On the sixth and final day of the Pingtan Kiteboarding World Cup, the title races for the slalom discipline came to an exciting crescendo for both the men’s and women’s divisions. Challenging conditions and intense action lit up the water as the world title races came down to this final day of the last slalom event of the year. Bryan Lake (US) and Katja Roose (NL) secured their title spots becoming the 2014 PKRA Slalom World Champions.

As the riders arrived to the beach, the strong winds from the day prior were still blowing 20-25 knots on the course, putting the fleet on edge due to the bumpy conditions and breaking waves at the finish line. Three rounds of racing were completed and with the slalom world titles on the line, aggressive racing and thrilling action highlighted the day.

The women’s battle-came down to the last race of the event between Roose and Annelous Lammerts (NL) who were neck and neck coming into the day. After two races, it came down to the very last race of the event. “It was so close!” said Roose. “I was really determined to win one of the races today, but it didn’t go my way in that respect, but I came to win the world title and I secured that, so I’m very happy. Its a big relief.”

 

 

Roose was keenly aware that she needed to take this event to secure the world title. “My win here came down to the discards, one of which was a redress from the first race where I was tangled with another racer. Annelous and I were equal for the event, and so it all came down to the very end.”

Bryan Lake was the one to chase here in the men’s division earning bullets the entire event. “I feel great” he exclaimed. “Man, I can’t believe I did it! I’m going to sleep well tonight finally. I didn’t sleep at all last night because I knew it was going to be gnarly today.” Lake seemed untouchable here in Pingtan, occasionally relinquishing the lead at an early mark, only to accelerate back to the front on the straightway.

“I came out going fast and the big breeze does kind of favor me” he added. “I just didn’t look back. It was like a mogul field out there, I was on my smallest kite and it feels good to come out on top when I’m really challenged.” 

The winner for the women’s freestyle event here in Pingtan is still in a stalemate as a difficult decision was made to re-run the super-final between Gisela Pulido (ES) and Karolina Winkowska (PL). The judgement was made after the release of the results that declared Pulido the winner of the heat, thus rendering her win invalid.

What happened was an extraordinary situation where, following the announcement of the podium finishers in the women’s division, Winkowska reviewed her scores and brought a missed trick to the attention of head judge Sami Gali. Upon further investigation, eyewitness accounts from riders and video evidence of the trick confirmed that there was a maneuver from Winkowska that was not seen by any of the judges. The PKRA judging panel confirmed that this missing trick from the final seconds of the heat could change the results, and the decision was made to re-run the super final.

Immediately following this decision, Pulido suffered an unfortunate injury to her foot requiring medical attention and the re-run of the super-final was postponed until today, awaiting the outcome of the injury from Pulido. At the scheduled start time, Gisela’s injury was such that she was unable to compete.

The PKRA committee took the decision that the best possible arrangement was to postpone the re-run until the next event in Hainan, set to take place in two days. “We felt that this is the best decision as we want to give the fairest arrangement for both riders and for them to have the same chances that they had here in Pingtan” commented PKRA Head Judge Sami Gali. “The mistake was from the PKRA judging committee, and we couldn’t reproduce the same scenario today, giving each rider the same chance to compete, because of one of the competitors injury that happened after the heat” he added.

This unique situation now puts the Pulido and Winkowska technically both in first place at the end of this event, with the tie-breaking heat to be held at the last tour stop in Hainan Island, China. The suspense of the women’s freestyle world title race now shifts to our next stop at the Hainan International Kitesurf Festival November 1st – 5th as these two former world champions continue to battle for the 2014 World Title.

2014 Pingtan Kiteboarding World Cup Results

FREESTYLE MEN: 1st Youri Zoon (NL) 2nd Christophe Tack (BE) 3rd Liam Whaley (ES)

FREESTYLE WOMEN: 1st Pulido (ES) 1st Winkowska (PO) 3rd Lammerts (NL)

SLALOM MEN: 1st Lake (US) 2nd Kerneur (FR) 3rd Crathern (UK)

SLALOM WOMEN: 1st Roose (NL) 2nd Lammerts (NL) 3rd Magaji (SK)

TT RACE MEN: 1st Kerneur (FR) 2nd Lake (US) 3rd Serin (FR)

TT RACE WOMEN: 1st Roose (NL) 2nd Tingle (CN) 3rd Magaji (SK)

Congratulations to the 2014 PKRA World Champions

Christophe Tack (BE)- Men’s Freestyle World Champion Bryan Lake (US) Men’s Slalom World Champion Katja Roose (NL) Women’s World Champion

Overall Slalom World Rankings

MEN: 1st Lake (US) 2nd Kerneur (FR) 3rd Smith (SA)

WOMEN: 1st Roose (NL) 2nd Lammerts (NL) 3rd Magaji (SK)

 

 

Previous Page 1 2 3 4 Next Page

Previous Page 1 2 3 4 Next Page