global kitesports association : 34 videos

After five days of the event at Fuwairit Kite Beach, race director Rui Meira closed the competition window. Although this is usually a windy time of the year, the light wind conditions meant that the final event of the season could not be played out to its full. Day one saw action from the women’s heats, although unfortunately, the final heat was not completed. The top four women reached the final to give a valid competition result, with Mikaili Sol (USA), Bruna Kajiya, Nathalie Lambrecht (SW...

The climactic final stop of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour 2023 is a thriller with the world title races in the Freestyle discipline still wide open after a season-long drama. The finals are held on the lagoon of Fuwairit Kite Beach Resort, with its mirror-flat waters and steady breezes. Bruna Kajiya (BRA), Mikaili Sol (USA) and Nathalie Lambrecht (SWE) advance to the women’s final. Bruna Kajia and Mikaili Sol are set for showdown in the decider for the coveted Freestyle crown in Qatar...

Here are the best scenes of the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup 2023 in Brazil! With so much at stake for numerous competitors, the final day of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite-Surf 2023 calendar was set to provide drama, tension, and excitement for both riders and fans beachside but also, around the globe.

With so much at stake for numerous competitors, the final day of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite-Surf 2023 calendar was set to provide drama, tension, and excitement for both riders and fans beachside but also, around the globe.

Day two at the Copa Kitley GKA Kite-Surf World Cup was an important day for all. With the world title race still fully up for grabs in both the men’s and the women’s divisions, those who weren’t quite on their game during yesterday’s heats would be looking to perform at better levels to advance through to the later stages in the competition. Conditions this morning were noticeably different, with more of a side-shore wind and lower tide, the sea state was a lot cleaner providing better wav...

With registration complete, 40 of the world’s best riders arrived in Ceara, North Brazil to compete at the final tour stop of the GKA calendar in Kite-Surf. With trade winds blowing consistently for 6 months of the year, Cauipe is born and bred for kitesurfers and today saw us get underway with the early rounds for both the men and the women. With a World Title on the line, the likes of Airton Cozzolino (ITA), Matcha Lopes (ESP), and Pedro Matos (BRA) will all be battling to lift that trophy....

It was all over in one day here in Brazil for the Copa Kitley GKA Hydrofoil-Freestyle Kite World Cup. With 12 riders registered for the competition and a World Title on the line, Charles Brodel (FRA) once again showed his dominance in this discipline with an outstanding display being far too much for the others to compete with. Brodel’s performance all day was faultless. In the driver’s seat from start to finish the French rider didn’t lose a single heat and in the final, it was no different....

It is the penultimate stop of the Freestyle-Kite discipline on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour 2023. The event takes place on Brazil's Cauipe Lagoon, which offers butter-flat, warm waters and consistent winds, making it perfect for freestyle kiting. Brazil’s Bruna Kajiya and former world champion Arthur Guillebert (FRA) take the win in two really tight finals. This freestyle stop of the world tour is loaded with kite-surfing action and thrill.

It is the penultimate stop of the Freestyle-Kite discipline on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour 2023. The event takes place on Brazil's Cauipe Lagoon, which offers butter-flat, warm waters and consistent winds, making it perfect for freestyle kiting. Brazil’s Bruna Kajiya cements her place at the top of the Freestyle rankings on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour. Former world champion Arthur Guillebert (FRA) takes the win in a tight final, which gives the Frenchman two top finishes h...

Anticipation levels were sky-high as the heavy hitters took to the playing field at the Copa Kitley GKA Freestyle-Kite World Cup Brazil, being fought out in near-perfect conditions on Cauipe’s storied lagoon.The leaders in the Freestyle discipline on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour, Brazil’s Carlos Mario and Bruna Kajiya, kept their dreams of adding another world title to their trophy haul alive when they advanced up the ladder. Battling on home waters, the Brazilian pair who have seven...

The Copa Kitley GKA Freestyle-Kite World Cup Brazil takes place in Cauipe from 8th to 11th of November 2023. The eagerly-anticipated fourth Freestyle stop on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour opened with a bang in the idyllic setting of Cauipe lagoon, Ceará, in north-eastern Brazil. On day one big opening performances from some athletes returning to the tour at the Copa Kitley GKA Freestyle-Kite World Cup Brazil served notice that there would be no easy victories for the top ranked riders.

It is the penultimate stop of the Kite-Surf discipline on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour 2023. Brazil’s Pedro Matos and the American Moona Whyte take the win at the GKA Kite Surf World Cup Dakhla, in Morocco. For Pedro Matos, this is the first event victory. On the other hand, the untouchable Moona Whyte wins the third Kite-Surf event of the season, additonally to winning the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Wave title a couple days ago.

The leaders in the race for the world title in the Kite-Surf discipline are set to clash in an early round of the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Dakhla, in Morocco, which could severely dent the loser’s hopes of lifting the crown. Top seeds Airton Cozzolino (ITA) and Matchu Lopes (ESP) are destined to battle in the fifth round of the world cup in the Oum Lamboiur break on the fringes of the Sahara desert. The Cape Verde-based Italian was on fire, slaying the shoulder-high surf like there was no tomo...

After 2 years the Defender GKA-Kite Surf World Cup is back in Sylt, Germany at the North Sea and finished the Men’s Kite-Surf Competition on Saturday. Spain’s 22 years old Kiko Roig staged a big upset, when he landed his first career win in tricky conditions on the North Sea. In the final the young Spaniard overhauled the favorite, former world champion, Italy’s Airton Cozzolino, who had been utterly dominant in his heats up to that point. In the final heat Cozzolino made a huge tactical e...

The mid-point stop of the kite-surf discipline on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour lands in Sylt, Germany. It comes shortly after the conclusion of the event at Rio de Janeiro’s Saquarema surf break. The rugged North Sea coastline of Sylt will provide a vastly different stage, presenting unique challenges that will likely be very distinct from the tropical setting of Rio. After two events, Moona Whyte, from the US, currently holds top spot in the rankings, while reigning world champion,...

Reigning world champion Capucine Delannoy came from behind in the final of the Defender GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Sylt, Germany, to take a narrow victory in the opening action of the event. The French 17-year-old squeezed out the win by less than a point in slightly tricky conditions on the North Sea, with the fluctuating breeze teasing the athletes. Delannoy had suffered successive defeats in recent finals and was overcome with emotion by her return to form.

The winners in the GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup Dunkerque, in northern France, have been crowned after a difficult five-day competition when the fickle breezes teased the athletes but also sparked some big performances. Brazil’s Bruna Kajiya won the women’s competition on day two with stellar riding that takes her to the top of the rankings with just two more freestyle discipline stops remaining on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour.

The GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup France at Dunkerque has its winner of the women’s competition! Brazil’s Bruna Kajiya won her second crown of the year at the tour’s third stop at the after an almost flawless performance powered her through the strong field. Kajiya, at 36 the oldest women on the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour, relished the victory even in the difficult conditions, giving her two stops from three with the next on her home waters in Brazil. The women’s final, late in the even...

Cozzolino, who represents Italy, was fully-focused on winning but also keen to avenge a defeat by Lopes in their last encounter in Cape Verde. Cozzolino landed a 7.83 for big open-faced carves. But Lopes had saved the best for last and scored the biggest wave of the competition—8.66— that took his heat total to 16.74 and gave him the win.

The Copa Kitley GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, moved up a gear as the contest got serious with the losing athletes sent packing after tough duels in the iconic Saquarema break. But the top seeds doing battle in the pure surfing world cup showed their class in the epic conditions of double head-high faces and 15 to 18 knots of cross offshore breezes. Cape Verdean Hendrick Lopes (SUI), Canada’s Reece Myerscough and France’s Clément Roseyro went to town on the wave faces in...

The Copa Kitley GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Brazil jumped back into life after two lay days with the men’s competition at Rio de Janeiro’s Saquarema break. But difficult conditions—a combination of light winds and a huge swell—saw just four heats completed before the race director called a halt to the proceedings on day six as the breeze faded. Some of the most experienced athletes, like Cape Verdean Matchu Lopes (SUI) and Charly Martin, from Reunion, coped well the huge 10-12ft faces and put s...

The day held to advance further through men’s round 3 until the wind dropped. A layday has been called for following day, so there is promised to be more action in two days. Cozzolino took the win with some big hacks in the pocket, with the day’s highest wave score so far of 7.03.

The opening of the Copa Kitley GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil opened with a bang. US-American Moona Whyte dominates the final and takes her second wave title in a row. Hawaii-based Moona Whyte (USA) again defeated the reigning Qatar Airways GKA Kite-Surf World Champion, 17-year-old Capucine Delannoy (FRA), in the final. It was a repeat of the tour’s first stop in Cape Verde in March, and with two wins from the five scheduled tour stops, Whyte is well on track to take the wo...

On the final day of the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Cape Verde, the winners in kite surfing were crowned. Spain’s Matchu Lopes came from behind to seize victory in a clash for the ages in the opening round of the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup on the Cape Verde island of Sal. Lopes, who calls Cape Verde home, defeated his friend and mentor, Mitu Monteiro, in the final after three days of breath-taking action on the legendary Ponta Preta break. The duo were joined on the podium by another local legen...

On Day 2 of the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Cape Verde, the battle for the title comes to a head. Reigning world champion James Carew was dumped from the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup on the second day of the contest on Cape Verde in epic waves. The Australian, who had been hoping to land a third successive title, lost the final round of the day by only a fraction of a point to Cape Verde-based legend, Airton Cozzolino. The victory of Cozzolino, an Italian who calls the island home, drew wild cheeri...

The legendary waves of Cape Verde were firing for the first clashes of the opening GKA Kite-Surf World Cup 2023 which has drawn the globe’s top athletes to fight for honours.Forty-five riders—28 men and 17 women—travelled to the idyllic African island seeking the chance to open their claims for the 2023 kite-surf world title. The women’s competition kicked off the event. It began with a bang when Hawaii-based Moona Whyte opened her account with a stunning 8.0 wave, showing her poise with pow...

Reigning GKA Freestyle Kite World Champion Gianmaria Coccoluto and past title holder Bruna Kajiya are looking to cement their early success in Qatar and further their claims to the coveted 2023 crowns at the world tour’s upcoming second stop in Colombia. The triumphant pair, Coccoluto and Kajiya, won the tour’s opening stop at the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup and are set to battle in the idyllic setting of Salinas del Rey’s Caribbean coastline. It is the second of six scheduled to...

The first World Cup of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season has taken place in Furwairit, Qatar over the last five days. The Tour’s freestyle riders did put on an exciting show of high-performance competition in this unique, natural set-up. A shallow water lagoon makes it perfect for freestyle competition. In the end, it was brazilian Bruna Kajiya and the italian Gianmaria Coccoluto who secured the victory in the first World Cup of the season, opening the fight for the title in 2023.

A packed house at Fuwairit Kite Beach in Qatar witnessed the first clash of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season where Bruna Kajiya made an ecstatic return to the top step and Gianmaria Coccoluto’s title defence held firm.

The opening day of the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup at Fuwairit Kite Beach Resort in Qatar saw bright blue skies and warm southerly winds at the event site all day. In the end the wind didn’t become suitable to make a start to the competition at this opening event of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season, especially as there are stronger northerly winds forecast later in the week. Competitors took advantage of the available conditions to hit the lagoon at this amazing new...

As was forecast, conditions continued to deliver the lighter southerly winds on day two of the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup, though a positive start was made to the competition and the line-up for the women’s final is complete. The riding fleet is very compact at this event with just 16 men and eight women. The level amongst the competitors is incredibly high, but with this reduced fleet the men started directly at the quarter final stage, with four heats of four riders. There wou...

Day 3 of the World Cup in sunny Taiba, Brazil was one that Australian James Carew is unlikely to forget in a hurry. All season long it was a neck-and-neck race between him and Matchu Lopes from Spain, which now demanded a winner in Taiba. So both riders had to win their heats in the semifinals to put pressure on the other. James Carew (AUS) had a tough start to his day of competition, struggling early on with a broken leash and later a broken board after a rough landing. Nevertheless, the Aus...

On the 2nd day of the World Cup, the riders were surprised by difficult conditions in the form of low tide and smaller waves in rounds 3 and 4. Now it was up to who could handle these conditions the best. Ali Beqqali (MAR), who is currently ranked 4th on the World Tour, had to admit defeat to the unfamiliar conditions early on and lost his heat to Kiko Roig Torres (ESP) and with it his chances of becoming World Champion. Brazilian Gabriel Bennetton showed in round 5 that he knows this spot ve...

The first day of the last World Cup of the season was opened by the men in the discipline of kite-surf, where the two best waves ridden and the best freestyle trick of each rider are scored. The strong and partly gusty wind meant that especially the Brazilian local riders were able to show their skills under these conditions and thus put the leading riders of the World Tour under pressure. In the end it was Pedro Matos (BRA) and Matchu Lopes (ESP) who won their heats with their elegant style...