Report by: Sensi Graves Photos by: Lukas K Stiller
Day Two of the 2022 GKA Freestyle World Cup Colombia started off with clear, sunny skies and building wind. As rider’s began to gather for the skippers meeting at 9:00am, you could feel the excitement building. “It’s a sunny day, the wind is nice and we’re starting with the women. I’m excited.” said veteran and legendary competitor Bruna Kajiya.
Heats progressed quickly throughout the day as the wind continued to build. Conditions were choppy and began to get challenging with gusty wind flowing over the beach. It was a full day of kiteboarding as we ran Women’s Round One and Men’s Round Three.
DAY TWO HEAT RESULTS
WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS:
Although the women’s field at this event is smaller compared to others, the level of talent is off the charts. 4x world champion Mikaili Sol is already gunning for another world title, Rita Arnaus is feeling strong and has been training on her new gear and Bruna is as steady of a competitor as ever. It’s been awesome to see the level of progression of the women steadily climb. We’ll see if anyone can touch Sol as she pushes the amplitude and technicality of the women higher and higher.
In women’s heat one, Rita Arnaus won it at the last second over Saumi Cavallo and Bruna Kajiya with a cleanly executed slim chance. Conditions were a bit choppy and all three riders struggled to land consistently.
Women’s heat two was a stacked heat with Spanish rider Claudia Leon landing a clean backside 313 and a slim chance. Estefania Rosa answered back with a frontside 313 and a Hinterberger mobe. Although the stand out of the session was most certainly Mikaili Sol who showed how consistently she’s been training with an absolutely massive slim chance 5 scoring an 8.03. She also landed a Hinterberger mobe 5 scoring 8.77.
MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The men’s heats were full of power and style with many stand-outs. We managed to finish the entire Round Three of the men today. Heats of three riders competed with the top rider moving directly into Round Five and the lowest two riders moving into Round Four.
Stand-out riders from today’s heats were Maxime Chabloz, who started off the competition in Men’s Round Three, Heat One with a massive frontside 319. Maxime also competes in skiing on the Freeride World Tour and his consistency in competition really shone today.
In men’s heat two, Adeuri Corniel made his first competition debut post-knee surgery in 2021. Despite coming back from injury he landed a clean Frontside 319 and a Slim Chance 720. He seemed to play it safe to simply make it through the first round and still threw down some big tricks. His competitor and another good Dominican rider, Luis Cruz was absolutely sending it, throwing mega tricks with super height and pop. Luis Alberto Cruz who went massive off of the kickers on the outside but wasn’t quite able to stick his landings. Making his way through round three, Adeuri aka the black panther dominated with good power and clean style.
One of the biggest upsets today was 2019 World Champion Valentin Rodriguez who lost by less than 2 points to fellow Colombian Juan Rodriguez. Valentin struggled a bit with the conditions, crashing a few too many times. Both riders demonstrated power and height. Juan was steady and managed to keep it together to advance straight into Round Five.
The wind held steady all day as we worked our way through the elimination ladders. In men’s heat six, Posito Martinez did a massive front blind mobe off of a wave kicker, showing technicality and precision execution. He stole the show, got a huge reaction from the crowd and will be moving straight into Round Five.
Our two youngest competitors, Finn Flugel and Pierfrancesco Rizzello, just 11 and 12 years old, showed up with heart and power. Trying backside 313´s, back mobes and riding with power. It’s exciting to watch the next generation of riders make their way onto the competition stage.
Further stand-out performances included Gianmaria Coccoluto who showed that he’s been training extremely hard and that hard work paid off today. He managed to score the highest total score of the heats, landing a MASSIVE frontside 319, crowmobe 5 and a slim 7 with a grab. He showed a lot of variety and power. All this after crashing his first two tricks.
Finally, defending World Champion Arthur Guillebert rode in the final heat of the day against Daniel Pereira. He showed up with power and amplitude, stomping tricks with clean landings. He started the heat slowly but then built up and landed a backside 317 and a frontside 319 to beat out Pereira.
This competition is going to set the stage for the entire rest of the year and each of the tour’s strongest competitors wants to prove themselves on this world stage. This event alone will create a lot of momentum for the remainder of the year. We’re stoked to get back on the water tomorrow for the Women’s Final Heats and Men’s Round Four.
We’ll be back in action tomorrow with a first possible start of 10:00am.
Here’s how to stay up-to-date with all the event happenings.
- Check the Liveticker which will show heat by heat action and live scoring (unfortunately we don’t have livestream video at this event).
- Follow our instagram account for behind the scenes action and event updates
- Subscribe to our newsletter for end of day reporting
- Check out our youtube channel for daily highlight videos
