GWA Tarifa Wing Pro 2024

Winning Women (left to right) Bowien van der Linden, Nia Suardiaz, Mar de Arce and Sofia Marchetti. Photo SamuelCardenas

The Surf-Freestyle discipline of the 2024 GWA World Tour is making second stop on the world tour in Tarifa between 1st and 4th May 2024 at Valdevaqueros Beach in front of Bibo Beach House restaurant.

Twenty-six men and 14 women from nine nations are set to battle in Tarifa, with stops scheduled for Fuerteventura, Spain, in July, and the season finale in Jericoarcoara, Brazil, in November 2024.

The reigning GWA Surf-Freestyle world champions (2023) are Chris MacDonald (USA) in the mens and Nia Suardiaz (Spain) in the womens championships.

GWA Tarifa Wing Pro 2024 post event video.

Womens

Reigning Surf-Freestyle world champion, Spain’s Nia Suardiaz the 17-year old form Tarifa, tightened her grip on another title when she landed the win at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup 2024 on home waters at the Tarifa Wing Pro. The 17-year-old’s Surf-Freestyle event win in front of family and friends came less than a month after her victory in France and puts her in a commanding position half way through the scheduled four stops on this year’s calendar.

Nia clinched the Surf-Freestyle World Championship in 2023 Now, she has make waves in front of her hometown crowd, where her Cadiz mother's Spanish heritage and her father's German roots have given her the perfect blend of passion and skill. In 2020, she took her first steps into the world of surfing, and by 2021, she was already making waves at the GWA Tarifa Wing Pro, earning a remarkable second place last year.

“I’m so happy to win here at home in Tarifa with my friends and family,” said Suardiaz. “The wind was light this morning, but it increased to a nice, strong Poniente this afternoon. It was perfect for landing all of my tricks in the final.”

Day 1 of the GWA world cup hosted by the fifth edition of the Tarifa Wing Pro on the town’s iconic Valdevaqueros beach opened with a blustery and early start for the 26 men and 14 women athletes. With the forecast for the four day event looking tricky, the organisers decided to press ahead with the women’s competition.

Italy’s Sofia Marchetti marked herself out as a contender, winning her early heat with some solid riding and good scores from the judges that were a sign of things to come.

In the women’s roster, Orane Ceris (FRA) thought to be the strongest competitor for Suardiaz came third in her semi-final and didnt progress to the final. Ceris missed the first Surf-Freestyle stop of the tour in Leucate, France, with a knee injury, so is not yet back on top form. Another Spaniard, Mar de Arce (SPAIN), the reigning wingfoil Big Air world champion, showed in France that her freestyle game is fast improving after taking the second step of the podium.

By the quarter-finals, the strongest riders were showing their game. France’s Kylie Belloeuvre won her heat and advanced. Her compatriot, Orane Ceris, was also beginning to find her feet again after returning from injury, winning her quarter-final heat.

In the first semi-final, it was a battle of the big guns as the breeze built to more than 20 knots and the sky cleared. Belloeuvre pushed hard but just missed out on a place in the final when she slipped behind.

The Netherlands’ Bowien van der Linden kept her scoreboard ticking over with a clutch of solid numbers, landing all her seven trick attempts. It earned her a place in the final. But it was Sofia Marchetti who got the conditions dialled and took the win.

The second semi-final was a close battle. Ceris earned the biggest trick score of the heat—7.20 from 10 for a Backflip—but just missed out on a place in the final.

Mar de Arce (ESP) was strong and seemed to be heading for the win. But after a shaky start with several crashes Nia Suardiaz pulled it out of the fire and eased her way to the final, along with teammate De Arce.

The final was a tight affair. De Arce opened strongly and kept landing good scores, but finished in third. Van der Linden had been trailing all throughout the final. But she moved up into second place with her very last score of the heat, 6.0 for an Innovation trick.

“I’m super-happy with my result,” said Van der Linden. “It’s been a really good week of training here with the guys. I got to do some new tricks and innovations and I’m really happy I got to land that in the final. It was a super-exciting heat and I think I made it work.”

Suardiaz did not make the mistake she made in her earlier semi-final and came out of the blocks fast, with a 7.33 for a Backflip to open the heat. From there she never looked back, putting up big numbers that took her total 19.86 from a possible 30.

Women
1 Nia Suardiaz (ESP)
2 Bowien van der Linden (NED)
3 Mar de Arce (ESP)
4 Sofia Marchetti (ITA)

Recording of Day One live stream.

Mens - Day 2 Finals

The current Surf-Freestyle world champion, the US’s Chris MacDonald, dominated the second call at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Spain to take back-to-back wins in the season’s opening stops.

MacDonald, 18, convincingly won the Tarifa Wing Pro at Valdevaqueros, the site where he clinched the GWA Surf-Freestyle crown last year for the first time. Barely a month ago he won the first stop at Mondial du Vent in Leucate, France.

“In Leucate it was more like 60 knots, here we were lucky if it was 22 knots, so, different conditions,” said MacDonald. “It was different riding here and I think everyone did really good. I’m just stoked to see the sport evolving and stoked with the win here.”

Mens - Day 1 Heats

The opening rounds of the men’s competition witnessed a raft of standout performances filled with innovative new moves from the youngest riders. Spain’s Xavi Corr scored 9.33 for an Innovation trick.

The Austrian Archerer brothers, Tomas and Aleksander, are new faces on the tour. But Tomas’s 24.94 heat total, closely followed by Aleksander’s 22.20, marked them out as ones to watch.

Inevitably, reigning champion Christopher MacDonald (USA) turned it on when he needed, along with Noé Cuyala (FRA), the runner up at the opening stop in Leucate, France, last month.

But Clément Hamon landed the biggest heat score of the day, 25.51 for his three counting tricks.

Chris MacDonald (USA) will be hoping for strong Levante winds in Tarifa which helped him to victory last year. The Corsican 16-year-old Noé Cuyala (FRA) has already demonstrated that he has upped his Surf-Freestyle game enormously in the off-season. Last year Cuyala chased down MacDonald in Leucate and took second place, closely followed by the French duo of Axel Gerard, 16, and Malo Guénolé, the former world champion, in third and fourth places respectively.

The Spanish-Belgian veteran, Jerome Cloetens, could be a dark-horse and showed last year that he can never be ruled out because of the variety of his tricks, especially if the wind is a little lighter.

The official prize giving ceremony takes place on Friday 03-05-2024 at 17.00 at Valdevaqueros Beach. There will also be a non championship best trick competition on Friday 03-05-2024 and Saturday 04-05-2024, wind conditions allowing.

Men
1 Christopher MacDonald (USA)
2 Axel Gerard (FRA)
3 Bastien Escofet (FRA)
4 Xavi Corr (ESP)

Live Event Feed

Follow the event online if you can't make it down to Tarifa on the Live ticker, Live Scoring, and elimination ladders on the GWA Event Website

Admission

As a beach event it is open and free to all.

Media handles and hashtags are @globalwingsports @tarifawingpro #GWAwingfoilworldtour #GWAwingfoil #Tarifawingpro #wingfoil

5th GWA Tarifa Wing Pro 2024