed his cheeks as he looked at the scores on his phone.
The situation was still close in the last 90 seconds. Malo found another wave that yet again formed steeply on the inside and, although the early part of the wave was average, he popped one of the biggest airs of the event off the lip and landed it.
Titouan was next onto another clean wave, a solid frontside air, but he didn’t make the landing and lost his board.
The final seconds ticked by with Titouan dragging to his board as Malo rode out. Titouan tried his best, making his best heat score of the event, but couldn’t stop his young French counterpart who has not taken his foot off the gas at this event, with yet another super high heat score of 21.90, for a front flip and two excellent wave rides.
17 year old French rider, Malo Guenole, is the new Surf-Slalom World Champion!
Malo: “The heat was pretty stressful because Titouan is one of the best competitors and I look up to him a lot. I’m very happy to beat him and get the world title. A special thanks especially to my mom and dad for helping me and making me the boy I am now. Without my dad and Gong I wouldn’t be here.”
13.49 – Men’s semi-final o1 and championship decider on the water now!
13.48 – Women’s Semi-final 02 result:
Paula Novotna 15.67 V Bowien van der Linden 12.03
An early frontside 3 from Paula got a very good freestyle score of 6.50.
Both these women are experienced competitors and were working to find lots of turns on the wave faces. Bowien’s style is very relaxed in the wave and with just two wave scores on her card she overtook Paula who already had three scores. Wave riding is all important at this event and Paula had two low scores in that deparment.
Bowien then extended her lead once she put a freestyle score on the board – a solid 5.0 for a frontside 3. 15.67 v 9.44 and the scores stayed locked like that for a while with Paula unable to hook into a big set wave.
Three minutes left Paula found one and made use of a long section, holding speed well, but perhaps without the combination turns as shown by Bowien. A 3.0 score certainly improved her 1.17 wave score. 15.67 to 12.03 – things were tightening up, but Paula needed to improve all her three scores to take the win with two minutes to go and couldn’t make it.
13.36 – Women’s Semi-final 01 result:
Flora Artzner 15.87 V Nia Suardiaz 11.90
This would be a big heat, third and second ranked riders up against each other!
Nia powered off to a great start with a frontside 3 and then two quick waves, because she knew that Flora has been the standout wave rider of this event so far.
Once again Flora remained calm and collected throughout this event and soon had her own frontside 3 on the way in.
Suddenly it was more or less all square with 8 minutes to go: 11.36 / 11.87 to Nia.
As Flora made the wave of the heat so far with some excellent pumping, Nia then had one of the biggest wipeouts of the day, going over the falls and losing her board. Flora’s wave score dropped and she took the lead as Nia somehow managed to quickly get her board back.
The crash would have taken a lot out of Nia, but still she battled on, but Flora continued to eek out more points with more top to bottom, long, carving turns in her now very recognisable, fluid surf style.
In the last minutes Flora was caught in the shorebreak, giving Nia the remainder of the heat to herself, but the Spaniard couldn’t catch up with no good set waves on offer.
Flora: “I really enjoyed it. It was really fun, I struggled a few times because I tried to ride the waves closer. I ended up in the washing machine but I enjoyed it. I just want to win because I want another heat because I’m enjoying being on the water so much!”
13.20 – Into the semi final stages! Women up first, then the men’s semis.
Flora Artzner V Nia Suardiaz
Bowien van der Linden V Paula Novotna
12.22 – Women’s quarter finals taking to the water now:
Flora Artzner V Rocio Reigert
Roberta Sullini V Nia Suardiaz
Bowien van der Linden V Kylie Belloeuvre
Paula Novotna V Lidiane Sanders
11.24 – Women’s round two is now on the water and will be followed by women’s round three before the men’s and women’s semi-finals.
11.22 – Men’s Quarter Final (R5) summary:
Excellent wave riding in the first heat saw Titouan Galea prevail over his F-One team mate, Hugo Marin. Following that was the first of two massive heats for championship hopeful, Malo Guenole – read more about that below on this ticker. Camille Bouyer scored a better wave riding average against solid charger Bastian Escofet before Maxime Chabloz exerted his greater competition experience to maximise his freestyle and wave scores against Clement Hamon.
MEN’S SEMI-FINALS TO COME:
Titouan Galea V Malo Guenole (if Malo wins that, he’s world champion. If he loses, Gollito is champ!)
Camille Bouyer V Maxime Chabloz
10.50 – World Championship update – Malo Guenole wins his quarter final (round 5) against Clement Roseyro. After the heat closed up at the halfway point when Clement had clawed back points, Malo managed to hook into a wave that built consistently. He worked it for all its worth, ending with a backside air, earning the second highest single wave score of the event so far (8.33 – he got a 9 yesterday!) and once again he broke beyond a 20 point heat score, which he’s now done three times at this event and is the only rider to do so. One more heat to win for him in the semis, and that will be enough to earn him the world championship. If he loses his next heat, Gollito is champion.
10.15 – Men’s round 5 is on! Scroll down for the livestream and heat ladders, scores and eliminations.
09.54 – Expected schedule for today:
Men Round 5
Women Round 2
Women Round 3
Women Semi
Men Semi
Women Mini-final
Men Mini-final
Women Final
Men Final
09.45 – Standby – the livestream will be running from 09.55am, with first possible start of action: 10.15am.
07.20 – Good morning from Taiba, where today we hope to reach the climax of both the men’s and women’s Surf-Freestyle competitions. First possible start is set for 10am local time. Scroll down to set a reminder on the livestream below.
The men’s title is still to be decided, with French rider Malo Guenole hoping to make it into the top two at this event to overtake Gollito Estredo for the championship (after the Venezuelan went out of this event yesterday). On the women’s side Paula Novotna is already World Champion, but everyone wants to end the season on a high, especially in waves!
LIVETICKER DAY 2 (GMT-13) – 17 November
Scroll down to watch the LIVESTREAM
17.15 Women’s round one complete – that’s the end of the day here in Taiba. First possible start time tomorrow (Friday) is 10am
Flora Artzner got the women off to a flying start with some beautifully fluid wave rides, linking turns across almost the full competition zone, before Nia Suardiaz nailed the highest heat score of 19.07 in the following heat. And she says she’s not used to riding waves!
Bowien van der Linden also won before Paula Novotna – who is already world champion – cruised through her heat to close out another amazing day of action here in Taiba.
14.15 – Women’s round one is now on the water – and heats will finish at the end of that round.
14.08 – World Championship contender update: tour leader Gollito Estredo goes out in round four, against Clement Hamon, 13.26 to 12.27! Getting stuck on the inside after chasing smaller wave conditions in, Gollito lost valuable time in his heat while Clement calmly stayed out of trouble. The 14 year old French rider racked up two consistent wave scores given the intermittent wave conditions, and landed two solid frontside 7s. His best freestyle trick was the 6.93 for a big backflip after he and Gollito had traded tricks at the start of the heat.
Gollito must now wait things out and hope that Malo Guenole doesn’t achieve first or second position at this event, which would be enough to see him overtake Gollito in the rankings.
15.08 – World Championship contender update: 2nd ranked rider, Malo Guenole, wins his round four heat against Henrick Lopes to stay in the competition. As tour leader Gollito Estredo looked on, Malo came through a few wobbles early in the heat to once again dominate the heat in both wave and freestyle performance. Had he lost that heat, Estredo would have become World Champion, but the fight continues and Estredo must now beat Clement Hamon to reach the quarters. If Gollito finishes third or better at this event, regardless of what Malo achieves, he will be world champion.
Malo interview: “Yeah I was a bit under pressure because I broke a wing just before my heat, but I managed to get some good waves. I’ve been training here three weeks, my dad is pushing me and helping me a lot. I love the conditions and I feel comfortable and it’s easy for me to have fun here. I feel excited but I stay calm and focused. Let’s go.”
14.20 – World Championship contender update: Christopher MacDonald out of the competition in round four, losing a very close battle with F-One team mate Hugo Marin 17.30 vs 16.30. With two waves counting and one freestyle trick in this format, wave riding holds the advantage. Although Christopher nailed a huge frontside 7 for 8.07 points early in the heat, Hugo’s more consistent wave riding eventually earned him the overall higher heat score. Christopher could have taken it had one of his epic front flip attempts into the wave face came off, but sadly not.
12.55 – MEN’S R3 ROUND UP
(Scroll down for all heat scores and info)
In these conditions, wave riding prowess has been winning through so far with two wave rides and one freestyle move counting…
Making it through their all-important heats to keep their dream of winning the World Championship alive were Malo Guenole and Christopher MacDonald. But so too did tour leader Gollito Estredo in the final heat of R3, looking relaxed against local Daniel Pereira.
Most notable was Malo Guenole’s huge heat score of 23.93, the highest of the round. Christopher scored 16.40 against Xavi Corr (Tarifa event winner, now out!), while Gollito did just enough to get through the heat with 11.50.
The set waves had dropped off by the time Gollito took to the water and earlier in the round there certainly had been some solid wave performances. Notable performances from brothers Camille Bouyer (18.53) and Julien Bouyer (18.06) who scored highly and will now meet each other in round four!
Hugo Marin nailed a heat of 19.04 in one of the first heats of the day, looking fluid and stylish, while Kauli Seadi’s wave riding brought his years of windsurfing experience together with his years of comfort in Brazilian waves, managing his speed super well – 18.96.
The knockout rounds continue. Round four is already underway with Titouan Galea already tearing it up!
11.50 – As the men’s R3 surf-freestyle event continues, Malo Guenole and Christopher MacDonald have both won their heats and remain in the competition, and therefore keep their championship chances alive against tour leader, Gollito Estredo, who rides in R3 in a few heats time. Read more about the championship scenarios here.
10.00 – Men’s round three is the first action on the water today. Follow the live heat scores and elimination ladders further down on this page.
09.25 – Live feed is now on, and the broadcast show will begin very soon. Hit play on the livestream below and enjoy the action this afternoon, starting in around ten minutes time!
07.00 – Good morning from Taiba where we will be streaming the action live. Event director has scheduled a first possible start for 09.30am local time. We’ll keep you updated here should anything change. Find the livestream ready to go further down this page.
LIVETICKER DAY 1 (GMT-13) – 16 November
LIVESTREAM – Will run from Thursday morning. First possible start on day two is 09.30am (GMT -3)
Read the day one report here.
17.00 – At the end of the day, the men’s Surf-Freestyle event has reached the round three stage, scroll down to see the results on this age.
12.45 – Round one of the men’s Surf-Freestyle has just kicked off. We won’t begin the livestream until tomorrow for the later rounds, but you can follow the progress in the live heat ladders below on this page.
11.00 – We apologise for any mis-information, but the livestream will begin from tomorrow (Thursday), after the early rounds one and two of the Men’s Surf-Freestyle have been completed today. We will be rejoining the action as the competition reaches the more critical stages.
08.15 – Find out how the world championships can be won by different riders at this event – here
07.00 – Good morning on day one here in Taiba where, this week, we shall see the climax to the Surf-Freestyle and Surf Slalom disciplines on the GWA Wingfoil World Tour 2022. The action is set to get underway later today, but first:
08:30: Rider registration
11:00: Skippers meeting
12:00: First possible start
Find all updates on this page throughout the day.