An expert and an all-rounder dominate the wave / Simon Bitterlich and Valeska Schneider win the surf-festival

January 08, 2020

Düsseldorf, 19. January 2020. Simon Bitterlich confidently won Men’s Wave Masters on the opening weekend of the world’s largest water sports exhibition boot Düsseldorf. The 20-year-old from Munich acted lightly and smoothly citywave ®, made the fewest mistakes and showed the most beautiful moves. In addition, the tour second of the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 built this wave himself.

 Sven Heller (Lucerne) and Sebastian Steinbeck (Starnberg) took second and third place in the exciting men’s competition, which 16 men had already opened on Saturday with the competitive preliminary round. For Simon Bitterlich, it’s been his second triumph at the boat show. As a 17-year-old, Bitterlich also won the stormy premiere of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2017. On his liquid playing field he enjoyed an enthusiastic audience cheering him on. 

In the women’s division, the experienced 28-year-old Valeska Schneider from Munich made the most of her chances, relegating 19-year-old Rosina Neuerer from Munich with a narrow lead of just 0.37 points to second place. Third place went to the Swiss Annik Bollag from Zurich. Valeska Schneider was one of the strongest all-rounders among the eight participating women, likes surfing both in the sea and in the standing wave, which she is currently concentrating on. Having completed a master’s degree in healthcare, the four-time German university champion in shortboard and two-time German champion in longboard is working hard for a top placement on the citywave® pro World Tour with this summer’s 2020 finale in Japan.