GWA Big Air Wingfoil World Championships 2024 Gran Canaria

GWA Big Air Wingfoil World Championships 2024 – Gran Canaria

The Big Air pioneers who took the first ever world titles in 2023 are replaced by new masters of the air, establishing the new level for wingfoiling’s next frontier.

The men’s Big Air final guarantees a showdown of the current top riders, MacDonald, Malo Guénolé (FRA), Bastien Escofet (FRA) and Benjamin May (GER). May is struggling to hit his stride in the final and ends up fourth, while MacDonald uncorks a Double Back-flip in his first attempt and follows it by another, and another, earning a 9.77 on his way to a 19.24 combined score. In the semi-finals, Guénolé stuns the judges with a 19.40, the highest combined score of the event. But even with super-clean and high forward flips in the finals, Guénolé and third-placed Escofet are not selling exactly what the judges are buying. The series of Double Back-flips seals the deal for MacDonald, making him the new GWA Wingfoil Big Air Men’s World Champion 2024.

In the women’s final, the 2023 champion, Mar de Arce (ESP), takes an early lead but Suardiaz doesn’t let up, throwing down gliding airs with finishing 360s. De Arce boosts a 7.2-metre air to pull ahead again but her teenage rival has the last word. In the end, De Arce falls behind in the last attempts by a heartbreaking 0.07 of a point, Suardiaz wins with 14.87 points from 20, leaving back-to-back titles out of reach for De Arce. Maria Behrens (GER) ends up third, with less than a point away.