The 2021 GKA Distance Battle is back-and this time, we're going for ALL-TIME by opening up the competition to amateurs and pros alike in the Aluula All-Time Big Air distance battle like no other! The concept is simple: anyone can submit a video from ANY TIME.
Being a top-level athlete sounds like a dream job, but trials, tribulations, and challenges accompany it. Pushing your body to the limits and competing at the uppermost level means you risk injury and pain. Therese Taabbel is one of the top female riders on the GKA Kite World Tour. Unfortunately, at the last tour stop of 2020, Therese blew her ACL and has been on a recovery journey ever since.
We're continuing our behind-the-scenes athlete-life series with an interview with European powerhouses Jalou Langaree and Johanna-Catharina Edin! In the midst of lockdown, 2020 found Jalou and Cat bunking up together in Holland for some cold water training. Read on for what their COVID winter looked like and what the biggest takeaways from a tough year were. As we continue to navigate uncertain times, connecting with our community of athletes and riders gives us the inspiration to keep pushing and hope that, soon enough, we will return to competition!
For 2021, GKA is proud to host the Youth Freestyle and Kite-surf World Tour. This new tour was brought to life to offer a stage for our young talent and upcoming riders. The GKA's mission is to continually foster the development of riders and provide opportunities for growth and the Youth Freestyle World Tour does just that. The purpose of the Youth World Tour is to provide young competitors an arena to prove their skills through a series of international events. This enables them to get used to the competition formats and prepare them for the GKA International Tour down the road.
Our special friend and one of the most talented, hard-working and creative photographers in the kiteboarding industry, Ydwer van der Heide, has suffered a terrible injury that truly could have happened to anyone who spends time in the surf. Still without any movement in his hands and legs, this brave Dutchman has a long, uncertain journey ahead.
2020 was a year for settling in, hunkering down and for these two French kitesurfing dynamo's, training more than ever. In our new series, we'll be exploring how the GKA athletes train for competition. As the level of kitesurfing continues to explode, competitors are diving deep into diet, workouts and mental strategy. We sat down with Camille and Capucine Delannoy for a look into their unique relationship and how they're pushing one another on and off the water.
This is a refresher on the 2021 Competition Format for the GKA world tour. We have three disciplines running for 2021: the Kite-Surf tour which involves wave kitesurfing and strapless freestyle, the Freestyle tour which involves twintip freestyle kiteboarding and big air and the Hydrofoil-Freestyle Tour.
2020 was a tough year for the GKA. Travel bans, location closures and the inevitable canceling of many events left us all feeling a bit stressed. But we're proud to say that despite the many challenges of last year, we had some incredible successes and we're able to make a lot of cool things happen.
Meet Mikaili Sol - winner of the women's division at SuperKIte Brazil 2020
Meet Maxime Chabloz - the all-round athlete who took the win in the Men's Division at the SuperKite Brazil 2020 Championships!
It’s day 5 of the GKA Freestyle Super Grand Slam here in Ilha do Guajiru and we have got our Freestyle Champions 2020!
No wind, no competition on day 4 - but read all about the action on final day tomorrow!
