Overview
“Tarifa is always a bag of surprises, and this bag was full of stones, because 50-knot pure Levante wind!”
Held from June 22 to 27, 2021, at the southern tip of Spain, the 2021 GKA Kite World Cup Tarifa (Tarifa Kite Pro 2021) marked the opening stop of the 2021 GKA Freestyle season. Following a nearly year-long tour hiatus due to the pandemic, 40 top riders from 16 nations gathered to compete. Although originally scheduled as a pure freestyle competition, historic gale-force winds reaching 50 knots forced officials to rewrite the scoring format in four distinct stages mid-event, turning the contest into an unprecedented survival battle where reigning freestyle kings were eliminated one after another.
Location and Conditions
The event took place at Valdevaqueros in Tarifa, Europe’s wind capital where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. The opening day greeted riders with a gentle westerly Poniente breeze, kicking off in classic new-school freestyle fashion as 2014 World Champion Christophe Tack stomped a flawless “Slim 7” on the very first trick of Heat 1.
From the second day onward, however, weather maps turned deep purple and Tarifa’s infamous cross-offshore easterly Levante wind bared its fangs. With sustained winds of 40 to 45 knots and gusts exceeding 50 knots, commentator Jo Ciastula warned spectators and riders alike to “make sure to get some stones in the pockets” so as not to be blown away.
Format Evolution and Strategy
The defining storyline of the event was the extreme activation of the GKA’s newly introduced mixed format, which saw the competition mutate through four stages under the sheer violence of the wind.
While the opening day ran under “100% Freestyle” (counting the best four out of seven trick attempts), the 40+ knot winds on the second morning triggered a hybrid scoring split of “two Freestyle moves and two Big Air moves.” As the wind intensified further, the ratio was adjusted to “one Freestyle move and three Big Air moves.”
However, unhooking in gusts exceeding 45 knots proved nearly suicidal, leading to a string of heavy crashes and injuries. During Heat 14 of Round 3, Swiss local rider Manu De Pfyffer suffered a violent impact that injured his ribs and left him struggling to breathe, forcing him out of the competition. Faced with this crisis, Head Judge Alvaro Onieva made a decisive call: “Although our philosophy is to keep some freestyle, we had many injured riders and we have to take care of the safety of the riders.” Consequently, the freestyle requirement was completely abolished for the high-wind heats from Heat 7 onward and throughout the final rounds, resulting in a historic rule change where a Freestyle World Cup was decided by “100% Pure Big Air.”
France’s Arthur Guillebert adapted to this dramatic shift better than anyone, explaining his preparation during the event:
“We knew since already two or three years that that was going to come, but it also changed my way I trained. I am happy in this condition to have some big air, because I was training a lot already, but I didn’t expect the condition to be so challenging here.”
— Arthur Guillebert
Heat Ladder Drama and Highlights
With the rules locked into pure Big Air, the tournament bracket (heat ladder) produced ruthless drama that completely upended the established freestyle hierarchy.
The Round 4 Graveyard and the Simultaneous Fall of World Champions
The biggest shockwave hit in Round 4, Heat 16—a true “Group of Death” featuring four-time defending champion Carlos Mario alongside reigning 2019 World Champion Valentin Rodríguez. Trading kite loops in an unfamiliar format, Carlos Mario was overtaken on the third attempt by the Dominican Republic’s Lorenzo Calcano with a Kiteloop Backroll. Meanwhile, Italy’s Gianmaria Coccoluto, who had been quietly biding his time through the first half of the heat, unleashed massive late kite loops to claim the highest score of the heat. In a stunning upset, both World Champions—Carlos Mario and Valentin Rodríguez—were knocked out simultaneously before even reaching the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinal Aerial Warfare
The quarterfinals saw Big Air specialists and young assassins run riot. South African maverick Oswald Smith sent the beach crowd into a frenzy with monstrous boosts, while Heat 19 pitted Dominican powerhouses Adeuri Corniel and Joselito del Rosario against each other. Stepping into the fray, rookie Jeremy Burlando—making his international tour debut—overtook both Dominican veterans by just a few points to win the heat and end Joselito del Rosario’s run.
In Heat 20, Gianmaria Coccoluto’s giant-killing run was halted by French duo Paul Serin and Valentin Garat, who bombarded the scorecard with technical frontroll kite loops. In Heat 21, Egypt’s Karim Mahmoud dropped an 8.43-point “Kiteloop Double Frontroll” and a “Double Boogie-loop” that carried him clear out of the competition box, only for the Dominican Republic’s Posito Martinez to defy gravity with a “Kiteloop Frontroll” for the highest single trick score of the day—a massive 9.70—to snatch a dramatic comeback win.
Semifinal Showdowns
In the first semifinal, Red Bull King of the Air veteran Valentin Garat struck early with a “Double Frontroll Kiteloop,” only for Arthur Guillebert to seize the lead with an even higher double loop. Rookie Jeremy Burlando then doubled the height of his own “Double Backroll Kiteloop” in the dying moments to edge out Valentin Garat and book his spot in the final.
In the second semifinal, Australia’s Ewan Jaspan built a commanding lead through variety, blending double backrolls with a “Frontroll Contraloop.” Dominican chargers Posito Martinez and Adeuri Corniel gave chase, with Adeuri Corniel landing a massive “Kiteloop Frontroll” to knock out Posito Martinez and claim the second advancing spot.
Women’s Division: 8-Second Dune Flights and the Queen’s Dominance
In the women’s fleet, Spanish local Claudia León launched an enormous Kiteloop with nearly eight seconds of hangtime, flying clear across the beach to land right at the base of the sand dunes. In the semifinals, Britain’s Hannah Whiteley pushed reigning queen Mikaili Sol to the wire with a late flurry of loops, but Mikaili Sol immediately answered with an even bigger move to defend her lead.
In the Women’s Final, Dutch powerhouse Pippa van Iersel threw down some of the biggest kite loops of the event with her trademark smile alongside local favorite Rita Arnaus and Hannah Whiteley. Yet Mikaili Sol proved untouchable, landing a “Triple Frontroll Board-off” and boogie loops to post 20+ point heat totals and claim a dominant victory.
“I was definitely not expecting it to be Levante at all and I just got here, saw the forecast and I was kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be an interesting one.’ But in the end it just turned out to be one of the most fun heats I’ve had in a while.”
— Mikaili Sol
Show Detailed Competition Results (Spoiler Alert)
Kicking off in the magic hour at 8:00 PM as the sun dipped toward the horizon, the Men’s Final brought together Arthur Guillebert, Jeremy Burlando, Ewan Jaspan, and Adeuri Corniel.
Fearless rookie Jeremy Burlando seized the early lead with a 16.97-point tally. Adeuri “Black Panther” Corniel conserved his energy for a late-heat assault, launching a colossal boogie loop (kiteloop frontroll) high above the Moroccan skyline on the outside, but could not piece together the backup scores and finished 4th. Ewan Jaspan combined clean grabs, spins, and kite loops to secure 3rd place on the podium.
Ultimately, it was France’s Arthur Guillebert who pounced. Chasing Jeremy Burlando’s 16.97 lead, Arthur Guillebert unleashed one of the biggest and most stylish “Kiteloop Board-offs” ever seen on tour to overtake the rookie and claim his maiden GKA World Cup victory—setting up a season-long title duel between Arthur Guillebert and Jeremy Burlando that would go all the way to the finale in Brazil.
[Men’s Division]
1st: Arthur Guillebert (France)
2nd: Jeremy Burlando (Italy / Spain)
3rd: Ewan Jaspan (Australia)
4th: Adeuri Corniel (Dominican Republic)
[Women’s Division]
1st: Mikaili Sol (Brazil)
2nd: Pippa van Iersel (Netherlands)
3rd: Hannah Whiteley (UK)
4th: Rita Arnaus (Spain)
🔗 Related Link: GKA Freestyle World Cup Tarifa 2021 | FLIGHT TO THE FINALS – GKA Kite World Tour
Search Aliases: 2021 GKA Kite World Cup Tarifa, 2021GKAKiteWorldCupTarifa