Toni Vodisek and Daniela Moroz take the 2019 KiteFoil World Series Weifang titles. Check IKA report of the last day of competition. IKA Press Release: SLOVENIAN TEENAGER MAKES IT CONSECUTIVE WINS WITH TRIUMPH AT KITEFOIL WORLD SERIES IN CHINA Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek clinched victory in dramatic fashion at the death of the KiteFoil World Series’ second tour stop at Weifang Binhai, north-east China, after four action-packed days of tight racing in near-perfect conditions. Vodisek, 19, who dominated the tour’s first act in Gizzeria, Italy, in July, suffered a catastrophic crash while leading in the final day’s last race. He struck something in the water pushing hard on the first downwind leg, breaking his kite lines and putting him out of the race. But by then the teenager, who exploded into the top echelon this season, had already done enough in the regatta’s two final days to guarantee another top podium finish that puts him on course for the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) KiteFoil world title to be decided at the series’ finale on the Italian resort island of Sardinia next month. Before that, though, Vodisek will again find himself pitched against the toughest opposition in a few days’ time at …
IKA
2019 KiteFoil World Series – China – Day Three
Find out all about Day 3 at KiteFoil World Series in China. Check IKA report bellow. IKA Report: KITEFOIL WORLD SERIES’ LEADER SURGES TO TOP AFTER SLOW START IN CHINA Slovenian teenager Toni Vodisek finally got his nose in front at the top of the standings at the KiteFoil World Series in China after a stellar run of races in lighter airs on the penultimate day of the competition. Vodisek, 19, who leads the World Series after a dominant win at the first tour stop in Italy in July, grabbed three bullets from the day’s five races, helping him vault up the order from his fourth position overnight. In doing so he leapfrogged multiple former world champion, France’s Maxime Nocher, who had held the lead throughout the opening two days of the competition off Shandong province’s Weifang Binhai beach. But with just two points between the pair, and former world champions Axel Mazella (FRA) and Florian Gruber (GER) only a few points adrift snapping at their heels, the final fourth day of the series’ second tour stop is poised for a climactic finale. The Weifang regatta, boasting €60,000 in prize money, is the first of back-to-back stops in China, ahead …
2019 KiteFoil World Series – China – Day Two
The action continues in China at the KiteFoil World Series in Weifang Binhai. Check IKA report. WAFER THIN MARGINS DIVIDE LEADING KITEFOIL RACERS AT WORLD SERIES IN CHINA Little separates the leading pack at the head of the order at the KiteFoil World Series in Weifang Binhai, north-east China, after another day of scintillating racing where the top athletes traded high-placed finishes. Just two points lie between the top three men after 11 high-octane races at the half-way point of the four-day competition being played out on the Yellow Sea off Shandong Province. With 2019 World Series’ tour leader, Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek, 19, claiming three bullets from the second day’s six races, it appeared he could steal a march on the leading trio, before some misfortune and a couple of mixed performances left him in fourth spot overall. France’s former multiple world champion, Maxime Nocher, just held his lead in the standings with four remarkably consistent second-placed finishes in breezes that began the day averaging 15kts, gusting to 18kts, before easing back to 9kts. Another former world champion, Germany’s Florian Gruber, retained his second spot by a whisker with an impressive outing that racked up two bullets, a third and …
2019 KiteFoil World Series – China
The 2019 edition of the KiteFoil World Series has already started in China. Check IKA report below. IKA Report: TOP KITEFOIL RACERS PLAY LEADERBOARD SNAKES AND LADDERS AT WORLD SERIES IN CHINA The opening skirmishes at the Weifang Binhai stop of the KiteFoil World Series in north-eastern China saw the leading contenders play Snakes and Ladders as they traded places at the top of the order in stellar conditions. But when the dust settled, France’s multiple former world champion, Maxime Nocher, riding his own Flymaax brand kites, topped the standings with a solid tally of scores that included a bullet, a second and third-placed finishes in breezes that built from 7kts to 13kts. Former world champion, Germany’s Florian Gruber, also opened his account at the second of the four-stop “open” kitefoil tour with an assured bullet and a second that were enough to secure him second spot overall in the standings. Four-time female Formula Kite world champion, the US’s Daniela Moroz, in the 15-strong women’s fleet racing among the men, finished day one in Shandong province’s Weifang in ninth overall, partly thanks to a remarkable third in the second race. The first of four days’ competition at the opening of …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day Six
Check here the results of the final day of competition in China, at the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships. IKA Report: POLISH TEENAGER GRABS HER FIRST TITLE WHILE RUSSIAN VETERAN CRUISES TO VICTORY Poland’s Magda Woyciechowska landed her first international title when she sealed victory in the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships “open” division with a steely performance in fickle breezes in China. The 14-year-old was able to see off a strong challenge from her training partner and fellow countrywoman, Julia Damasiewicz, also 14, over four intense days of competition and 16 hard-fought races off Guangxi province’s Beihai city. Both finished ahead of China’s Jingle Chen who racked up a formidable haul of bullets and looked as if she could storm to victory at one point. But she stumbled in the light airs, failing to finish some races. It proved costly and she ended fourth, though it was enough to secure the Formula Kite Asian crown. By contrast Russian veteran racer Denis Taradin barely put a foot wrong. He seized a remarkable 12 bullets that gave a commanding points lead by the finish that landed him the 2019 International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Formula Kite Asians “open” title. Italy’s Mario Calbucci …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day Five
Day Five of the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships had mixed team races on the water. Check the report below. IKA Report: KITEFOIL ATHLETES GRAPPLE WITH FRESH CHALLENGES OF MIXED TEAM RACING Ambitious kitefoil athletes have had to reset their approach to top-level competition in the face of a new set of challenges since national mixed team racing was chosen as an Olympic discipline for the Paris 2024 Games. In what has until now been an essentially-individual sport, Formula Kite relay racing that will feature when kiteboarding makes its historic debut at the XXXII Olympiad’s Marseille sailing venue demands a fresh mindset. For Formula Kite veterans and ingenues alike, the mixed discipline is an exciting and intriguing breath of fresh air that adds an unexpected layer of complexity to already tricky windward-leeward racing on stratospherically-quick hydrofoils. But as elite racers at the 2019 Formula Kite Asians in Beihai, China, gathered to trial the new format—whereby the teams of one man and woman each complete one lap of a “short-track” course, with a “flying” handover—the wind refused to play ball and racing was cancelled. One day of the six scheduled for the regatta had been set aside to give athletes a …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day Four
Check bellow IKA report from the fourth day of competition in China. IKA Report: FLYING POLISH TEENAGER CEMENTS HER POSITION AT HEAD OF ORDER Poland’s Magda Woyciechowska stretched her lead at the 2019 Formula Kite Asians, just besting her countrywoman and training partner Julia Damasiewicz in a day of scintillating racing in perfect foiling conditions in China. Local favourite and key rival, Jingle Chen (CHN), threatened to unseat the Pole when she exploded out of the blocks on the regatta’s fourth day at Guangxi province’s Beihai city—taking three bullets, two in the opening races. But even after pipping Woyciechowksa in a photo finish after audaciously stealing the lead on the final downwind leg in the day’s race four, Chen suffered disaster when she twice dropped her kite before the start and failed to start the final two contests. The catastrophe put her down the order to leave in her fourth overall, leaving the door open for Natalie Flintrop-Clarke who moved up to third after she scooped up a bullet and three third places in ideal 9 to 10 kts tropical breezes on the Gulf of Beibu’s flat waters. Russia’s Denis Taradin also made hay in the sunshine, continuing his winning …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day Three
Find out all about the third day of competition in China. IKA Report: POLISH TEENAGERS SURGE TO TOP OF ORDER IN TOUGH CONDITIONS AT FORMULA KITE ASIANS Polish training partners Magda Woyciechowska and Julia Damasiewicz grabbed the top spots in the standings in the women’s fleet at the Formula Kite World Championships in China in fickle breezes that got the best of most of their rivals. The duo, both just 14, leap-frogged overnight leader, local favourite Jingle Chen (CHN), to secure the leaderboard’s first and second spots respectively in finely judged racing. In breezes that toyed with race officials, often dipping below 6kts and rarely getting above 8kts, Woyciechowska scored two bullets from the only two races possible in the start-stop racing off Guangxi province’s Beihai city. On day three of the scheduled six at the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Formula Kite Asians, the men’s fleet racing separately also only managed to get in two races, with a third abandoned when the already light breeze completely died on parts of the course. Still, Russia’s Denis Taradin had used the opening two contests to extend his points lead. Rivals in 17-strong fleet had few answers to his pace and tactical awareness …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day Two
Follow here the report from the second day of competition in China, at the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships. CHEN THRILLS HOME FANS WITH NEAR FLAWLESS OUTING AT FORMULA KITE ASIANS IN CHINA China’s Jingle Chen shrugged off her forgettable first foray at the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships and threw down the gauntlet to rivals with an almost perfect performance on the regatta’s second day to surge convincingly to the head of the order. The 18-year-old scooped five bullets and a second spot in her day’s six races in ideal foiling conditions of breezes that varied from 8kts to 11kts on the flat waters off Guangxi province’s Beihai city, south-west China. Her stellar racing when she barely put a foot wrong and had enough speed to leave the others in the women’s fleet trailing was the mirror opposite of her first day’s efforts after she was forced to retire from both races, once for following the leaders’ wrong track. “I’m at the front today, so I have to follow my own course and that’s good for me,” she said. “The wind is much better today, perfect for my 21m kite. I’m getting good starts, which I think has helped …
2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships – Day One
Check here IKA report from the action of Day One in China, at the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships. DRAMA AT FORMULA KITE ASIANS AS LEADING WOMEN DEMOTED FOR ERRORS The four women who topped the standings at the 2019 Formula Kite Asian Championships found themselves dramatically pushed down the order when they were forced to retire from one race after discovering they failed to sail the proper course. For the young Polish pair—Julia Damasiewicz and Magdalen Woyciechowska, both 14—the mistake was a rude awakening to the complexity of top-level racing. Until their withdrawal for missing a mark and failing to complete a lap in the opening day’s second race, they stood first and second with respectively. Natalie Flintrop-Clarke (AUS) and China’s Jingle Chen conceded that they had suffered crashes on the track off south-western China’s Beihai city beach and had followed the leaders, failing to realise they too had made their own mistakes and shortened the course. The errors handed Benyapa “Fon” Jantawan (THA) the lead, with a bemused Bilge Ozturk (TUR) close behind in second after two races in the opening skirmishes of the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Formula Kite Asians. But with a further five days of …
