World Kiteboarding Championships, Cumbuco – The Finals
Sun 25th Nov, 2018 @ 8:45 am
The small final and main finals took place today at Duro Beach, Cumbuco, with ideal conditions and a beach packed with hundreds of spectators. The Men’s Small Final was first in the sequence, followed by the Women’s final and concluding with the Men’s Final.
Men’s Small Final
The small final was a battle between 4 strong athletes to place themselves from 4th to 8th position for this final event of the year. Set Teixeira entered the small final riding with confidence and power. He landed a good Backside 317 and a KGB 5, finishing in 1st place for the small final and giving him the 5th position for this event. Anthar Racca remained extremely close behind and landed an incredible Slim 7 amongst his attempts. Local rider Kalu de Sousa has had a fantastic event, making it to the small final on only his second Elite Championship event and finished the small final in 2nd place. Gianmaria Coccoluto from Italy did not manage his best heat, but he did land an impressive KGB5 amongst his attempts and finished in 4th.
Women’s Final
We witnessed an incredibly high level of riding from our four female finalists in Cumbuco today.
Our World Champion, 14-year-old Mikaili Sol from Brazil was on fire from the start, landing three tricks that scored in the 9´s. It was the first ever final for Pippa van Iersel on only her second WKC Elite event, and what a performance she gave! She proved that she is a new big player in female kiteboarding, and once again landed a massive Heart Attack scoring 8.17points on her second trick attempt. Francesca Bagnoli has been in every WKC final this year, and she once again rode incredibly well. Her Hinterberger mobe was beautifully executed and scored her 8.07 points. Our local wildcard Estefania Rosa has also had a positive event, coming all the way up through winning the qualifiers. She landed a good array of tricks but struggled with several crashed attempts towards the end of the heat. Mikaili Sol sealed the deal with her exceptional performance today in Cumbuco and is now our 2018 World Champion, an incredible accomplishment for this 14-year-old athlete. Francesca Bagnoli finished 2nd, and Pippa Van Iersel came in third, her first podium position on the WKC.
Men’s Final
Our final WKC event of the year saw an outstanding level of performance from all four male finalists, each of them hungry for the top podium spot. Erick Anderson may be the unknown name in the final, but his riding level was up there with the very best. He landed tricks with incredible power and height and rode one of his best heats. Liam Whaley, our Former World Champion seemed to feel the pressure at the start, but came back with a massive 8.53 points for his Backside 317 on his 4th trick attempt. Adeuri Corniel just went massive and fully powered, in his typical style, landing solid high scores throughout the heat. His KGB7 was spectacular and scored him 9 points. But it was our current Champion Carlos Mario who once again proved to the World that he is at the very top of his game. He landed a Heart Attack 7 and a Backside 319 and came back to the beach to his hundreds of supporters to share and celebrate his victory. It was an emotional final that saw such incredible drive and performance from all participants, and once again Carlos Mario was crowned as 2018 World Champion.
Cumbuco, Brazil has been an incredible location to host this final stop of the year, and the perfect conditions we saw each day allowed all athletes to push themselves to the limit truly. 2018 has been a fantastic year, and today’s action was the icing on the cake. Congratulations to all of our athletes for the passion and determination they all showed during this competition!
