European elite expected at the 4th boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters

When boot Düsseldorf opens on 18th January 2020, the European elite will already be there. The 8 women and 16 men from all over are going to be train on THE WAVE made by citywave® in Hall 8a on the Düsseldorf exhibition site a day before. At 10.00 on Saturday, the turnstiles are opening for the general public to enjoy the 51st boot Düsseldorf, the biggest water sports trade fair in the and the only trade fair anywhere in the world that enables its visitors to surf on a citywave® free of charge throughout the entire nine days of the event. Trade fair visitors can surf to their heart’s content until 12.45, following prior online registration at thewave.boot.de. After this, the first rounds are being held for the professionals. In between, visitors will have another opportunity to demonstrate their skills or try their hand for the first time on the only indoor wave that offers an authentic surfing feeling, with the expert assistance of the citywave® instructors. Practically no-one in the enthusiastic audience will stay dry on Sunday, 19.01.2020, when the finals are taking place – starting at 12.45 for the women and at 15.15 for the men – because the surfers produce no end of spray during the radical turns they make at the edge of the pool with only centimetres to spare. There is a much larger group of favourites at this 4th Wave Masters, because the increasing number of (artificial) stationary waves in Europe means that the legendary in is no longer the only place for surfers to train. Surfing is a very strong trend at the moment, as is demonstrated by its inclusion in the illustrious chosen for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. There will be all sorts of equipment for die-hard surfers to admire and buy in a Caribbean setting in Hall 8a at boot Düsseldorf. This will be an attraction for fans of all other surfing sports too, because they will be able to book their next trip to a surfing camp or inform themselves about the latest trends there. Experienced and would-be sailors, divers, anglers and motorboaters will be keen to visit the other 16 halls on the 220,000 square metre site by the River Rhine. Because this is where they will find everything that increases fun on, by and under the water – from fish hooks to 30-metre luxury yachts.

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Contests and show programme in Hall 8a:

Wave Masters – 18. & 19.01.2020

Tow-in Contest – 18. & 19.01.2020

SUP Wave Masters – 25. & 26.01.2020

Pooltastic Wakeboard Contest – 25.01.2020

European Cup – 25.01.2020

SUP Short Track Masters – 26.01.2020

Here are the most important facts about boot Düsseldorf 2020 at a glance:

• boot Düsseldorf is open every day from 10.00 to 18.00 between 18. and 26. January 2020

• Almost 13,000 square metres devoted to hands-on surfing exhibits in Hall 8a right at the Northern Entrance to the site

• 1,400 square metre flat water pool with 2.0 cableway for , tow-in windsurfing, a foiling show and SUP tests

• THE WAVE – on the authentic deep water wave – by the citywave® experts

• The main manufacturers on-site to give advice and provide information

• Stars and experts from all trend sports will be taking turns to appear on the stage next to the big flat water pool

• Your next surfing holiday can be booked directly on-site

• Shops for bargain hunters also in Hall 8a

• boot Düsseldorf tickets can be used to travel free of charge on the Rhein-Ruhr public transport system

• Since the end of October, ticket prices and online tickets have been available at www.boot.de

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Incidentally: the right address for everyone coming in their own RV is the P1 parking lot at the Caravan Centre: electricity and water supply as well as garbage disposal are no problem here – and you are guaranteed the shortest possible distance from bed to (surf) board.

The participants and favourites in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2020

Lennard (Lenny) Weinhold • Nationality: German • Age: 18 • Place of residence: Munich • Sponsors: Delight Alliance, citywave®, • Past successes: o Victories in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in Japan (Tokyo), Israel, Austria o citywave® pro World Tour 2019: 1st place in the Men’s category o Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 Many consider him to be the future of Eisbach surfing. We are talking here about the 18-year-old Lennard “Lenny” Weinhold from Munich. He already showed everyone what he is capable of at boot Düsseldorf last year, when he won the Wave Masters 2019. Lenny repeated this performance in the citywave® pro World Tour the same year. He won the contests in Japan, Israel and Austria and came in second in Switzerland. This means that Lenny is in first place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 too. As team rider for Wavetours, he achieved further success in 2019 in river surfing. These achievements make Lenny firm favourite for the Wave Masters 2020

Simon Bitterlich • Nationality: German • Age: 20 • Place of residence: Munich • Home city: Agadir • Past successes:

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o 2nd place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 rankings o citywave® pro World Tour 2019: 2nd place in Israel and Austria o 3rd place in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 o Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2017 o European Championship in stationary wave surfing 2015: 2nd place in the Grommets category Simon Bitterlich from Munich is no stranger in the community. In 2015, when he was 15 years old, he won 2nd place in the European Championship in Munich in the Grommets category. Four years later, he is no less successful. He came in third in the Wave Masters 2019 at boot Düsseldorf and he is in second place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 after the four qualification rounds, having achieved second place in Israel and Austria. Simon is part of the O’Neill Eisbach Crew and will make favourite Lenny Weinhold’s life difficult in Düsseldorf.

Jan Vogt • Nationality: German • Age: 35 • Place of residence: Munich • Other information: Member of the citywave® Crew • Past successes: o 3rd place after the qualification rounds of the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 o 4th place in the Wave Masters 2019 at boot Düsseldorf He is one of the most experienced participants in this year’s Wave Masters and certainly knows the wave best, since he works pretty much every day on improving the deep water wave system as part of the team headed by the designers Susi und Rainer Klimaschewski. So he is completely at home on the citywave®. He also comes from Munich, reached fourth place in the Wave Masters 2019 and has ambitious plans for 2020. Jan has been a committed surfer for almost 20 years now and makes sure he enjoys the sport to the full.

Daniel Brunnhuber • Nationality: Austrian

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• Age: - • Place of residence: Vienna • Past successes: o 3 times silver in the Austrian national championships in river surfing on the SCS Multiplex citywave® o 2019: gold in the Austrian national championship in river surfing on the SCS Multiplex citywave® Daniel Brunnhuber is one of the most well-known river surfers from Austria. He comes from Vienna and won silver in the first three Austrian national championships in river surfing on the SCS Multiplex citywave®. Daniel is a citywave® coach and obviously feels particularly comfortable on waves of this kind. Anyone who wants to win in Düsseldorf will have to beat him first.

Sven Heller • Nationality: Swiss • Age: - • Place of residence: - • Past successes: o Semi-final in the Swiss Wavepool Championship 2019 o 3rd place in the qualification rounds of the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 Sven Heller is one of the Swiss participants in the Wave Masters 2020 at boot Düsseldorf. He reached the semi-finals in the Swiss Wavepool Championship 2019 and he is one of the top surfers in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 too. He ended the four qualification rounds in a good fifth place. People who know Sven are aware that he really loves citywave® and spends a great deal of time on the stationary wave improving his moves and tricks.

Tao Schirrmacher • Nationality: German • Age: 37 • Place of residence: Munich • Sponsors: Quiksilver, Planet Sports, Swox, Fatum and Big Ding

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• Past successes: o European Champion in Stationary Wave Riding 2013 o 3rd place in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2018 Tao Schirrmacher enjoys what is almost legendary status at the Eisbach in Munich. He is an industrial designer who lives in Munich and has been surfing there since as long ago as 2001. The stationary wave there and the citywave® that used to be set up every year at Munich Airport have become a major feature of his life. In addition to active surfing, Tao established the repair brand Big Ding, which is certainly used more frequently by Eisbach surfers than on sandy beach breaks. At the Wave Masters 2020, the experienced surfer intends to prove that he is not by any means simply one of the old guard and aims to match the success he achieved in 2018.

Lukas Brunner • Nationality: German • Age: 24 • Place of residence: Munich • Past successes: o Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2018 o European Champion in Stationary Wave Riding 2015 and 2016 o Winner of the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in Switzerland Lukas Brunner is a well-known name in the surfing community outside Munich as well. This may be due to the fact that Lukas currently lives in Ericeira () and thus combines the best in open water surfing and river surfing. His roots are the Eisbach in Munich, however, where he started in 2008 and his victory in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters in 2018 make Lukas one of the favourites for the contest in Düsseldorf on 18. and 19. January 2020.

Fabian Villarroel • Nationality: Swiss • Age: - • Place of residence: - • Other information: Nickname: Chilli

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• Past successes: o 2nd place in the Swiss Wavepool Championship 2018 Fabian Villarroel is representing his home country – Switzerland – in the Wave Masters 2020. He first drew attention to himself when he came in second in the Swiss Wavepool Championship 2018. It is no coincidence that Fabian Villarroel’s nickname is Chilli: hot turns are his speciality. His fans will be cheering him on and are convinced that he is one of the favourites in the Wave Masters 2020.

Alon Evron • Nationality: Israeli • Age: - • Place of residence: - • Past successes: o Participant in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 o participant Not only the crowd was enthusiastic about Alon Evron’s performance in the Wave Masters 2019 – winner Lenny Weinhold paid tribute to him too: “The biggest surprise to me was definitely Alon Evron from Israel, because he succeeded in landing an impressive frontside and backside reverse!” This may not have surprised Evron himself, however, since he regularly takes part in the contests organised by the highest surf league, the WSL Open Water, but it is certainly proof of exceptional talent to complete these moves on a stationary wave of limited width too. With his open and friendly personality and following another year of training on the citywave® opened in Israel in 2019, it is likely that he will have the spectators on his side again when he competes in Düsseldorf.

Joshua Holy • Nationality: German • Age: 18 • Place of residence: Munich • Past successes: o 2nd place in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 o 3rd place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in Austria

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o 2nd place in the Rip Curl Langenfeld Pro 2019 Joshua “Joshi” Holy is definitely more experienced in 2019, when he has drawn greater attention to himself. He made a very good start at the Wave Masters 2019, where his breathtaking moves brought him an excellent second place, while further top 3 results in the course of the year confirm his consistency and certainly make him one of the favourites on the citywave® at boot Düsseldorf.

Sebastian Steinbeck • Nationality: German • Age: 19 • Place of residence: Starnberg • Past successes: o 2 x 5th places in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 o Winner of the first German River Surfing Championship in 2019 o Winner of the Crown of the Traun 2019 Sebastian Steinbeck won the first official German River Surfing Championship in 2019. Basti only started surfing in the of 2015 and has already produced impressive results. Perhaps this is no surprise, since he is so good at every conceivable board sport. He always performs well, whether he is on a surfboard, a snowboard, a skateboard, a kiteboard or a wakeboard. Open water and river surfing continue to be his favourite all the same, because this is where he feels completely free.

Johannes Nikolaus Hajek • Nationality: Austrian • Age: - • Place of residence: - • Past successes: o Participant in the Austrian Championships 2017 o Participant in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 Johannes Nikolaus Hajek is not an unknown quantity in the surfing community either. He is a regular participant in competitions, where he demonstrates his skills to spectators. The Austrian Championship and the citywave® pro World Tour were the most recent opportunities the public had to watch him in action. This year, Hajek is competing in the Wave

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Masters 2020. It will be interesting to see whether he and his board produce as good a performance as they normally do.

Sophie Puchta • Nationality: German • Age: - • Place of residence: Munich • Past successes: o 1st place after the qualification rounds for the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 Sophie Puchta from Munich is undoubtedly one of the newcomers of the year. She has been creating a real stir in 2019. This is attributable primarily to her success in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019, in which she finished in first place after the first four qualification rounds – a surprise to many people. Quite a few observers consider Sophie to be one of the dark horses, who will make it difficult for the reigning champion Janina Zeitler to repeat her victory this year in the Wave Masters 2020.

Valeska Schneider • Nationality: German • Age: 28 (born on 14.12.1991) • Place of residence: Munich • Past successes: o Participant in 2 World Championships o 2nd place after the qualification rounds for the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 o Participant in various QS events o Winner of the German Championship in 2019 o Won the shortboarding category for the 4th time in a row at the adh Open 2019 She is one of the best surfers in Germany at the moment – Valeska Schneider. She was born in Starnberg and only started surfing when she went on a trip around the world after graduating from high school. She has kept going ever since. In 2019, she won the shortboarding category at the adh Open for the fourth time in a row. Valeska is a down-to-earth athlete who finished the qualification rounds for the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in second place. Surfing has enabled Valeska to see the world: she

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has, for example, already surfed on the Maldives and in Senegal. Valeska is ambitious and already succeeded in demonstrating what she is capable of at the Wave Masters 2019, when she came in third. This year, however, she would like to top this by winning, but there are a number of other competitors who aim to make it difficult for her to reach this goal.

Rosina Neuerer • Nationality: German • Age: 19 • Place of residence: - • Past successes: o 1st place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in Israel and Austria o Winner of the RIP Curl Langenfeld Pro 2019 o German Youth Champion in 2015 o Open Escuela cantabra de surf, September 2017, 4th place, Open Women o Langenfeld 2018, 2nd place, Open Women o boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2017, 2nd place, Open Women o European Championships on a stationary wave 2016, 3rd place, Open Women Even though she is still young at the age of 19, Rosina Neuerer is already one of the most successful surfers in Germany: she came in second in the Wave Masters 2017. Rosina was born in Rosenheim and started surfing at the age of 12. Since then, she has taken part in countless competitions, in which she has regularly performed impressively and achieved considerable success. In 2019, Rosina won the citywave® pro World Tour contests in Israel and Austria. Although the Eisbach is where she is at home, the place Rosina prefers to surf is Playa Hermosa in Costa Rica. Anyone who wants to win the Wave Masters 2020 will definitely face a tough battle with Rosina.

Janina Zeitler • Nationality: German • Age: 19 • Place of residence: Munich

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• Past successes: o On a stationary wave: § 2016: European Champion, Open Women § 2017: Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters, Open Women § 2018: Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters, Open Women § In the citywave® pro World Tour 2019: 1st place in Switzerland and Japan § 2nd place in the RIP Curl Langenfeld Pro 2019 § Winner of the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 o Open water surfing: § 2017: 3rd place in the German Youth Championship in Saint Girons, § 2018: 8th place in the Eurosurf Junior in Santa Cruz, Portugal § 2018: German Youth Champion in Saint Girons, France § 2018: participant in the ISA World Surfing Games in Tahara, Japan (18th place in the team contest for Germany) § 2018: participation in the ISA World Junior in Huntington Beach, (9th place in the team contest for Germany) Janina Zeitler from Munich is taking part in the Wave Masters 2020 as the reigning champion. She won the title at the Wave Masters 2019 with spectacular manoeuvres and fascinating moves at the age of 19. But this was not her first or only victory. In recent years, Janina has participated in so many competitions that it is practically impossible for anyone in the community not to have come across her. In the citywave® pro World Tour 2019, Janina came in first in Switzerland and Japan. There is no doubt that she is currently one of the most successful German surfers. She started surfing in 2012 and the Eisbach is where she is at home in the meantime, but Playa Negra in Costa Rica is where she prefers to surf.

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Johanna Lackner • Nationality: Austrian • Age: - • Place of residence: Vienna • Past successes: o 2nd place in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 in Israel o 2019 gold in the Austrian National River Surfing Championships on the SCS Multiplex citywave® o 2nd place in the boot Düsseldorf Wave Masters 2019 Johanna Lackner, who grew up by the Almkanal in Salzburg and now lives in Vienna, is one of the most well-known active Austrian surfers. Johanna already competed in the Wave Masters last year and succeeded in reaching second place there thanks to her spectacular manoeuvres. In 2019, she won gold for the first time in the Austrian National River Surfing Championships on the SCS Multiplex citywave® -– a tremendous success for the likeable Austrian. When Johanna is not on a board herself, she acts as a coach at the Multiplex citywave®. Anyone who wants to win the title in the Wave Masters 2020 will have to beat Johanna and there is no doubt at all that she will make this as difficult as possible for her opponents.

Lenka Ferak • Nationality: Austrian • Age: - • Place of residence: - • Past successes: o Participant in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019 Many people still do not know much about her, but Lenka Ferak from Austria has already shown what she is capable of in the citywave® pro World Tour 2019. She finished three of the contests in the top 10. It does not take long to see that Lenka and her board harmonise on the water. Lenka is definitely an outsider in the Wave Masters 2020, but her aims are to knock one or two of the favourites out of the competition and to show everyone just how well she can perform.

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