- The grancanarian Iballa Ruano did not find her best feelings and gave up her world title in the semifinals against the subsequent champion
- The Gran Canaria Pro-AM 2024, held in Las Canteras, continues this Friday with the program of the Under 21 categories and begins the competition in the Longboard modality in the Los Muellitos area
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Thursday, December 5, 2024. Barely two minutes had passed in the men’s final when the Japanese Taka Inoue faced his first wave. First he made a turn with a ‘snap’, then he approached the crest of the wave to return, in a ‘rentry’ movement, and increase his speed. Suddenly, practically vertical, his board lost contact with the water and as he fell, the skilled Taka lost his balance to reveal the soles of his feet. Any mortal would be finished, not Taka. He stuck the shovel into the water, far back, he maintained an impossible gesture, posicioned his feet in the octupus area, and descended the wave, with his hands raised, his fist clenched celebrating his success.
The show-time dominated the final rounds of the Gran Canaria Pro-Am 2024, the APP World Tour Paddle Surf World Cup, in its absolute category, which is hosted by the grancanarian Playa de Las Canteras and which this Thursday, December 5, crowned two new world champions: the Argentine Luchy Cosoleto and the Japanese Taka Inoue. “It’s a cat,” said Tristan Boxford, founder and CEO of the APP World Tour, in astonishment. “No matter how you throw it, he always lands on his feet”.
Iballa Moreno Ruano, Gran Canaria sports legend and the only woman to win two world championships in the same year in two different sports -paddle surfing and windsurfing in 2019-, finished in third place, a position shared with Kaede Inoue, Sakura’s sister. The Pozo Izquierdo rider could not overcome a semi-final round, against Sakura, in which she did not find the rhythm or sensations to display her usual repertoire of skills. She soon found herself below and was unable to recover options as she ran out of time. Iballa didn’t have the day. Meanwhile, Benoit Carpentier and Sebastián Gómez, French and Peruvian, respectively, shared bronze.
Kaede Inoue, 16 years old, beat the canarian leyend and signed her ticket to the final. Her sister Sakura, a couple of years older, lost in the series against Luchy Cosoleto. The Argentine, after achieving second and third place in her previous experiences on the island, was hungry for the title and knew how to deploy a winning strategy based on complete confidence in her movements. The final duel between the two was very close. Sakura scored first with two waves to open her account with 7.07 points. Cosoleto responded with a great ride, with ‘snap’ and ‘carve’, and 6.33 points. Each one showed their own personality on the board. The aggressive and reckless Japanese woman. The Argentine, with the calculator, waited for the appropriate wave. In a flash, she scored 13.5 points and passed the pressure on to her opponent, who did her best in every attempt, to raise his tally to 9.74 points. But Luchy, with more experience, always maintained control of the stage, serenity and style, and celebrated on the shoulders of her teammates and friends her first victory in Gran Canaria, as the new world champion.
The men’s final took place in opposite parameters. Luis Diniz, a Brazilian rider, a legend of this sport than arrived to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as the current world champion. However, the young Japanese Taka Inoue, older brother of the participants in the female category, was a whirlwind from the first second of the competition. Aggressive in his movements, always vertical and with a lot of risk. The type of athlete who seems a little over-intense and excessive, but who always reaches the goal first. He was very confident and took off from his first wave. The Japanese cat, as defined by the ‘boss’ of the APP World Tour, was a cyclone. The first wave earned him more than 8 points, the second 7.50 and the third 8.77. In a flash he stood at 16.27 when his opponent, with only two points, a little more patient and calculating, was waiting for the good wave. The judges keep the two best waves to establish the scores and the Brazilian needed two waves of at least 9 points. With three minutes left, he took off. The public on Paseo de Las Canteras stood up enthusiastically. The legend worked his repertoire: extreme turns, slashes, cut backs and floaters of all kinds. But he stayed in the final count with 14.47 points, without reaching the cat Taka Inoue.
“We had a great day of competition and finals, even though the wave was losing strength as the hours passed. But they always remained consistent and the level of the competitors has been very good this year. They have offered a great show in each of the series, with a lot of equality, some being resolved by a difference of half a point or in the last seconds, as Taka did in his semifinal against Sebastian Gómez, who is a very strong competitor,» explained Tristan. Boxford, who pointed out Taka Inoue and Luchy Cosoleto as fair winners. “They have beaten athletes of a high level and experience. Sebastián Gómez and Luis Diniz have been the best of the event, in the sum of the three days, and he won both of them. Meanwhile, Cosoleto has become a very experienced rider. I think he deserved the world championship. He has been earning merit for years, with a second and third place, and he deserved it. “He made no mistakes and finally won his world championship,” he concluded.
This World Championship can be followed through the website www.sup-grancanaria.com, and the social networks @appworldtour; @Gran Canaria Pro-Am SUP Challenge and @gc_paddle surf.
The Gran Canaria Pro-Am 2024 has the support of the Department of Sports and Tourism of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria; the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce; the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, through the Municipal Sports Institute; the Canarian Surf Federation; 7IFILM.COM; Poems of the Sea Aquarium; WaterSpeed; City Sightseeing Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; School Surf-Windsurf-SUP; Mid-Atlantic University and Volkswagen Commercials.
