The Alaïa Open Winter Cup is back and will take place from November 4th to the 6th, 2022. For this year’s edition, the city of Sion, the capital of the Valais region, will see surfers from all over Switzerland and the rest of the world compete on the waves of Alaïa Bay in water temperatures below 10°C.

This event can accommodate more than 80 participants, with the athletes divided into 4 categories: Open Women, Open Men, Junior Girls and Junior Boys. The competition is based on the World Surf League format, with qualifying heats on Saturday, followed by the finals (Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals) on Sunday.

The contest is held in association with the Swiss Surfing Association, and The Alaïa Open Winter Cup is the final event of the Edelweiss Surf Tour. This is a Swiss surfing tour involving different types of surfing, including standing wave surfing, river wave surfing and wave pool surfing. The best Swiss surfers will compete to win the series as well as the “Swiss Wavepool Champion” title. The final tour results will be announced at the end of this competition, and the Surf Tour Champion will be crowned.

Among the competitors are the Swiss Durbi Castillo and Alena Gubler. After three contests, they are in first place in the Men and Women’s categories and have a good chance of winning the tour. 

In the Junior Girls and Boys category, the young Swiss Fabiana Klein and Rivan Rock Rosskopf have a good chance of winning the tour. Among the locals, Rachel Mead-Bonhôte, resident of Verbier (VS) and winner of the Swiss Surfing Championships in Spain, will be competing. Another top-rated surfer is Carlos Gerber, a resident of Ovronnaz who swapped his snowboard for a surfboard. However, the competition will be tough with the presence of many international athletes. 

here is also a delegation of Basque surfers with Bitor Garitaonandia and Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri, both recent Junior European Champions in the Azores, and Yago Dominguez Annette Gonzalez Etxabarri. 

The Germans Noah Klapp and Dylan Groen, the Israeli Anat Lelior, the Italian Francesco Lazzarini, the young Portuguese Maria Salgado, and the British powerhouse Lukas Skinner will also be competing for the win.