The 17-year-old from Alava is the only Basque who competes in this modern aquatic modality, which is similar to windsurfing and kitesurfing
The wingfoil is in full countdown to debut as an Olympic discipline. Paris will be the main venue for the start of a sport that began to emerge two years ago on European shores. Its striking design, made up of a board and an inflatable wing that can be controlled with your hands, allows you to do acrobatics in the air. An engaging spectacle, which is beginning to appear in many parts of the Spanish coast and which has a specialist from Vitoria.
Although the capital of Alava is inland territory, its nearby swamps are a training area for the young Hugo Martínez, the only Basque who competes in this modern aquatic modality and which is so similar to windsurfing and kitesurfing. “It’s one of the toughest sports I’ve ever practiced,” says the man from Alava while explaining the main elements of the wingfoil. «The wind is very important, especially here, where we have no coastline. The wing needs that force to make us fly in the air and do the stunts and movements that allow us to score points in competitions.
What is the wingfoil?
It is done on a board with an inflatable wing handled with the hands that allows to do acrobatics on the water.
At just 17 years old, Martínez was proclaimed champion in the youth category of the Balearia Wingfoil Spain Series 2022 last April, his first great triumph since he decided to try this discipline in December 2020, after confinement. “My curiosity was piqued. They invited me to practice it in Santa Pola, near Elche. We have some friends there and I decided to sign up for a course. I loved it », he declares. Once the training was finished, Hugo Martínez only thought about practicing it day in and day out. Far from the sea, the man from Alava trains whenever he can in the Ullíbarri-Gamboa reservoir, a “quiet” and “calm” area that allows him to have more space when exercising. “I like sailing between the two islands, although before practicing it is important to know the conditions of the site and adapt to the wind and waves.” An area where the young man from Alava exercises freely while the spectators who walk through the area observe with amazement a sport in which you can compete in two different categories. On the one hand, there is freestyle surfing, direct duels between two or three participants in which, in a time of between 7 and 10 minutes, they must make the best jumps. Then there is the surf race, which is more like a traditional race.
“I dream big”
After becoming champion of the Balearia Wingfoil Spain Series and finishing fifth in the World Freestyle Championship in the youth category in Oliva (Valencia), Hugo Martínez does not set specific goals. He just wants to go day by day and keep improving: “I’m very young and I have to keep working, I have to keep improving on jumps and trying different things.” In any case, he reveals a tireless tenacity, the same one that leads him to look for alternatives when he doesn’t blow the wind in the swamp. «You can also practice without having the board, you can take a two-wheeled skateboard and you can do balance exercises. This way I can further refine the turns, which is an important part of racing.”
categories
You can practice freestyle, which is limited to duels between two or three people, and surf race, the traditional race
With Paris 2024 on the horizon, the man from Vitoria feels “very proud” that the wingfoil is beginning to gain a foothold around the world, making it very clear that it is a sport that “has come to stay” and that it will be practiced “by more people during the next years”. Asked about his greatest illusion, Hugo does not hesitate. “I dream big. I would like to be world champion.”
