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STEVEN VAN BROECKHOVEN: LIMITLESS

Axel Reese talks with former PWA World freestyle champion, 5 times European freestyle champion and 2022 world number 3, Steven van Broeckhoven, about his age-defying career.

WORDS – Axel Reese, Steven Van Broeckhoven // PHOTOS – Julian Robinet, Axel Reese and John Carter / pwaworldtour.com

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Axel Reese – Does age no longer matter in windsurfing? Even in the PWA Freestyle World Cup, where the craziest power moves go down? Until now, this discipline has always been seen as the preserve of the young, but the podium finishes at the 2022 PWA Sylt World Cup prove the opposite. The new world champion, Adrien Bosson, as well as the vice world champion, Jacopo Testa, are 31 years old and 37 year old Steven van Broeckhoven finished third. “I feel just as good as I did 10 years ago!” he beams as I sit down with Steven to learn more about the autumn of his career.

AR: Steven, last year you had a completely different plan for the 2022 season.

SVB: Yes, I wanted to go in a completely different direction. The third place at Sylt, which was a great achievement for me, came against a background that I hadn’t trained that much freestyle, as at the beginning of the year I didn’t know what I wanted to do and how my year would go.

AR: Because taking part in the 2024 Summer Olympics in iQFOiL was your big goal?

SVB: Last year I concentrated 90% of my time on iQFOiL, because the 2024 Olympics was the big goal and I received very good assistance in the form of financial support and coaching from the Belgian Federation for my Olympic preparation. But then they informed me that they would stop the support because they didn’t believe in me anymore because of my last results and my age. So that was a dark time for me, I fell into a huge black hole because it was a shock and I couldn’t cope with the situation at first and I didn’t know how things would go for me. I had been concentrating so much on iQFOiL for the last few years and then suddenly there was almost nothing, as freestyle had become just a side activity for me.

AR: The discipline in which you became PWA world champion in 2011.

SVB: Yes, but I’m having just as much fun doing it now as I did 10, 15 years ago, which is key. But the challenges of being able to do this for a living are getting bigger. However, I would like to emphasize that my sponsor GunSails continues to support me well. They even gave me foil sails during my iQFOiL period, even though they wouldn’t benefit from their commitment as only official equipment can be used in iQFOiL regattas.

As I get older I have more commitments, we have a son who is five-years-old and we have a house. That was a huge stress factor for me when my iQFOiL funding stopped.  I realized then that having fun is the priority and that’s why I want to continue in freestyle, a decision which I now feel very comfortable and happy with. But to finance that, I looked for a job with a company in Belgium where I work part-time very flexibly and on the side I repair boards, which is now working quite well.

AR: Did it change your attitude towards your windsurfing?

SVB: Yes, I was in Dahab, Egypt, for two weeks in spring to take part in a photoshoot. We had a few days with more than 30 knots of wind there and I had so much fun being able to practice this incredible sport! I became so aware of what all those years in professional windsurfing have given me, what a privilege it has all been.

AR: Did you expect the excellent results this year?

SVB: No, I didn’t dare to dream of it, let alone expect it. I worked quite a lot and my first result on the 2022 EFPT Tour was a 5th place at Lake Neusiedler in Austria at the end of April, then a 3rd place at the EFPT event in Italy. Already these great results blew me away! Finishing third in the world on the PWA tour and being on the podium at the World Cup in Sylt was just amazing! On top of that, I was three times in a heat against the new world champion Adrien Bosson this year and beat him twice, so you can see what’s possible.

I barely sailed outside of the EFPT events and the World Cup at Sylt. I was invited to the event at Lake Silvaplana in Switzerland to showcase freestyle and went to France in September for a GunSails photo shoot. And then there were weekends throughout the summer when I went to the North Sea with my family, but in the two months before Sylt I hardly had any luck with the wind. I was only able to freestyle twice in total. Otherwise, I like to go pump foiling and out on my iQFOiL board for fun because I still have the equipment.

AR: At 37, do you feel a difference in pulling off fast, powerful moves compared to 10 years ago?

SVB: Good question, I don’t feel any difference or even age limit. The big difference is that I can’t spend as much time on the water as I used to because I also have a family to take care of and the challenge of making a living. I don’t really feel any difference in my body as long as I take care of it. Maybe as you get older you think more before you try to learn tricks that can hurt if you crash them. That was different in the past!

AR: How long do you want to continue your professional windsurfing career?

SVB: I can say from last year that I can no longer call myself a professional windsurfer, as I have worked to a good extent for the money I earned outside of the windsurfing industry. So let’s say I’m semi-professional. I love windsurfing and competing so why should I stop? As long as brands support me enough I will keep going? Kelly Slater at 50 years old won the Pipeline Masters last year! Freestyle is a fun discipline and we freestylers are like a big family with a great atmosphere. I would like to say to any windsurfer, young or old, that it doesn’t matter the level on the water – at any skill level windsurfing is great fun!