Hugo Wigglesworth held off Germany’s Finn Flügel and Spain’s Lorenzo Casati to defend his Hydrofoil Big Air crown in Sylt, part of a deepening pool of New Zealand kitefoiling talent.
Hugo Wigglesworth has spent two seasons competing at the top level of Hydrofoil Big Air and now is the holder of two world titles.
This past week 19 year old Aucklander successfully defended his crown at Sylt, Germany, beating Germany’s Finn Flügel and Spain’s Lorenzo Casati in a tight four rider final on the North Sea. Marten Koblischke, also from Germany, completed the final four.
It continues a remarkably quick progression for the Kohimarama Yacht Club sailor. Wigglesworth stepped onto the international Hydrofoil Big Air scene last year, won at Sylt, then headed to Abu Dhabi and became world champion in his first season on tour. Twelve months later, he has done it again.
Wigglesworth finds another gear in a tight final
Getting through to the final was hardly a formality. Wigglesworth produced one of his best performances of the event in his semi final, putting together a 36.44 point total to advance. Casati started strongly, but nobody managed to take control for long, and the standings shifted as the riders added new scores. Wigglesworth eventually found the jumps he needed. Two scores in the nines put him ahead, and this time nobody could knock him off the top. Flügel second, Casati third and Koblischke fourth.
The result was particularly satisfying after Sylt made everyone wait. Offshore winds disrupted the opening two days before a change in direction on day three finally brought conditions suitable for the competition.
How an Auckland youngster became a Big Air champion
Wigglesworth was on a kite long before Hydrofoil Big Air became his international calling card.
He learnt to kitesurf as a youngster, taught by his parents, and came through New Zealand’s kitefoiling scene before concentrating increasingly on Big Air. Along the way he finished seventh at the Youth Sailing World Championships and won the New Zealand Kitefoil national title in 2024. By then he was already exploring just how high a kite could take him.
In September 2024, Wigglesworth recorded a 36.7m jump at Plimmerton Beach, breaking the WOO height record at the time. Just over a year later he pushed considerably higher. At Kite Beach in Cape Town in December 2025, his WOO recorded height reached exactly 40.0m. It made him the first rider recorded on the WOO system to break the 40m barrier.
That side of the sport eventually took priority over racing. Wigglesworth moved his focus towards Big Air during 2024, then entered his first international competitions the following year.
The results came almost immediately. His 2025 victory at Sylt was followed by the Hydrofoil Big Air world championship in Abu Dhabi. Returning to Sylt this year therefore meant arriving not as the promising Kiwi newcomer, but as the rider everyone else was trying to beat.
Big Air success, with the Olympics still in sight
There is an important distinction behind Wigglesworth’s latest title. Formula Kite racing joined the Olympic sailing programme at Paris 2024. Hydrofoil Big Air is something quite different. Instead of racing around a course, riders use the speed and lift generated by the foil and kite to go high and perform aerial manoeuvres. Wigglesworth has experience in both worlds.
He has previously spoken about returning to racing for an Olympic cycle, while his stated ambition has been to compete at the Games in a foiling class. For now, though, Big Air is where he is collecting world titles. At 19, there is plenty of time to decide where that leads.
Wigglesworth leaves Sylt a world champion again
The German event brought Hydrofoil Big Air together with Kite Surf competition.
Wigglesworth was not the only world champion crowned. Switzerland’s Andrea Zust successfully defended the women’s Hydrofoil Big Air title, ahead of Austria’s Kailani Friedrich, Bulgaria’s Aya Kasabova and the Netherlands’ Ola Markowska.
In men’s Kite Surf, Australian James Carew took the Sylt victory and his fifth world title. France’s Capucine Delannoy won the women’s event.
For Wigglesworth, however, the equation remains unusually simple.
Two seasons in international Hydrofoil Big Air. Two world championships.
| Place | Rider | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Hugo Wigglesworth | New Zealand |
| 2nd | Finn Flügel | Germany |
| 3rd | Lorenzo Casati | Spain |
| 4th | Marten Koblischke | Germany |
