Finales PKRA Fuerteventura Grand Slam

Tijdens de zesde en laatste dag van de Fuerteventura Kiteboarding Grand Slam was er sprake van een spectaculair slot bij de Freestyle mannen en dames. De Spanjaarden waren bijzonder succesvol tijdens deze thuiswedstrijd. Want na spannende eliminaties eindigden Liam Whaley en Gisela Pulido bovenaan het podium, wat tot grote vreugde leidde van het Spaanstalige publiek.  

Liam Whaley wist voor het eerst in zijn carriere de eerste plaats te bemachtigen en hield daarmee de Belg Christophe Tack achter zich. Tack plaatste zich voor de finale door met een miniem verschil van 0,09 punten te winnen van Aaron Hudlow.

Gisela Pulido besliste de strijd met Karolina Winkowska in haar voordeel na een zinderende finale waarin de dames enorm aan elkaar gewaagd waren. Annelous Lammerts eindigde overigens als derde in de Freestyle races. Tijdens de slalom had onze landgenote meer geluk en wist ze de andere dames af te troeven. Meer informatie over deze heats kun je hieronder in het verslag van de PKRA terug vinden.

PKRA jurylid Ian Sleuyter: “Christophe and Aaron share similar styles, both throw down very big tricks with high technical difficulty, sometime luck comes into play, the heat could have gone either way.”

Gisele Pulido: “Winning in Spain is awesome because I feel the support of the people cheering for me on the beach. I just couldn’t believe that I won twice over Karolina – that just means a lot for me and my mind. After coming second so many times, you lose confidence, so it gives me a lot of motivation.”

Following the freestyle competition, two more rounds of slalom racing were run in 17- 25 knots of wind. In the women’s fleet, Annelous Lammerts (NL) earned a first and a sixth place finish, giving her the results needed to take over the first place spot from Bibiana Magaji (SK). Manuela Jungo (CH) managed to climb into the third position by stealing the win in the last race of the day, pushing local favorite Julia Castro (ES) into the fourth place.

The men’s fleet saw no movement in the top three with Julien Kerneur (FR) and Ozzie Smith (SA) holding on to first and second respectively, despite a win for Smith and poor results from Kerneur. Paul Serin (FR) held on to third as well, and strong finishes from Maxi Gomez (ES) advanced him to the forth place spot.

Overall, the Fuerteventura Kiteboarding Grand Slam proved to be a giant success with many close and amazing on-water battles throughout the week. In true Fuerteventura style, we saw a variety of conditions, which challenged the riders on all levels and allowed for copious amounts of exciting kiteboarding action for the fans and spectators, both on the beach and online. As the deserving champions were recognized for their achievements at the awards ceremony, the 13th running of the PKRA Fuerteventura Grand Slam came to a close with great triumph.

If you missed it live, you can watch the replay of the live stream of the freestyle and slalom action. Follow the PKRA World Tour as we continue on for the 2014 season.  Stay up to date with all the lastest news, event info and updates on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.