Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup 2025, first day.
The annual PWA wave event in Gran Canaria takes place from July 5th to 13th. It started with a bang yesterday, with gusts measured at 52 knots. The single elimination was won by Philip Köster in a photo-finish final, with Marcilio Browne losing by just 0.6 points. Check out the video; these conditions only happen to Pozzo about ten days a year… and they had them in the race!
Current Ranking Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup – Men’s Wave Single Elimination
1st Philip Köster (GER | Severne / Severne Sails)
2nd Marcilio Browne (BRA | Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
3rd Marino Gil (ESP | JP / NeilPryde / MFC)
4th Marc Paré (ESP | Simmer / Simmer Sails / MFC)
5th Victor Fernandez (ESP | Duotone Windsurfing)
5th Alessio Stillrich (ESP | Bruch Boards / Bruch Sails)
7th Moritz Mauch (GER | Simmer / Simmer Sails)
7th Miguel Chapuis (ESP | Flikka / North Sails)
9th Anton Richter (GER | JP / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins)
9th Liam Dunkerbeck (ESP | Duotone WIndsurfing)
9th Adam Warchol (POL | Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC)
9th Takuma Sugi (JPN | Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins)
Day 1: Philip Köster edges out Marcilio Browne in one of the closest finals ever, while Pozo delivers 50-knot winds and waves.
The forecast for the opening weekend of the 2025 Gloria Windsurf World Cup in Gran Canaria was always good on paper, but sometimes they don’t materialize. Luckily, this time it turned out that way: the first day of competition saw classic Pozo extreme conditions, with winds exceeding 50 knots and solid waves, allowing the world’s most radical sailors to put on an incredible show. To give you an idea of how windy it was at times, even some of the biggest names had to take their 3.4s to try to tame Pozo’s wild side. After a full day of action, the Men’s Single Elimination concluded, with Philip Köster (Severne / Severne Sails) taking home a thrilling final.
Wave
Men’s
Philip Köster moved into first place to reclaim the Gloria Windsurf World Cup Gran Canaria crown for the first time since 2022 after winning one of the most closely contested finals ever against Marcilio Browne (Goya Windsurfing / MFC), Marino Gil (JP / NeilPryde / MFC), and Marc Paré (Simmer / Simmer Sails / MFC). In a final where the lead constantly changed hands between Köster and the Brazilian, the German ultimately prevailed by just 0.06 points, such were the tiny margins between the two.
Browne outperformed Köster in the air—19.62 points to Köster’s 17.3 points—but it was on the wave that the five-time world champion gained the upper hand: he dropped a wave in the excellent range—8 points—after landing a flawless one-handed gozzo. He then backed up this score with a solid 6.38 points to secure the current event lead by winning the single elimination. Köster will now look to defend this lead, aiming for victory number eight in Pozo.
The final was so close between the top two that it could have been decided by a coin toss, but one can imagine Browne is still very satisfied with the work he’s done so far. The reigning world champion earned his second perfect 10 of the event with a huge double win in the semifinals and will now wait for his chance in the Double Elimination to play for the event’s title.
The event’s defending champion, Marino Gil, had to settle for third place in the Singles Elimination, but it’s not out of the question that the local athlete will return to the doubles event to successfully defend his title. The 22-year-old won all of his heats en route to the final—including the second-highest score of the day, 31.7 points compared to Köster’s 31.73 in the semifinals—but he couldn’t replicate that in the final. In the final seconds, Gil launched into a massive double-front stall, but couldn’t stick the landing. Even if he had succeeded, and received 10 points for it, he still would have lost by 0.01 points, once again underscoring the slim margins we’re talking about.
Marc Paré became the first sailor to earn a perfect 10 at the 2025 Gloria Windsurf World Cup in Gran Canaria, thanks to a monumental forward double stall in the opening semifinal. Unfortunately, in the final, things didn’t go smoothly for the Spaniard in the early stages, as he found himself under pressure trying to get back into the race, which he did with a great forward double stall. On this occasion, however, he couldn’t find the forward push ramp needed to overtake Köster. An 8.99 forward pushloop would have been enough to do so, while wave scores of 7.25 and 6.5 gave him a solid foundation. Paré was visibly disappointed after the final, but now he’ll have time to regroup and come back even stronger in the doubles.
Victor Fernandez (Duotone Windsurfing) and Alessio Stillrich (Bruch Boards / Bruch Sails) both share fifth place in the Single Elimination, with Stillrich having advanced to the semifinals from the first round. Meanwhile, Miguel Chapuis (Flikka / North Sails) and Moritz Mauch (Simmer / Simmer Sails) finished seventh in the Single Elimination, while the top ten is rounded out by Germany’s Anton Richter (JP / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins), Liam Dunkerbeck (Duotone Windsurfing), Adam Warchol (Quatro / Goya Windsurfing / MFC), and Takuma Sugi (Tabou / GA Sails / Black Project Fins), who earlier in the day eliminated Ricardo Campello in the second round, leaving Campello very disappointed as today’s conditions are where he usually excels.
Mauch’s Wave Riding Masterclass
When it comes to wave riding, Moritz Mauch was in a world of his own today, as is often the case with onshore wave riding. The German landed the highest-scoring wave of the day (8.12 points) and earned four of the top five scores with a series of explosive frontside 360s, air takas, and goiters.
Move of the Day
The move of the day would probably go to Philip Köster for a stunning goyter no hand in the opening semi-final.
The forecast for Sunday is very similar to today’s, although it could be slightly windier, which should mean another classic Pozo day awaits. The sailors will gather tomorrow morning at 9:00 (GMT+1) for the skippers’ meeting, with the action starting at 9:30.
To stay up to date with all the latest developments from Gran Canaria—including the live stream, elimination ladders, entry list, images, and live ticker—just click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
