Courtesy of quattro media
Vanora Engadinwind by Dakine 2020: 400 athletes from 36 nations celebrated sports of windsurfing at Lake Silvaplana (SUI)
From the 17th – 26th of August 400 athletes from 36 nations celebrated the sports of windsurfing in a very unique way and gathered around the unique landscape in the Engadin at Lake Silvaplana as a competitive stage. World’s best windsurfers competed at the Engadinwind 2020 in various international competitions such as the Forumla Foil World Championships, iQ Foil Foil European Championships, Foil Freestyle World Championship as well as the European Freestyle Pro Tour Tow-In Contest. With this fully packed programme the organisers ensured lots of windsurfing action for each event day.
In the first days of the Engadinwind the iQ Foil Exhibition Race was held: Reigning world champion of the Olympic class Kiran Badloe from the Netherlands took home the first gold medal of the Engadinwind 2020, silver won by Maciek Rutkowsky (POL) and Bronze goes to Nico Goyard (FRA), reigning Foil World champion. Lilian de Geus (NED), world champion of the Olympic windsurfing class won the women exhibition race. Second finished Blanca Alabau from Spain, ahead of her sister Marina Alabau, Olympic gold medal winner. Another world premiere was the WING Foil exhibition event by the newly founded GWA Global Wingsports Association. The Swiss foil pioneer Balz Müller from Biel himself the gold medal. Silver won his fellow countryman Michael Näf and third finished the German Henning Nockel.
The first world champs at this year’s Engadinwind were crowned in the 2020 Formula Foil World Championships in the racing discipline: Dominating the women’s races throughout the week and therefore the well-deserved new World Champion was Hélene Noesmoen from France with only 8 points (8 wins). Maja Dziarnowska from Poland won Silver with a score of 20 and the Dutch surfer Lilian De Geus completed the podium with the same score. The gold fleet men category was dominated by Nicolas Goyard (FRA). After 10 races (8 to count, 2 discards per athlete) he won the gold medal with a score of 9.0. The battle for the podium was nail-biting: Przemyslaw Miarczynski from Poland won the silver medal with a score of 32 and French Pierre Mortefon secured the Bronze medal with a score of 36.
Next up in the programme was the European Freestyle Pro Tour Tow-In Contest. Winner of the day was the 26 year-old windsurfer Antoine Albert from New Caledonia (FRA), he impressed the judges with an Air Skopu trick and the highest score of the day – 8.5. The silver medal was won by one of the greatest young talents in windsurfing, the German Lennart Neubauer, who is only 16 years old. With the Air Burner Air Funnel trick he claimed 8.44 points. Bronze medal won the vice world champion Amado Vriesvijk from Bonair (NED).
In the Foil Freestyle World Championship, considered one of the biggest highlight competitions at the Engadinwind 2020, nine men and three women were competing in perfect foiling conditions. Eva Wyss could claim the overall win after a good battle against Anina Heimoz in second and Laura Rudolph in third place. Also, on day two of the Foil Freestyle Championship at Lake Silvaplana, it had been Balz Müller, Steven Van Broeckhoven, Lennart Neubauer and Michael Naef with the most impressive performances. Swiss freestyler Balz Müller could dominate one more time and claimed the win. The fight for second place had been a tough one, but Steven Van Broeckhoven (BEL) sealed the deal with a nice skopu and a downwind 360 duckjibe combination to count. Michael Naef (SUI) came in third, followed by Lennart Neubauer (GER) in 4th and Antoine Albert (FRA) in 5th.
The highlight competition that closed 2020’s Engadinwind were the iQ FOiL European Championships. It’s the first international event in the new Olympic windsurfing class and the first ever European Championships. Kiran Badloe (NED), Nicolas Goyard (FRA), Sebastian Koerdel (GER) and Tom Arnoux (FRA) were the four finalists in the competitions premiere. It was a super exciting race and the Dutch windsurfer Kiran Badloe won the gold medal in the end, Sebastian Koerdel from Germany won Silver and Bronze went to Nicolas Goyard from France. Hélene Noesmoen (FRA), Lilian de Geus (NED), Daniela Peleg (ISR), Isla Watson (GBR) were the top four women for the final race. The dominating windsurfing was Hélene Noesmoen from France won the gold medal rightfully. Silver was won by Isla Watson (GBR) and Bronze went to Lilian de Geus (NED). Once again, the Engadinwind maintained its unique and outstanding status in the windsurfing calendar and pushes the limits even further every year.
Vanora ENGADINWIND by Dakine 2020 – Best Of from World of Freesports on Vimeo.