Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup
From the 5th-13th July the Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup returns for the 37th installment, which will see the world’s finest wave sailors participating in the second 5-star event of the season. Pozo Izquierdo will once again be thrust into the limelight and with a promising forecast for the opening weekend there promises to be no shortage of action.
Pozo Izquierdo is internationally famed in the windsurfing world due to its nuclear winds and steep waves. The combination of these two factors creates the perfect playground for the world’s most extreme sailors to defy gravity and perform the most radical stunts on the planet. The local effect means that even the slightest breeze can soon be accelerated up to anything between 30-60 knots, which often results in the guys and girls reaching for their smallest equipment, which even then, sometimes isn’t small enough. Expect to see plenty of mind blowing action over the next nine days, both in the air and on the wave, as the level on the World Tour continues to go through the roof.
Wave
Women’s
Having announced her retirement in 2023 after capturing her 22nd event title in Pozo Izquierdo, Daida Moreno (Bruch Boards / Bruch Sails / Maui Ultra Fins) makes a shock return to the lineup. As the Queen of Pozo this could really throw the cat amongst the pigeons as Daida will essentially be a wild card for the event meaning she could easily be drawn against one of the top seeds early on - creating plenty of opportunity for upsets - especially when it comes to the fight for the world title. Rumour on the beach has it that Daida is sailing better than ever, and you’d think if she’s chosen to compete again, it’s for one reason, and one reason only… to win! Will she walk away from this year’s event with a 23rd event title? That remains to be seen, but we’ll find out over the next nine days.
Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) claimed victory in Pozo Izquierdo for the first time in her career last year and will start the event as the top seed, however, the revelation that Daida is returning to the field has made hers, and everyone else’s, task significantly harder. However, the 25-time world champion has always wanted to beat Daida on home waters, so she will get another opportunity to do just that. Offringa will need all of the tricks in her repertoire to challenge for the top spot on the podium.
Unfortunately, Gran Canaria has come too soon for Lina Erpenstein (Severne / Severne Sails), who finished second here last year, after failing to recover in time after suffering a serious foot injury in Chile. You can read a short update from Lina HERE.
That potentially opens up the draw slightly for the likes of Alexia Kiefer Quintana (Duotone Windsurfing), who claimed her first podium on the World Tour here last year and currently sits in second place in the overalls, Maria Morales (Goya Windsurfing), who finished fourth here last season, Justyna Sniady (Flikka / North Sails / Maui Ultra Fins), who has done well here in the past and has plenty of experience to draw upon, 15-year-old Sol Degrieck (Severne / Severne Sails), who has already caused several upsets here and Pauline Katz (Severne / Severne Sails), who performed extremely consistently all of last season.
Men’s
Local favourite, Marino Gil (JP / NeilPryde / MFC), claimed an extremely popular victory here last year as the 22-year-old went one place better than in 2023 to earn his first victory on the World Tour. With the amount of competition on offer here, Gil will certainly face a stern test if he is to successfully defend his crown, but given his record here over the last two seasons you wouldn’t bet against him doing just that. Expect to see more stalled double forwards and pushloop forwards as he looks to go back-to-back in Pozo.
As already mentioned, Gil will face plenty of opposition and one of those opponents is likely to be reigning world champion - Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC) - who has yet two taste anything other than victory so far this season having won the 5-star event in Chile, and two other 4-star events in Japan and Maui. Browne only finished ninth here in 2024, but it’s important to remember that the event last year followed a different format, which stopped Browne from continuing his comeback through the double elimination. Expect to see another world class performance from the current World Tour leader, who won here in 2023.
Next up is the formidable force of Philip Köster (Severne / Severne Sails / Black Project Fins), who made it no secret that he was disappointed with his third place finish here last year. If Köster can channel that energy positively then he could prove unstoppable here because when he’s on there really aren’t many that can rival him. Köster has already won this event seven times - most recently in 2022 - and he’ll be hungry to regain that crown. Will we seen another triple forward loop attempt? Well, the five-time world champion certainly sounds up for it, adding: “Yes, the triple is definitely on my bucket list, will we see it in the comp? Maybe if the conditions are great for it. I can only say that I'm more motivated than ever to do it.”
Last year, Pozo came too soon for Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails / MFC), who was still recovering from a Lisfranc fracture at the time. However, once Paré returned, he quickly established himself as a genuine world title contender after winning in both Tenerife and Sylt. With a clean bill of health Paré will surely be a major threat here again. The Spaniard podiumed here in 2023 and will surely have set that as his benchmark this time round.
The Wild Card That Isn’t Really a Wild Card
Much like the Daida Moreno scenario, Ricardo Campello will be classified as a wild card in Pozo when in actual fact he still remains one of the top contenders given his jumping and wave riding prowess. That again could result in some mega matchups early on, which could really shake up the rankings depending on the luck of the draw.
Normally Pozo is dominated by sailors who perform the biggest, most radical jumps in the world, but last year Julian Salmonn (Naish / Naish Sails) broke the mould as he navigated his way into second place with an explosive onshore wave riding display. Can he repeat that again? You’d have to say its a tall order without double forwards and pushloop forwards, but I said that last year and was proven totally wrong, so never say never. That’s also the beauty of sport… the unpredictability.
In my opinion the winner will come from one of the above sailors, but I could easily be proved wrong given the depth of talent on offer, so any of the following sailors can definitely throw their name into the equations; Victor Fernandez (Duotone Windsurfing), who boasts one of the best records overall here, Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde - 5th here last year - Liam Dunkerbeck (Duotone Windsurfing) - who also finished fifth here in 2024 and continues to progress at a rapid rate, Dieter van Der Eyken (Severne / Severne Sails) - 4th here in 2024 - local boy Alessio Stillrich (Bruch Boards / Bruch Sails), Antoine Martin (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC), the Japanese duo of Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins) and Takara Ishii (Goya Windsurfing / MFC) plus Miguel Chapuis (Flikka / North Sails).
The next nine days aren’t just about the Men’s and Women’s divisions either though as the next generation of wave sailors will also be battling it out again, as will the Master’s.
With a firing forecast to come for the opening two days of the 2025 Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurfing World Cup, the decision has been made to bring registration forwards to Friday so that we can make the most of the best conditions over the weekend. Make sure to stay tuned to www.pwaworldtour.com and all of our Social Media channels to stay up to date with all the latest news from Pozo Izquierdo. Who’s your money on? Let us know in the comments…
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