Freestyle action from day one of the 2016 El Gouna Kiteboarding Grand Slam
Day one started early for both riders and staff with qualifications kicking off at a chilly 7am sharp. Qualifications were stacked with a field of talented men and women both giving it their all fighting for a spot in the main event.
Brazilian Set Teixiera had an early scare loosing his kite in one of the days early heats, luckily he made his way back through the second chance draw and into the main event. It was however undoubtedly the French team that stole the show, with great performances in both the Mens and Womens field, securing a number of places in the main event. This new French team will surely be one to look out for over the year under the helpful guidance of the new coach Seb Garat. Seb also competed in the trials, narrowly missing out on a spot himself.
After two hours of trials, held on two heat areas in parallel, the main event got underway. It’s been a long eight months since the last event for most of these guys and you could tell by the way they all rode they were all hungry for a win!
Young French rider Delmas showed he may have a bright future ahead of him, first passing the qualifiers and later coming all the way through the main event and into the Quarter Finals. With a solid smooth style beyond his years, be sure to keep an eye on him tomorrow and throughout the rest of the year!
At the end of day one we’re halfway through round four for the Men and yet to start round four for the Women, but things are really starting to warm up! This is where the competition really starts getting tight as we will get to see what will be arguably the most hotly contested round of the event, Round Five!
Round Five is the three person heat super round that determines for the last time who will end up with a chance at competing for the top four places.
With Big seeds Kajiya and Winkowska in the Women and Mario, Hadlow, Pastor and Zoon in the Men all making it through to round five, tomorrow will be an exciting day. Mario is undoubtedly on fire and has already been throwing down some tricks that we’ve hardly ever seen landed in competition before, you can be fairly certain that he will be the one to beat this year.
Make sure you tune into the Livestream site and our Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram feeds for all the latest highlights and heat by heat results.
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The main events in Freestyle and Big Air will have love coverage at http://worldkiteleague.com/index.php/live
Competition continues until Saturday when the first 2016 winners in Freestyle and Big Air will be crowned.
