Spain’s Jeremy Burlando won his first GKA Big Air TwinTip Kite World Championship in Gran Canaria last July. But he suffered a fractured fibula a week before the opening 2025 stop in Brazil last November that ruled him out for the rest of that year. With the closing Big Air stop at Lords of Tram in April, it is impossible for Burlando, 19, to retain his crown. But he intends to come back stronger and with a world title under his belt he feels free to consider other kite disciplines and sports. Ahead of a long-planned trip to India to go fishingβhis “meditative” passionβhe told Ian MacKinnon of his plans and hopes for the season.
Ian MacKinnon: How do you feel about getting your first world title now, seven months on?
Jeremy Burlando: It’s a great accomplishment. After many years of work I finally was able to prove myself and make the people see that I can reach this title. Right now it’s good. Of course, the world title for me was one day duration and I went back straight to work, and keep on working towards the next goal.
Unfortunately I got injured in Brazil right before the [first 2025] event. So I wasn’t able to defend the title there, but I’m getting back stronger and training. Right now I’m trying to focus on my ankle to find the best way back for Lords of Tram. I’m still in the process of rehab.
IM: What was the injury?
JB: I wanted to get some switch tricks beforehand because the spot in Brazil you need to adapt a bit as it’s a different wind direction. I wanted to get some tricks in my wrong hand. I was training for too long. Like, three hours in the water and I was already tired. I just landed a bit too hard and my front foot slipped out of the foot strap. My back foot got stuck in the strap. I broke my fibula. Luckily, I didn’t have to have surgery on it.
IM: Have you suffered such a serious injury before? How do you deal with it?
JB: I was literally, ‘It is what it is’. I just sat back and started to just think stronger mentally, and to be stronger mentally. And to say, okay, this is a time where I have to sit back and reflect on what was going good and what was going bad. So, sometimes I take this as a warning from the universe.
βBiggest achievementβ
Now it’s time to stop to see what we can do. To get more motivation for the upcoming comps. Sometimes, when you’re almost 10 years’ competing, maybe you lose a bit of motivation.
IM: When you got the world title, is that something that had been on your mind for a while?
JB: I knew if I kept working, for some time, I would be able to one day reach my dream. You know, it’s a goal and, of course, it was not easy. So behind of the word title, there’s actually a lot of workβmentally, physically, working on gear, working with the brands, trying to make the best gear possible to be on.
IM: Do you think the gear, the Slingshot Code NXT, is that a factor in your success?
JB: For sure. In my career it’s one of the biggest achievements, making the Code NXT together with the designer [Adi Conrad]. Because we started three or four years ago with this new school Big Air discipline. So we were pretty new into it.
IM: Getting the title, has that changed things a lot for you, with your sponsors or whatever?
βGot bigger pictureβ
JB: I definitely got a bigger picture of what it is to actually win. What the world champions’ title is, because you never get this feeling until you reach it. Once you get it, then you start to think, all right, maybe I can try some other kind of stuff. I will get frustrated if I train only for [Big Air]. I can start training for maybe some other disciplines. My background used to be freestyle. I got into winging and I competed in several wing events. So, right after I won the world championship, I went back a bit to the roots and tried to approach different disciplines again. I did some freestyle again.
IM: What are your goals for this year?
JB: I want to win King of the Air, of course. I would love to be world champion again, but unfortunately, I can’t get it. It looks like the crowning comp for this year will be Lords of Tram. Because I missed Brazil, I wouldn’t have enough points even I won LoT.
IM: How do you switch off from all the pressure?
JB: Every day that there’s no wind, I’m out there fishing. I try to always be as much as possible around the water and the ocean; to try to keep that connection alive. Fishing’s a meditation for me. I’m a person who likes to keep it interesting 24/7. Actually, I’,m going for a trip in week to India. I’m going to the Andaman Islands. We are a small crew of friends and we’re all passionate about the fishing. We decided a long time ago to do a trip all together and discover some new places.
images: Svetlana Romantsova
