WOMEN’S SURF-FREESTYLE 

Paula Novotna put on a sublime performance from start to finish during day one of the GWA Wingfoil World Cup. Landing big tricks earned high scores from the judges in each of her heats and this is a well-deserved first title win for Paula who came off the finals with a huge grin on her face!

“I feel incredibly happy that I managed to win my first Wing Foil World Tour event. I haven’t trained too much before the event as I’ve been focusing on my kiteboarding, but I managed to stay calm and focused during my heats and believe that’s what helped me win. I know I’ve got the tricks, the level is really high and I want to congratulate all the other riders. I’m looking forward to the next one!”

Off the back of her win in Leucate, France at round one, Spaniard Nia Suardiaz came up just short in the final with a heat score of 19, narrowly losing out to Paula’s 21.8. Despite missing out on first place however, Nia can still keep her head held high as it was a great overall performance from the young 15-year-old, who keeps on proving why she’s consistently a force to be reckoned with at every event!

MEN’S SURF-FREESTYLE

The men’s freestyle kicked off straight after registration on the first day of competition. Stefan Spiessberger stormed his way through to round 4 on day 1 of the event. Linus Pünder also showed a very strong performance in round 1 and 3.

Silvaplana was booting off when the all-important thermic wind joined us again for the last two days of competition. It was Stefan Speissberger with a flying start winning over Francesco Cappuzzo in Round 4 and eliminating windsurfing legend Gollito Estredo in the semifinals! The final was set and it was Stefan up against youngster Chris MacDonald. Both riders put on an incredible performance with MacDonald scoring 32.93 to Stefan’s 25.17. A spectacular show was witnessed with cheers and screams.

“A second place finish here in Silvaplana feels incredible! My goal for the week was to get into the Top 5 again, making it all the way to the final was really cool! Especially in the quarter- and semifinals, I really stepped it up and landed some of my best moves! Congrats to Chris for the win, he will be a tough one to beat in the future!”