Windsurf · Foil era
2024
New 500-metre records for Jenna Gibson and Antoine Albeau
At Lüderitz, Jenna Gibson raises the women's windsurfing speed record to 48.02 knots and Antoine Albeau the men's to 53.49.
48.02knots
Jenna Gibson, women's 500 m record, Lüderitz, 2024
The 2024 Lüderitz Speed Challenge ran from 4 November to 8 December, and it produced two world records.
Jenna Gibson of Great Britain broke the women’s 500-metre record in late November and pushed it further in the first days of December, to 48.02 knots, about 89 kilometres an hour. The previous record, set by Heidi Ulrich in 2022, had been about 47 knots.
On 1 December Antoine Albeau raised the men’s record to 53.49 knots, just under 100 kilometres an hour. It beat his own 53.27 knots from 2015, a record that had stood for nine years. The World Sailing Speed Record Council ratified both records in February 2025.
The margins had become tiny. At the 2025 event Albeau was again the fastest, at 52.25 knots, but the gust needed for a new record never came.