GWA Tarifa Wing Pro 2021 Day 2 - Late switch to the Surf-Freestyle discipline
by Gemma Hamaini 29 Dec 2021 01:58 PST
29 December 2021
GWA Tarifa Wing Pro 2021 day 2 © Samuel Cardenas
Several attempts were made to start to the Race discipline today, but due to several changes in the race-course, the final call was made to switch to the Surf-Freestyle discipline to try and advance further up the competition ladder.
The judging criteria remained the same as yesterday, with the athletes given 12 trick attempts, and the top three tricks counting. Heats were nine minutes in duration with three minute transitions.
Men's Round 3
The day kicked off with the completion of Heat 33, which started yesterday but was called off due to a drop in wind. In the minutes that were left, we saw Mathis Ghio defeat Lilian Juppet by just a fraction of a point, allowing Ghio to advance to the next round.
There have been a great number of young up-and-coming athletes competing at this event, and for Heat 34, Lucas Roguet, just 14 years old, performed very well against fellow young rider Noa Cuyala. Roguet landed a clean Frontside 3 scoring 5.77 points and advanced to the next round.
Francesco Cappuzzo gave yet another unstoppable performance for Heat 36. His 6.9 point Frontside 3 is the best we have seen in the competition so far. He cleared his way to the next round comfortably, continuing his blistering form in competition lately.
Riccardo Zorzi is another talented young rider showing significant evolution, and for Heat 37 he performed a clean array of tricks which allowed him to advance to the next round, defeating S.Carentz. Malo Guenole followed suit for Heat 38, defeating M.James and advancing.
Gregorio Pugliese took a comfortable win for Heat 39, whilst S. Zorzi advanced automatically for Heat 40 due to the draw. C.Hamon defeated K.de Wilde from the U.S.A for Heat 41, with the wind conditions stabilizing nicely throughout the afternoon.
Two French riders faced each other for Heat 42, where Hugo Marin put together a better variety of high-scoring tricks, allowing him to advance to the next round, and eliminating his young competitor Chucho Nonnot from the competition.
Maxime Chabloz proved once again that he is a fierce competitor and he opened Heat 43 with an outstanding Backflip, scoring 8.27 points, the highest single trick score of the day. He advanced to the next round over Noa Legier.
Just as we were nearing the end of Round 3, the wind conditions dropped suddenly, bringing the day of competition to an end. The wind forecast is improving for the coming days, so we remain optimistic to be able to complete both disciplines here in Tarifa for this final event of the year.
At the end of the day, we took a moment to talk to the organizer of the Tarifa Wing Pro, Jaime Herraiz, to see how he feels about the progression of this event and the sport in general.
"I'm very impressed with the amount of new riders we have seen this year at the Tarifa Wing Pro," said Jaime. "The increase in the level of riding is incredible. There is a great vibe overall between everyone. This year we chose to organize the event in Playa Chica due to the conditions, and we are happy to be able to share this experience with the town of Tarifa and it's people. The authorities have given us great support and we are truly grateful. The conditions have been tricky, but Tarifa always delivers so we have faith that we will be able to complete the event."
Tomorrow the action continues with the skipper’s meeting called for 10.30am and the first possible start at 11am.