Meet the 2021 GWA Wingfoil World Tour Champions
by Gemma Hamaini 31 Dec 2021 06:31 PST
2021 GWA World Tour Champions © Samuel Cardenas
It has been an incredible first year of the GWA Wingfoil World Tour, and we are delighted to present to you our new Champions!
Wingfoiling has seen some incredible evolution over the past year, and we are excited to see how far these athletes are pushing this new sport. We have no doubt that next year we will see even further development, and it is a very exciting time for everyone involved.
The 2021 GWA Wingfoil Surf-Freestyle World Champions
Bowien van der Linden has been unstoppable this season, winning three out of the four stops in the Surf-Freestyle discipline. At each event she has given competition her full focus and dedication, and it has truly paid off. She has now be crowned as our new GWA Surf-Freestyle World Champion, followed by Olivia Piana and Paula Novotna, who together are pushing this sport and encouraging other women to participate and enjoy wingfoiling.
Women
1st Bowien van der Linden (NLD/RRD)
2nd Olivia Piana (FRA)
3rd Paula Novotna (CZE/Duotone)
"It's been an amazing year," said Bowien."I only came to the first event in Leucate to try it and now look at what an amazing result. I've met so many nice people this season. I'm amazed when I see how fast the sport is growing, it's very exciting."
For the Men's Surf-Freestyle discipline, Titouan Galea won two out of the four events, and has managed to maintain solid results to achieve the win. Camille Bouyer and Hugo Marin were close behind him all the way. The advancement we have seen in this discipline during each event has been outstanding, with the athletes executing bigger and more technical tricks at each event.
Men
1st Titouan Galea (NCL/F-One)
2nd Camille Bouyer (FRA/RRD)
3rd Hugo Marin (FRA/F-One)
"I'm really stoked of course," said Titouan. "I always try to the best I can in any competition, and of course I'm really happy with this result."
The 2021 GWA Race Discipline Winners
Women
Olivia Piana has managed to win the Race discipline at every event she has attended this year, missing out only in Dakhla where she could not compete due to an injury. Bowien van der Linden and Orane Ceris have maintained consistent results in every race of the season, allowing them to finish in 2nd and 3rd position.
1st Olivia Piana (FRA)
2nd Bowien van der Linden (NLD/RRD)
3rd Orane Ceris (FRA/Airush)
"I'm so motivated to do my best as always, and I'm very happy to be fully recovered from my injury," said Olivia. "I had a lot of fun racing this season, and the girls are all pushing really hard. I've done a lot of race training, and this has helped a lot. The level of women has really gone up in a short time. They are pushing the sport further. Winging is such a good sport, as it can be done everywhere. It's so good to see so many women starting in this new sport."
Men
Titouan Galea managed to win the Race discipline at every event this season, apart from here in Tarifa where he finished 4th. He had a solid lead in points meaning that his title was already confirmed at our last event in Brazil. Francesco Cappuzzo has been racing very consistently, giving him the 2nd place this season, followed by Hugo Marin who has also achieved great results at every event.
1st Titouan Galea (NCL/F-One)
2nd Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA/RRD)
3rd Hugo Marin (FRA/F-One)
View the full 2021 GWA rankings here...