The juniors kick off the Gran Canaria Windsurfing World Championship 2022

Gran Canaria Windsurfing World Championship 2022 © PWA World Tour

The youngest riders were the first to take to the water and open the Pozo Izquierdo Windsurf World Championship, filling the stands of the Gran Canaria beach to watch the U17 women's and U15 women's finals, in which the juniors excelled with some manoeuvres such as forward loops that were well rated by the judges.

• The Canarian Maria Morales has dominated the U17 category, getting the best score of the series landing the best forward, while the German Peter Gobisch did the same in the U15, a class in which the Spanish rider from Tarifa Javier Escribano made his way to third place with some forward loops well scored by the judges.
• The qualifying rounds for the U20 female and U17 male classes were also held, with some promising action in the women's final between the locals Julia Pasquale and Alexia Kiefer, and Isabel Triviño from Tarifa.

"The Under-17s and Under-15s finals took place this morning. Willy Rocha, the waves judge, pointed out that the level of surfing has been very high, with outstanding performances from the local girl, María Morales and another Spaniard, from Tarifa, Javier Escribano. It should be remembered that in each heat, the two best waves and the two best jumps are scored.

Among the under-17 riders, Tenerife's María Morales Navarro, dominated all the heats, followed by Belgian Sol Degrieck and local rider Annagiulia Piccaglia.

"The truth is that I am very happy to have won the U17 girls' category, I went 4-0 in one heat and 4-2 in the other, I did the best I could, although I would also like to congratulate the other girls, as they did very well," said the rider from Granadilla de Abona.

Morales got a support wave scored with four points and then landed the best forward of the series valued with 6.67 points, giving her the absolute control of the competition.

However, for the Spanish rider who competed in the U15 class, the wind was gusty, and the waves weren't very promising, but he is very happy to have competed. "Being there with your mates and opponents at the same time has been an experience that I will never forget in my life", said Escribano. Finally, the first place in U15 went to Germany's Peter Gobisch, whose best trick was a backside cutback, while the second place went to Belgium's Arthur Van den Brande, who had the best jump so far with a solid forward loop scoring 4.67 points, while Gobisch had the best ride, getting 4.5 on his best surfed wave. The conditions were tricky, as the wind was erratic.

Finally, the qualifiers for the U17 male and U20 female classes have also been held, so this Monday we will know the winners of these modalities, assuring to be a lot of action between the three Spaniards who made a clean sweep of the U20 podium: Alexia Kiefer (Gran Canaria, but competes for Germany), world junior champion in 2019; Isabel Trivino (Tarifa), and Julia Pasquale (Gran Canaria), who has three world junior windsurfing crowns (two in Waves and one in Slalom).

"The day started off with fairly light conditions, so the younger ones went into the water with the bigger sails, but the wind picked up and we were able to compete, although we're in for a close final," said Kiefer, who finished eighth in the women's world championship in 2019. Also, for tomorrow, the U17 men's final will see Carlos Kiefer (Germany), Tobias Bjornaa (Denmark), Grigoris Stathopoulos (Greece) and Anton Richter (Germany) compete for the win.

Gran Canaria Windsurfing World Championship 2022 - photo © PWA World Tour