GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023 - Overall

by Ian MacKinnon 28 Jun 2023 13:13 BST 20-25 June 2023

The GKA Youth Kite World Championships have crowned a raft of new young stars in the Twin-Tip Freestyle and Kite-Surf disciplines after almost a week of incredible action in southern Spain's Tarifa.

Forty-five young athletes from 19 nations around the globe battled for glory in the male and female U14, U16 and U19 categories in both disciplines over three epic days of competition in perfect Poniete and punchy Levante winds.

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023, day 2 - photo © Samuel Cardenas

In a break from the contest, the up-and-coming young kiteboarders got to meet and interact with their heroes—Liam Whaley, Polly Crathorne, Alex Pastor and Giel Vlugt—who took part in a pioneering seminar programme by CasaExplora.

With so many standout performances during the competition, it seems unfair to pick out any particular young athletes. But on day one, with an ideal easterly Poniente, Italy's Pierfrancesco Rizzello opened his account with a win in the U14 Boys' Twin-Tip Freestyle. He doubled up with victory in the U14 Boys' Kite-Surf contest.

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023, day 2 - photo © Samuel Cardenas

Monti too strong

The Girls' U16 Twin-Tip Freestyle title was also decided on the opening day, with Bulgaria's Aya Kasabova topping the podium. At the close of the contest she also took a third in the U19 Women's Kite-Surf discipline.

But in the U19 Kite-Surf contest the experienced Italian Sofia Monti, who battled in the senior Qatar Airways GKA Big Air Kite World Championships recently, was too strong for the rest of the field and lifted the title in the Levante gusting to 35 knots.

"I'm really happy," said Monti, after her win. "Today was really gusty, but really fun. It's great to be here. Last year I was vice world champion. This year I'm world champion. Next I plan to go to all the competitions for the GKA."

Monti had just eased aside the Danish rider, Kaya Lehmann, who took the second podium place in U19 Kite-Surf. But she had already taken the world title in the U19 Women's Twin-Tip Freestyle earlier, on day two of the competition.

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023, day 2 - photo © Samuel Cardenas

Flügel makes it three

"It feels amazing," said Lehmann. "I've been working for this for a while, so I'm really happy to finally have won. Awesome. It was my goal [to win] but I'm really happy that I made it."

Day two of the action also saw Germany's rising young star, Finn Flügel, take his junior world title haul to three when he won the Boys' U16 Twin-Tip Freestyle, even though he is still just 13 years old.

"It feels amazing," said the teenager. "I've been working on this for the whole year, just fighting and going on the water every day. A lot of fun, but also a lot of effort to get world champion, and I'm just so proud."

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023, day 2 - photo © Samuel Cardenas

"Riders' levels high"

In the Poniente breezes, France's Antoine Ollivier, also topped the podium in the Men's U19 Twin-Tip Freestyle, getting the better of Rafael Montero (ESP) and Martinique's Eliott Panet, to land the crown.

"I've been expecting this result because I've been training really hard," said Ollivier. "I saw on social media the level of the riders and so I was focused. So I'm really stoked. Yes, very happy."

GKA Youth Kite World Championships Tarifa 2023, day 2 - photo © Samuel Cardenas

On the last day in the strong, easterly Levante, Spain's Javier Lopez took the U16 Boys' Kite-Surf title, while France's Noah Nicolas took the U19 Men's Kite-Surf crown to close out the GKA Youth World Championships for another successful year.