Dutchman defends his title in emphatic fashion Kevin Langeree won a closely-contested three-man final battle at Kite Beach in Cape Town on Wednesday 6 February, to retain his title. This is the Dutchman’s third Red Bull King of the Air win, making him the winningest big air rider on African soil. Langeree outgunned Hawaiian Jesse Richman (2013 Red Bull King of the Air champ) and Liam Whaley (Spain) in 30-knot ‘Cape Doctor’ conditions during the 13-minute final. Spoils of war © Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool “To be up here for the third time is amazing,” Langeree commented from the podium. “Sharing it with these amazing riders is just something magical, you know!” According to Langeree he had no idea of the situation during the final as it was so close. “These guys were killing it – they were going so big!” He said. “I managed to land a new trick, so I’m stoked,” he concluded. “It think that put me on top.” Around 9000 people lined Kite Beach to watch the semi-finals and final on the day. A tale of two days The first day ran on Thursday 31 January. That day offered near perfect conditions for …
Big Air rider
Who is the best big-air kiter in the world?
Classic Cape conditions as Rounds One & Two of Red Bull King of the Air go down at Big Bay. The Cape Doctor (Southeasterly wind) draped the ‘table cloth’ over the iconic Table Mountain fashionably late on Wednesday 3 February. When it did show up though (at around 16:30 local time) the world’s best big-air kiters launched their kites and hit the 3-4 foot (1 – 1,5m) ramps (waves) of Big Bay and gave the faithful crowd everything they had been waiting for from early on in the day. It was all systems go for Red Bull King of the Air 2016! Recently-crowned South African freestyle champ Ozzy Smith started with a bang but lost out to big wind specialist Lasse Walker. Both would advance to round three through, with the third and fourth-placed riders being religated to the elimination Round Two. Riding in the opening heat of any event is always a challenge and they showed that it was going to be the riders who could best adapt to the conditions – ‘lighter’ winds – and produce variety were going to come out on top. Tom Herbert provided some of the biggest highlights of the day. He won his …
