The first ever Freestyle Foilstyle competition with an end-result took place from the 7th to 11th of June in Vieste during the FPT Tour. Our Dream Team dominated the top of the fleet again! Lennart Neubauer had a heated final and ended up second in the double elimination. Steven Van Broeckhoven won a very close fight for the third place and completed the podium. Check out the highlights and insights from our Starboard riders and the event organizer Adam Sims.
Short report from Head of EFPT Adam Sims:
How was the organization of the foilstyle event?
We had a great event in Vieste, it was one of those forecasts where you simply could not tell if it was enough for freestyle or not. With the inception of foilstyle some years ago it took some years to get here to the first international competition; one attempt at our event in Geneva a couple years ago (unfortunately the wind didn’t quite provide) and some smaller national events. The wait was worth it and perfectly timed.
With 12-15 knots most days, we saw an impressive display from the guys and girl, who mark their names in the windsurfing history books. Extensive discussions took place as often as possible surrounding the judging of the moves and the wide variety of ways you can enter a move (which adds degrees of difficulty). The outcome was some tight battles, huge moves in marginal winds and exciting competitive moments.
What are the plans for the next foilstyle competitions?
Our next stop is back to Geneva, redemption for 2021 and the title showdown for this year. We absolutely loved the setup with the Swiss crew last year, we are confident of an awesome show as we bring windsurfing to city stages right in the heart of Europe. Be sure not to miss that, we’ll be live on air once again, or come down and watch it first hand. The tow-in show is also completely next level.
Congrats to all the competitors who took part, our awesome event organisers and the team behind the Freestyle Pro Tour.
A few words from Lennart Neubauer:
It has been a blast taking second place in the first ever foilstyle championship! The level was so high already from the first round, so there were no easy rounds. However, I definitely enjoy regular freestyle more. I’ll be sure to train more on the foil as well as I could imagine more foilstyle events popping up in the future.
Steven Van Broeckhoven from third place:
First of all I’m super happy to be on the podium. It was my goal, but I knew it would be hard, as I didn’t have many foilstyle sessions lately. One week of practice with a few nice sessions paid off. I really enjoyed the competition and good action from all the riders. I am looking forward to more foilstyle events! It is just amazing in how little wind we can do these tricks!
Video and pictures credits go to EFPT crew.
