Men’s Single Elimination – Semis and Finals – GKA Sylt

Wednesday 26th June

Report: Matt Pearce / All photos: Svetlana Romantsova 

It’s been a non-stop start to the action today with 22 heats already completed. That brought us to the end of round three, and now it’s on to the semi-finals.

James Carew will face Mitu Monteiro in the first semis heat (15A) and then Simon Joosten will go up against Airton Cozzolino in the second heat (15B).

Catch up on the action up to this point here!

Conditions – still averaging 20-23 knots but pushing up towards 25 knots at points

Judging criteria – still 100% strapless freestyle

This is going to be epic!

Semis 1

J.Carew / M.Monteiro

Mitu strikes first with a backroll tick tack and from there he’s relentless. By halfway through the round he’s already 7 tricks deep with a 30+ point combo score and his highest score for a big double front only puts him further ahead of Carew.

It looked like Carew was out for the count early, but with two minutes left on the clock he’s back in gear and if he can just stick two solid tricks then he could take this heat.

He doesn’t though. Mitu is on fire and he finishes with 34.61 points. A backroll tick tack and a front shuvit-3 sealed Carew’s fate. Job done. Mitu is through to the finals.

Semis 2

A. Cozzolino / S. Joosten

Simon goes on the attack early, hoping that he can perhaps get far enough ahead of Airton in the opening minutes of the heat. Halfway through the heat he’s still leading but Airton is always capable of breaking out the unhooked trickery which is something Joosten can’t rise to.

With three minutes to go, Airton sticks a kiteloop tick tack which he follows up with a perfect 313 for the highest score we’ve seen yet – 9.5 points!

In the early stages, this heat hadn’t been Airton’s best but he pulled it round in epic form when it counted.

Tour number two Airton goes through to the finals against current leader Mitu Monteiro 

Women’s Heat 4B

S. Bunte / I. Fonseca Kohler

As Mitu and Airton prepare for the finals, it’s a heat break from the men’s action so that the first heat of the women’s division can begin.

Neither of the riders in this heat are dedicated strapless freestylers, but they’re rising to the challenge. Sonja Bunte racks up consistent scores for aerials off the kickers but Irati Fonseca Kohler seems to struggle a little.

By the end of the heat, Sonja’s still has the lead (which she held from the start) and she takes the win.

Men’s Single Elimination Mini-Final

S. Joosten / J. Carew

Carew the hard-charging Aussie and Barbadian rider Joosten go head-to-head to see who will take third place on the podium.

After a tense warm-up period, the horn blows and Carew instantly slams a toeside front roll off a kicker and Joosten comes back with a small, but clean, kiteloop board-off.

As the heat progresses, riders are upping the ante and Simon Joosten comes into his own. He starts firing in the scores, including two 7+ point scores, and he wins the heat with 37.46 – one of the highest combo scores of the entire event.

Joosten’s entered GKA events in the past, but today he’s been something else altogether!

Men’s Single Elimination Final

A. Cozzolino / M. Monteiro

The tour leader and the tour number two meet again in the second final of the season so far!

Fast-paced action from the start in this heat. Both riders slamming in high scores and at the halfway point, Mitu is in the lead! A double front roll to revert puts him even further ahead but then Airton responds with a huge front roll to revert and an even bigger backroll tick tack and with three minutes to go, Airton is now in the lead.

Mitu then pulls ahead again with 90 seconds to go with a frontside shuvit 3 and a backroll tick tack into a front roll! This is Playstation stuff at this point!

With 30 seconds on the clock, Mitu is leading with an absolute enormous 42.13 combo score but, as the buzzer sounds, Airton plays his trick card and the 313 makes an appearance.

It looked like it would be too late, but it wasn’t. Airton wins the heat with a HUGE 43.61 combined score.