LIVETICKER DAY 3 (GMT+4)
Current discipline: Freestyle (Find season rankings so far here)
Judging Criteria: Pure freestyle (4 tricks from 4 different trick families count from 7 attempts. Riders take turns to perform one trick in a minute)
Note: This liveticker automatically updates every couple of minutes if ticker is online!
Note: Scroll down on this page for the live heat score and heat ladder
Report: Jim Gaunt
17.26 – THAT’S A WRAP FOR THE DAY
We’ve reached the women’s semi finals and completion of the men’s Freestyle round two. Conditions look great again tomorrow! Have a good night everyone! We’re off to the C-Beach Club…
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE ROUND TWO
17.25 Heat 6
And we did get an improvement in terms of a battle between Pippa Van Iersel and Nathalie Lambrecht – Kazbanova was somewhat of a passenger, now in her second heat of her career (after round one!)
Fewer crashes this heat and van Iersel and Lambrecht traded top spot a few times with respectable backside 313s and S-bends to blind.
Come the 7th and final trick, lying in second and in danger of being eliminated, van Iersel headed away from the beach, left foot forward and slotted a heart attack to wrapped, notching up a 7.1, leaving Nathalie in need of a 7.76 to re-take the lead.
She went all in, lost her rotation and bailed.
RESULT
1 van Iersel (Advances to semi final)
2 Lambrecht (Advances to semi final)
3 Kazbanova (Out)
16.55 Heat 5
Claudia Leon (ESP) V Therese Taabbel
Unfortunately these two riders never quite clicked into gear in this round and Therese made it too easy for Claudia by crashing five times. Pushing too hard? Possibly – but in the end due to the draw both these women would find themselves in the semi-finals, so this heat was just for seeding in the semis. Claudia Leon was able to cruise a winning tally of just 10.4 points. Will things look up in the next heat, which is the second and last heat of round two? After that it’s semi final time.
RESULT:
1 Leon (Advances to semi-final)
2 Taabbel (Out)
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE ROUND ONE
16.25 Heat 4
Mikaili Sol (BRA) V Claudia Leon (ESP)
Aiming to ramp up the pace, world champion Mikaili Sol came charging in on her first trick and launched the biggest and most powered pop seen in the women’s contest so far, she looked to have the slim 5 in the bag all day… but caught a massive edge on landing and was ripped out of her boot. Ouch. No problem for her, she’s strong.
Shaping up to be the best women’s heat of round one. Head Judge Mallory reckons that if Claudia was doing the full tour she’d be on the podium.
Mikaili stormed in again with a 315 that was as big as we saw in most of the men’s heat. Game on here with two similar riders. Mikaili ahead after four tricks with a slim and 315 scoring 6.83 and 7.7 respectively.
Claudia bounced back on trick five with a back-to-blind earning a respectable 6.07. Already these two with higher tricks scores than we’ve seen so far.
Mikaili’s heart attack gains “Goooood” comments from the judges tower. 8.27. Smashing it. Claudia’s still in the hunt, just, 5.34 points behind after five attempts each. Two to go.
Mikaili hinterberger 5 attempt, just missing the bar, but riding away, so no score there, but close.
After 6 tricks each, Claudia leads, but Mikaili’s had one more crash, so all on the last trick…
Claudia goes first, landing an S-bend backside 1, scoring a good 6.6.
Mikaili needs just 1.85… The judges tell me she’ll go for a safer 315 – a family she hasn’t done… the kite goes low as she passes the bar… and she lands. Boom – taking the win.
RESULT
1 Sol (Advances to round 3)
2 Leon (Advances to round 2)
16.10 Heat 3
Varvara Kazbanova (RUS) / Rita Arnaus (ESP) / Therese Taabbel (DEN)
Taabbel like a good pro improved her score with every trick, and as the wind picked up throughout she popped higher and higher. Her BJ 4.93 should have been rewarded a little higher perhaps, but she applied pressure to Rita who then registered her third trick from five attempts.
After four crashes in her heat, Rita really needed to land her 7th and final trick… and saved up a solid S-bend back-side 1 for 6.1 to steal the win by 0.5 points!
Kazbanova in her first competition finished in third.
RESULT:
1 Arnaus (Advances to round 3)
2 Taabbel (Advances to round 2)
3 Kazbanova (Out)
15.45 Heat 2
Paula Novotna (CZE) V Pippa Van Iersel (NED)
Two dedicated freestylers on the scene. Pippa’s quickly stacking experience while Paula is among the most experienced seasoned competitors in the fleet.
They both crashed on their first trick as the wind really buffeted. The race director almost postponed the heat but as soon as he stuck his head out the tower, he bellowed “Hold on, hold on, it’s coming back!”
Novotna moved ahead with a kite-low 313 for a relatively steep 5.77 points, but Pippa just 1.75 points behind after 3 tricks.
Clearly riding high after winning her first event in Sotavento last round, Novotna slammed two 6 point scores home on tricks 5 and 6 to leave Pippa 9.51 behind. Tough for the Dutch rider to catch up.
Finally a 7.3 for a hinterberger-to-wrapped for Novotna – classy. Pippa needed a 13.31 from her last trick… which is obviously impossible!
RESULT
1 Novotna wins and advances to round 3
2 van Iersel advances to round 2
15.25 Round 1 heat 1
Just two women in these heats, so to allow for less rest time, the trick time allowance has increased from one to two minutes.
Bruno just needed a raley to take first on her last trick, it was that close throughout. She landed a vulcan (s-bend to toe-side) to put the result in her pocket. Not as high a standard as we’re used to for each of these women – but they’re setting the bar as the first ones out.
Bruno’s 6.27 S-bend to blind the highest trick score of the heat.
RESULT
Bruno wins and advances to round 3
Lambrecht advances anyway to round 2
LAST MEN’S HEAT OF ROUND TWO
15.11 Round 2 heat 12
Rondolphe Duc (MRU) / Edgar Elrich (FRA) / Louka Pitot (FRA) / Arron Rosslee (ZAR)
The last heat of round 2, which featured the second and third placed riders from round 1.
A dog fight here for the most part eventually saw Louka Pitot’s consistently (but only by a narrow margin) higher scoring tricks with each attempt eventually claim the heat win. The only rider to score over 6 points for a heart attack.
Just 2.11 points between Rosslee and Ulrich in the essential battle for second and to stay in the competition with two tricks to go… Ulrich crashed first and Rosslee dealt the hammer blow to him with a safe backside 315. It was all he needed to do leaving Ulrich needing a big 6.11 to claim second. Ulrich crashed his 7th trick, so it’s congrats to the South African who remains in the comp with Pitot.
RESULT:
1 Pitot (Advances)
2 Rosslee (Advances)
3 Ulrich (Out)
4 Duc (Out)
Last heat MEN’S ROUND TWO
14.45 Round 2 heat 11
As we progress through the competition and the riders become more equal the leaders in each heat bounce around more and more. Posito Martinez leapt from third to first with a heart attack frontside 3 on his fifth trick, pushing in-form Juan Rodriguez into second with two more tricks to come each.
At that stage Moroccan Moutaouakil was in contention in third after four tricks each, but once Martinez and Rodriguez got a couple of crashes out the way, they’d cruised ahead when all seven tricks came to pass.
Rivalland from Mauritius found himself outclassed but represented the home island with spirit, landing four tricks.
Juan Rodriguez tried a massive 319 twice, but failed, so decided to safely score a heart attack frontside 5, which only scored 5.8 but moved him ahead of Posito with one more trick to go.
Nothing to note on the final trick, Juan bailed and Posito waved to the crowd on a kite loop. Show offs!
RESULT:
1 J Rodriguez (Advancing)
2 Martinez (Advancing)
3 Moutaouakil (Out)
4 Rivalland (Out)
Scroll down for heat scores and ladder.
14.20 When the heat resumed Stefan Spiessberger took the heat win, pushing Del Rosario into second and winning by just 0.03 points. They both go through though. Sadly it’s the end of the road for two Frenchies – Giuliano and Perrineau, who will have enjoyed their day, performing up close in front of the crowd lining the Bel Ombre lagoon here outside the Kite Globing centre and C Beach Club.
RESULT:
1 Spiessberger (Advancing)
2 del Rosario (Advancing)
3 Giuliano (out)
4 Perrineau (out)
14.15 All images from this event go up on this gallery page.
14.00 Round 2 heat 10 – Abandoned for passing rain shower which has dropped the wind a little.
13.40 Round 2, (Heat 9)
Delmas has come out fighting in round 2, claiming a super smooth heart attack frontside 7, fist pumping the sky on landing after a beautiful take-off that set him up for an almost perfect trick, nailing a 9.03 from the judges on his fourth trick.
Lamusse from Mauritius was performing well in front of his fans and if he didn’t make them, was always very close to his landings. Did himself proud here.
The fight for second place (and advancing in the competition) looked to be on between Val Garat and Oswald Smith. Val holding the advantage for much of the heat, but only marginally after 5 tricks each.
On his 5th trick Delmas registered another massive 9.1 for a backside 317. His pop is insane – he went sooooo high.
Garat crucially crashed his 5th trick and, although not massive, Ozzie managed to get a 313 scoring 4.07. He was now quite comfortably in second. Remember, Ozzie is the only rider doing both the Kite-Surf wave discipline and freestyle this week – quite a talent!
Delmas, trick 5 a 317, clean. He can’t go wrong! 4 tricks over 8 point scores.
RESULT
1 Delmas (highest heat score of the day – 34.98) (Advances to round 4)
2 Smith (Advances to round 4)
3 Garat (Out of the competition)
4 Lamusse (Out of the competition)
13.15 Heat 08 – Just 3 riders in this heat
M Moutaouakil (MOR) / Arron Rosslee (ZAR) / Maxime Chabloz (CH)
All three riders went through in this heat, Maxime Chablis, current tour leader had an easy run and didn’t push too hard.
South African Arron Rosslee was second, more consistent that we’ve seen this season with every trick landed.
RESULT
1 Chablos (Advances to round 3)
2 Rosslee (Advances to round 2)
3 Moutaouakil (Advances to round 2)
12.55 Heat 07
Romain Rivalland (MRU) / Paul Serin (FRA) / Louka Pitot (FRA) / Alex Pastor (ESP)
Paul Serin took his first heat win of the season with a very consistent series of six tricks all in the high five and six point region (only top four of those count). This heat was abandoned after two tricks, so a bit of a stop-start affair for the riders but after the re-start the sun was out, the wind was up things were firing more consistently.
Two local resident riders in this one: Louka Pitot who went through in second and Romain Rivalland getting the big cheers – particularly Rivalland with a massive double heart attack close in to shore. Hero for a day!
Alex Pastor took the biggest crash of the day. What a warrior, the crash and thud was heard up and down the beach. Took a while to recover from that belly winding! Sadly he never quite recovered and missed his remaining four tricks.
RESULT:
1 Serin (Advances to round 3)
2 Pitot (Advances to round 2)
3 Rivalland (Advances to round 2)
4 Pastor (Out of the competition
12.40 Heat 07 back on – scroll down for live scores
12.30 Heat 07 – Abandoned with rain and dipping wind for a moment
Heat 07
Romain Rivalland (MRU) / Paul Serin (FRA) / Louka Pitot (FRA) / Alex Pastor (ESP)
12.15 Heat 06
R Fortunato (ITA) / Edgar Ulrich (FRA) / Posito Martinez (DR) / Liam Whaley (ESP)
Riders well powered on their 9s now and the wind looks to have filled in more on the inside again, much to appreciation of the crowd. And the sun’s come out to play too.
Liam Whaley landed a backside 315 on his first trick, but rode away from it unhooked for a long time, clutching his chest with his other hand. Strange, perhaps a pulled muscle reaching for the pass? He was the last rider to complete the first round of tricks this heat, and he moved into joint first with Posito, who scored an identical 4.47 for a heart attack. Spooky.
Posito’s second heart attack in two tricks earned him more points than the first; bigger and more controlled, but Liam Whaley this time took advantage with his second trick, straining to get round the second pass of a 317 and riding away from it where others would surely have caught a rail and taken a face plant. Inches count and Whaley was away. Into the groove his third trick more effortless, tapping a tail grab in the middle of a slim 5. Recent Cumbuco training paying off.
Three tricks each and Edgar Ulrich was commanding second place from Posito who had messed up the take-off of his third trick and not even managed a rotation.
Ulrich – one, two rotations and makes the pass… not the cleanest landing, but he’s ridden away with damp shorts… the 3.27 for a double heart attack front side 3 looked more effort than the 3.27 points were probably worth!
What was worth the effort was Whaley’s mesmerisingly quick double heart attack coming in towards the crowd for max vibe, earning a 6.93. Four tricks down and his 24.38 tally was more than double Martinez’ who by then was back in second. Home and hosed for the Spaniard and previous World Champ?
The fortunes of Italian Fortunato eventually picked up on tricks five and six after four crashes, but he’ll be chalking his debut down to experience.
In the end Liam landed 5 tricks, the highest an 8.23 for a backside 317. He was disappointed with his performance last time out in Fuerte. He’s back in business here by the looks.
Martinez finished in second but overall looked to be struggling to get enough slack in these windy conditions for the second pass.
RESULT:
1 Whaley (Advances to round 3)
2 Martinez (Advances to round 2)
3 Ulrich (Advances to round 2)
4 Fortunate (Out of the competition)
11.40 Heat 05 (Heat abandoned after 5 tricks…) (full heat report below)
Rondolphe Duc (MRU) / Robby James (THA) / Juan Rodriguez (COL) / Adeuri Corniel (DOM)
Fifth place ranked rider this season (and previously vice world champ) Adeuri Corniel is a beast. So much time and composure in the air. He maintained the lead from start.
20 year-old Juan Rodriguez is making a real name for himself this season, sitting in 12th overall in a very competitive and evenly matched fleet. Just one crash from seven, he’s learnt that in the first round it’s important not to put everything on the line.
In Robby James’ second event of this season, the 16 year old struggled to make clean landings, though the winds were much more up and down than the previous heats and as the direction veered became gusty close-in.
Doc showed more consistency but was downgraded in his tricks for a high kite – such is the critical nature of the tour’s level.
HEAT ABANDONED due to dropping conditions on trick 6. So the heat will re-start from the beginning of everyone’s sixth trick attempt.
CURRENT STANDING AFTER 5 TRICKS…
A Corniel 18.87
J Rodriguez 18.33
R Duc 5.46
R James 0.67
11.40 HEAT BACK ON:
Juan Rodriguez stepped up to his 10m and took the lead for the first time in the heat… but then Adeuri smashed out the highest score of the day with 9.1 for a slim. Bosh.
The Domincan’s last trick didn’t matter, but he got a 4.37 for a KGB that he somehow rode away from – that’s the difference.
RESULT:
1 Corniel (Advances to round 3)
2 Rodriguez (Advances to round 2)
3 Duc (Advances to round 2)
4 James (Out of the competition)
11.00 Heat 04 (Just three riders in this heat):
Simon Camuse (MRU) / Romain Giuliano (FRA) / Carlos Mario (BRA)
Carlos Mario in the house: 21.7 from three tricks, including an 8.57 for a backside 317. Interestingly he’s riding Slingshot’s new big air kite, the Raptor, rather than the RPM on which he’s bagged 3 world titles. There’s surely more consistent pull than on the Raptor than the RPM ad in these gusty conditions, but he’s CM and still popping doubles for dayzzz. A 6.5 for a front blind mobe and then an 8.4 for HFS7 put him on 30.7 with a 19.3 point advantage. He could come in, drop the mic and grab a coffee…
Giuliano and Lamusse were in a fortunate position of all going through this heat anyway, but the fight for a more advantageous seeding in the second round presented a good battle between the French and Mauritian riders. In the end Giuliano was the sandwich filling.
RESULT:
1 Mario (Advances to round 3)
2 Giuliano (Advances to round 2)
3 Lamusse (Advances to round 2)
10.40 Heat 03
Malcolm Delvaux de Marigny (MRU) / Val Garat (FRA) / Arthur Guillebert (FRA) / Stefan Spiessberger (AUT)
Standby for all change on the last trick!
Delvaux and Guillebert both on 7m kites, first guys to drop lower than a 9m this morning. Out back beyond the reef the big white caps and rolling ocean swell looked like a big frothy milkshake.
Tour veteran Spiessberger was leading the way after three tricks with second placed Garat having already done four. The Austrian has had better starts to the season over his long career, perhaps he suits the Mauritian blustery weather at the moment.
Of particular note, Guillebert a top ten rider was having a hard time of it, catching front edges so hard his brain must have been rattling! When you’re young you bounce well of course, but controlling a quicker 7m for freestyle is an obvious challenge.
Local rider Malcolm Delvaux de Marigny on his Airush kites took advantage of Guillebert’s over ambition on what was perhaps too small a kite, sacrificing a bit of steady positioning in the sky, to slip into third. He would eventually be pushed to fourth when Guillebert
Meanwhile at the top, Speissberger continued to hold the lead with one less trick attempt on the board each time, though Garat claimed the top score of the heat with a 6.07 for a text book back mobe.
Not the highest trick or heat scores this heat, but going last in the order, Spiessberger played a tactically cool hand… UNTIL the last trick:
Guillebert, who had landed his last three tricks took first place with a 8.2 backside 317 on his very last attempt. In the judges tower they guys were muttering, “Just play it safe and do a back mobe to take second.” Instead the French rider went all in for a double pass, getting 8.17 for a backside 317! Taking first place! Ha. Class.
RESULT:
1 Guillebert (Advances to round 3)
2 Spiessberger (Advances to round 2)
3 Garat (Advances to round 2)
4 Desvaux (Out)
10.10 Heat 02
Dennis Groschupf (GER) / Oscar Perrineau (FRA) / Nicolas Delmas (FRA) / Gianmaria Coccoluto (ITA)
Gianmaria Coccoluto has been a regular podium finisher this season and is in the hunt for 2019 glory, so he has to remain on-point in every heat and in a momentary lapse of concentration he let his kite drift overhead and tangle in the trees while he waited for his turn to perform his second trick.
His friends came to help, but the kite was trashed. He timed out of his one minute allowance for the trick while Duotone team mate Valentin Rodriguez sorted him another 9 metre. Sadly for him his first trick 7.5 BS315 had him in the lead… but clearly put off, he then only managed a simple pop on his third attempt.
Tour regular Delmas hit the gas at the front with 8.1 for a solid heart attack 5. In this format with 7 trick attempts and the top 4 counting, it wasn’t a complete disaster for Coccoluto, and thankfully in round one, he benefitted from the inexperience of Perrinea and Groschupf.
Delmas went on to crash tricks four and five while Coccoluto settled to slam in the highest score of the morning so far with a 8.63, also for a heart attack 5. He was up into second place, just 2.81 behind Delmas with two more attempts to go.
Trick 6, only an 8.37 KGB5 for the Italian that had the judges purring. Panic over for Coccoluto, who went on to beat Delmas by a whisker in the end after 7 tricks.
Perineau has competed in junior events and the occasional full world tour event in the last couple of years, but remains relatively inexperienced. He landed 6 tricks, peaking with a 6.1 front blind, while Germany Groschupf had too many crashes to move off the bottom. Tough entry to world tour freestyle competition for him drawing Coccoluto and Delmas in heat 1!
RESULT:
1 Coccoluto (advances to round 3)
2 Delmas (advances to round 2)
3 Perrineau (advances to round 2)
4 Groschupf
09.44 Heat 01
Anton Uzhegov (RUS) / Oswald Smith (ZAR) / Joselito del Rosario (DR) / Valentin Rodriguez (COL)
Conditions: 20+ knots 9m weather, but gusting up much stronger.
Two tricks in and del Rosario held a 0.43 advantage over Val Rodriguez for two solid tricks a 5.9, double hinterberger frontside 3 and 5.63
By his fourth trick Valentin Rodriguez cemented his higher season form with an 8.2 for backside 317. But it was Oswald Smith (also competing in waves this week). after 5 tricks in the lead with 23.03 overall to Valentin’s 21.47. Two scores very stylish in the six point range, including a super stylish dum-dum in the tootsie roll category. On his fifth trick he went safe with a back-to-blind, stalling the blind nicely, but his kite was pretty high, so scored just a 4, followed straight after by Valentin who heaped pressure on the heat with a very solid front blind more, re-taking the lead with one more trick to go each.
Further down the heat the Russian Andre Uzhegov in his first competition seemed uneasy with the single order of tricks per rider and registered just two scores, while Dominican Joselito had three crashes and couldn’t keep up with the consistent scores of the top two.
Come the last trick attempt, Ozzie’s 5.19 for a 317 didn’t move him above Val, so with his last trick still to go the Colombian had won the heat. Credits to Ozzie who hasn’t competed in freestyle for a long time did exactly the right thing, landing six tricks from seven (top four scores from different trick families counting).
RESULT:
1 Rodriguez (advances to round 3)
2 Smith (advances to round 2)
3 Del Rosario (advances to round 2)
4 Uzhegov (out of the competition)
09.00 Good morning freestyle fans. We’re bright and very breezy here at Bel Ombre, Mauritius and looking forward to the start of the men’s Freestyle discipline in the next few minutes. Scroll down to see the heat orders.
Find reports of the Kite-Surf action from the previous days here:
Day 1 (Friday): Here
Day 2 (Saturday): Here
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