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Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour 2023
Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup, Fuwairit Kite Beach, Qatar: 31 January – 04 February 

Discipline: Freestyle Finals – each rider taking turns to perform one trick each within 40 seconds. 8 attempts, top 4 tricks scoring + new variety score
Wind: Northerly, cross-onshore, 22 – 28 knots 
Water state: Flat water lagoon

LIVETICKER LAST DAY –  Day 5: Saturday 04 February 2023 (GMT +3)

Scroll down to watch the videos and to the images, eliminations ladders and more.

17.45 – That’s it! The closing ceremony have just finished and the event winners have been officially crowned on the podium. Winners Bruna Kajiya and Gianmaria Coccoluto also took home two business class tickets each to any of the 150 destinations on the Qatar Airways network! Thanks to our fantastic hosts here at FKB – we’ll see you again for the finals in December! 

Catch up on Friday’s action packed finals:

Semi-finals full report – here
Finals full report – here

15.40 – The Super Session planned for today has been cancelled due to unsuitable conditions and the official closing ceremony is due to begin at 16.30.

10.00 – The main event finished yesterday. Today is the last day of the event window, but there is still good action planned today to be enjoyed on the livestream:

LIVETICKER Day 4: Friday 03 February 2023 (GMT +3)

17.00 – The competition is over – Bruna Kajiya and Gianmaria Coccoluto are the champions of Qatar! Read the full report here. 

FINAL RESULTS
(Including variety score in brackets)  

WOMEN
1 Bruna 31.86 (7)
2 Mika 28.24 (4)
3 Nathalie 26.56 (7)
4 Claudia 19.09 (0)

MEN
1 Gianmaria Coccoluto (ITA) 32.53 (7)
2 Carlos Mario (BRA) 32.10 (7)
3 Louka Pitot (FRA) 31.93 (7)
4 Valentin Rodriguez (COL) 28.43 (7)

15.25 – Women’s final up first: 

Claudia Leon (ESP) 20.97
Bruna Kajiya (BRA) 27.60 
Nathalie Labrecht (SWE) 28.67 
Mikaili Sol (USA)

15.20 – LIVESTREAM on, find it below. For the final riders have 8 trick attempts, with top four counting and the extra variety score to go on top. 

15.10 – We will be live again from 15.15 – scroll down for the new livestream and to watch the finals!

14.10 – Next call 15.00, FPS 15.15 

13.00 – Still on hold – next call 14.00

09.30 – ON A LONG HOLD Due to low water, the next call will not be until midday with news of the next first possible start for the men’s and women’s finals. So take a break, catch up on this morning’s men’s semi-final action on the livestream embedded below on this page and we’ll see you later. Behind the scenes updates on the @gkakiteworldtour socials of course, and previous news and videos from this week can be found HERE. 

08.55 – Currently on hold as the tide is dropping back quickly. More info coming on a new possible start time. You can still scroll down and catch the action so far and play the livestream back. 

08.50 – Following the two men’s semi-finals that ran this morning, we have the line-up for the final. Here is the line up and the points they each scored in their semi finals, including the variety score that they each received – Carlos Mario being the only rider to not score tricks from four different families for the full 7 available points, instead picking up 4 points for making three trick families, but you can see how much of a difference that 7 point variety score is making: 

Riders into the final, from SF1
Valentin Rodriguez 33.53 (7 variety points)
Louka Pitot 32.94 (7)

From SF2
Gianmaria Coccoluto 34.54 (7)
Carlos Mario 29.87 (4)

 

07.10 – Action underway! 

06.15 – An early good morning from Qatar, the wind is in and we have a first possible start at 06.45, or if not then soon after. Updates coming here. 

Competition will likely begin with the last men’s quarter final. The women are also already set for their final today. 

Men’s quarter final #4 to run, carrying 2 tricks attempts forward that ran on Wednesday: 
Gianmaria Coccoluto
Posito Martinez
Pedro Alexandre
Valentin Garat

 

LIVETICKER Day 3: 02 February 2023 (GMT +3)

17.00 – No competition ran today, but tomorrow (Friday) looks set to deliver fantastic condition for the final rounds of this event! Come back here for the livestream and more! 

11.15am – Conditions still light, but we remain on hold. 

10.30am – Good morning from Fuwairit Kite Beach resort. Conditions look light today, but forecast to be firing tomorrow! Click here to catch up with the action highlights and video from yesterday that saw the men’s quarter finals and women’s semi-finals run. 

 

LIVETICKER Day 2: 01 February 2023 (GMT +3)
Scroll down to watch the livestream at the quarter final stage of the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup!

16.45 – Competition is over for today. There are still three more days left in the competition window, with a fantastic forecast for Friday. But stay tuned to the liveticker here and GKA Kite World Tour socials for all the important updates. 

16.30 – Women’s semi-finals are complete, but the competition has gone on hold due to light winds. If it comes back, the men will be back in action. The women’s final line-up is:

Claudia Leon (ESP)
Bruna Kajiya (BRA)
Nathalie Lambrecht (SWE)
Mikaili Sol (USA) 

 

15.20 – Women’s semi-final 01 is about to get underway! 

15.00 – Red flag going up in 15 minutes as we are soon starting the women’s semi final 01. 

14.00 – Conditions remain the same, and we are still on hold. 

12.30 – Making a return to competition after 18 months off due to injury, Mauritian Louka Pitot made an emphatic impression in the first heat of the day, taking the win with the highest heat score of the day so far, also pushing none other than Carlos Mario into second. Scroll down for more heat scores. 

12.10 – Competition is currently on hold due to unsuitable conditions at the moment. We will also be starting a new livestream soon, but catch up on the action so far in the stream below.

10.15 – Comp is running with the quarter finals. Find the heat elimination ladders and more info below.

09.50 – Good morning from Fuwairit Kite Beach where we hope to get the competition underway today. First call with competition news coming up at 10.10am

LIVETICKER Day 1: 31 January 2023 (GMT +3)

Conditions delivered a training day for the riders – read more here. 

Read interviews with current world champions Mika Sol  – here / Gianmaria Coccoluto – here 

Here’s an overview of the new judging format changes for 2023: 

2023 FREESTYLE-KITE COMPETITION FORMAT

Among some smaller technical adaptations to trick family structures that aim to increase competitive excitement, essentially the Freestyle-Kite competition format will still see the four highest scoring tricks counting to a rider’s heat score from a total allowance of seven trick attempts.

NEW! To add further overall excitement, a new variety score will be added at the end of the heat once the judges have assessed a rider’s all-round performance.

Some of the trick families have now been combined. The newly adapted trick families are:

1 Heelside Tricks – which is itself divided into four sub-families
sub-Family 1: raley based tricks
sub-Family 2: slims, S-mobes and KGB
sub-Family 3: hinterbergers and heartattacks
sub-Family 4: Mobes, including double half-cab mobes

2 Toeside / blind tricks
3 Rewinds
4 Combos
5 Kiteloop or downloops

VARIETY SCORING

The maximum variety score on offer to each rider in a heat is seven points, which will be combined with the total of 40 available points from four tricks. Absolute heat perfection will now be a score of 47 points.

Most riders will still focus their tricks on the more common heelside families. However, for the men, three of the seven possible variety score points are only available if a rider manages to throw a clean trick from families 2, 3, 4 or 5 alongside a maximum of 3 heelside tricks from the different sub-families.

Therefore, 25% of the variety score for men is only available from adding something more unusual to those tricks that we usually see in Freestyle competition. So judges are now looking for more than just heelside Freestyle tricks; the aim of which is to add an extra level of riding diversity and excitement as the riders continue to push the discipline’s evolution.

For the women, there are no limitations as their own trick progressions are still developing quickly within the heelside trick families. So they can focus on all four heelside trick families, but of course will be well rewarded for successfully landing good tricks from families 2, 3, 4 and 5, too, but that’s not necessary to achieve seven points.

Read the full 2023 Freestyle Kite rule book here. 

09.20 – Good morning from the spot here at Fuwairit Kite Beach, Qatar, the first day of competition at this opening event of the 2023 Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season. This is a Freestyle Kite World Cup. The forecast is for enough wind to run the competition today, but as yet we are waiting for the wind to build. First possible start is currently scheduled for 11am. We will update this liveticker with updates on first possible start. All action will run on the livestream, which will play lower down on this page when it begins. 

 

LIVETICKER Day 0: 30th January 2023 (GMT +3)
Rider registration and opening ceremony for this first event of the season ran at the Fuwairit Kite Beach Resort and we look forward to the first event of the season here in Qatar, which begins tomorrow – Tuesday.  Read more news from Monday 30th here. 

The livestream will run here on this page, covering all action at this event. Skipper’s meeting is at 9am Tuesday. 

Read interviews with current champions, Mika Sol – here / Gianmaria Coccoluto – here

Social: Instagram / Facebook / TikTok