Overview
“Little did we know the Cape Verde event was going to be the last event for a while due to the worldwide pandemic… Then unfortunately pretty much for almost a year we didn’t have any competitions, and we have to say a big shout out to all of our brand partners, all of the event organizers, because everybody kind of got into a huddle and made the most out of things for the tour to stay alive… And just like that, with champagne showers and champions, we’re finishing off the 2021 GKA Kite World Tour season!”
The 2020–2021 GKA Kite World Tour stands as the most turbulent and transformative two-year span in competitive kiteboarding history. Immediately after the March 2020 season opener in Cabo Verde, the global COVID-19 pandemic brought international travel to a standstill. Refusing to let the tour go dark, the GKA launched the first-ever fully online “Distance Battle” series and staged strict COVID-bubble events in Brazil late in 2020. When the full tour resumed in 2021—carrying over the 2020 Cabo Verde points into the 2021 championship—a new generation of riders emerged from the 1.5-year hiatus to shatter historic barriers, from the first women’s strapless double front roll to the first women’s double handle-pass (“Frontside 360”) in competition. Here is the complete retrospective of all 11 events across the 2020–2021 era.
2020: The Pandemic Halt, Online Innovation, and the Brazilian Spark
1. The Calm Before the Storm: Sal Island, Cabo Verde (Feb–Mar 2020)
The 2020 season opened from February 29 to March 6 with the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Cape Verde 2020. With Ponta Preta lacking swell, action moved to the Cross Onshore “washing machine” waves of Kite Beach under a “100% Waves” format. Australia’s James Carew rallied on his fifth and sixth waves in the final to defeat local hero Matchu Lopes for his maiden GKA victory, while Portugal’s Ines Correia defeated Peri Roberts to claim the women’s crown. Days later, global lockdowns froze the remainder of the 2020 calendar.
2. Digital Revolution: GKA Distance Battle 2020 (Sep–Oct 2020)
With athletes grounded at their home spots, the GKA created the online GKA Distance Battle 2020, where riders submitted consecutive five-minute uncut heat videos scored live by international judges with host Jo Ciastula.
In the Strapless divisions, Brazil’s Pedro Matos (Men) and 14-year-old Capucine Delannoy (Women) claimed victory—highlighted by Pedro Matos’s family storming his webcam feed with champagne. In the Twin-Tip divisions, Switzerland’s Maxime Chabloz (Men) and 15-year-old Mikaili Sol (Women) took the crowns.
3. Return to Live Action: Fortaleza & Ilha do Guajiru, Brazil (Nov 2020)
In November 2020, live competition returned to Ceará, Brazil under strict negative-test protocols.
At the GKA SuperFoil Brazil 2020 in Fortaleza—staged alongside the newly formed Global Wingsports Association’s (GWA) inaugural wingfoil event—American strapless pioneer Fred Hope edged out French strapped aerialist Charles Brodel by 1.03 points to win the main event (while Charles Brodel won the final-day “Super Session” best-trick contest).
A week later at the GKA SuperKite Brazil 2020 in Ilha do Guajiru, following 12-year-old Davi Ribeiro’s breakout debut and Liam Whaley’s knee injury withdrawal after a 10-point “Mobe 7,” Maxime Chabloz overcame a 3-against-1 South American final lineup (Erick Anderson, Manoel Soares, and Juan Rodriguez) with a unanimous 10.0 “Grabbed Back Mobe 7” on his final attempt, while Mikaili Sol dominated the women’s final. Because minimum event thresholds were not met in 2020, no annual World Champions were crowned, and the Cabo Verde points were carried forward into 2021.
2021 Kite-Surf Division: Carryover Points, the Vanished Discard, and an Australian Sweep
“Well, it’s been two very hard years without any stops. So some riders keep the motivation up and train a lot, some others just chill or switch with some other sports or rest, but literally, in the top ten, everyone can win… You see James coming with a lot of energy, you see him training every day, you see him with attitude—it’s different from the others.”
— Matchu Lopes
Resuming after an 18-month break, the 2021 Kite-Surf championship combined the carryover 2020 Cabo Verde opener with three 2021 stops—Sylt (August), Hvide Sande (September), and Dakhla (October)—originally allowing one discard across four events.
Sylt Shake-Up and the Windless Trap in Denmark
Contested in 25–30 knot North Sea gales under a 50:50 Wave and Strapless Freestyle format, the 2021 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Sylt saw Brazil’s Pedro Matos upset reigning champion Airton Cozzolino in the semifinals, before James Carew scored over 30 points in every heat to defeat Pedro Matos in the final for his second straight win. In the women’s final, 15-year-old Capucine Delannoy landed the first women’s strapless “Double Front Roll” in competition history to defeat Peri Roberts (whose runner-up finish propelled her to World No. 1).
At the September stop in Hvide Sande, Denmark, however, six windless days forced the cancellation of the event after an epic pre-event free session. Reducing the season from four counting events to three, the cancellation eliminated the season discard—trapping Capucine Delannoy with her early elimination score from 2020 Cabo Verde and handing a massive mathematical cushion to rankings leaders James Carew and Peri Roberts.
Season Finale in Dakhla, Morocco: Australian Double Crown and a Shared Finale in the Dark
At the 100% Pure Wave finale in Dakhla (2021 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Morocco), light cross-offshore winds forced riders to sprint hundreds of meters back up the beach after every wave. After Airton Cozzolino defeated Cape Verdean best friend Matchu Lopes in Men’s Round 5 Heat 4, James Carew defeated Charly Martin in Heat 5 to reach the quarterfinals and clinch the 2021 Men’s World Title outright.
That same afternoon, Peri Roberts defeated title challenger Charlotte Carpentier in a tense quarterfinal to secure the 2021 Women’s World Title, completing an Australian sweep of the Kite-Surf crowns.
In the battle for the Dakhla event trophy, Airton Cozzolino outmaneuvered Pedro Matos in the men’s final to avenge his Sylt defeat, while the women’s final between Capucine Delannoy and Brazil’s Marcela Witt was halted by pitch-black nightfall and dying wind—resulting in a historic shared 1st-place victory.
2021 Freestyle Division: A Two-Stop Showdown, the First Women’s 317, and the Return of the King
“Yes, it has been only two events, but still a really unique year because riders had to show their best in Big Air and their best in Freestyle. So yeah, really the most complete rider won today.”
The 2021 Twin-Tip Freestyle championship came down to two contrasting stops with no discard: Tarifa in June and Cumbuco in November.
50-Knot Levante Big Air in Tarifa and the All-Time Online Showdown
At the 2021 Tarifa GKA Freestyle World Cup, 40-to-50-knot Levante winds forced a switch to “100% Big Air” judging. Mikaili Sol won the women’s division with double frontroll board-offs and kiteloops, while France’s Arthur Guillebert unleashed massive megaloop board-offs on 5m and 6m kites to defeat 16-year-old rookie sensation Jeremy Burlando in the men’s final.
In July, the special online edition “GKA Distance Battle: Aluula All-Time Big Air 2021” gathered over 100 historic video clips spanning two decades of kiteboarding, crowning Jesse Richman (Men’s Twin-Tip), Angely Bouillot (Women’s Twin-Tip), Airton Cozzolino (Men’s Strapless), Capucine Delannoy (Women’s Strapless), and Charles Brodel (Hydrofoil).
Cumbuco Finale: A Quarterfinal Crowning, the First Women’s 317, and Carlos Mario’s Perfect 10
Overcoming a lost-luggage broadcast crisis in transit from Morocco, the 2021 Cumbuco GKA Freestyle World Cup Brazil delivered a finale for the ages.
When Tarifa runner-up Jeremy Burlando was knocked out in Quarterfinal Heat 2, Arthur Guillebert needed a top-three finish in Quarterfinal Heat 4 to clinch the World Title. After crashing his opening trick for a zero, Arthur Guillebert stomped an 8.10-point “Frontside 319” on his second attempt to secure 3rd place (and ultimately 2nd) and claim his maiden World Championship in the quarterfinals.
Two Brazilians then stole the show. Fifteen-year-old Mikaili Sol landed the first women’s double handle-pass (“Frontside 360”) in competition history in Round 2, survived a “9-Time World Champions’ Semifinal” against Bruna Kajiya and returning 2016 champion Karolina Winkowska, and dropped a perfect 10-point “Frontside 360” in the final to seal her fourth consecutive World Title.
In the men’s final—a repeat 3-against-1 Brazilian standoff surrounding Switzerland’s Maxime Chabloz—returning local hero Carlos Mario answered Maxime Chabloz’s “Back Mobe 7” lead by landing a unanimous perfect 10.0 “Heart Attack 7” on his final attempt to complete a legendary “Return of the King” victory.
2021 Hydrofoil Freestyle and Tour Expansion
Closing out the 2021 season in Fortaleza (November 16–19), the one-stop 2021 GKA Hydrofoil Freestyle World Cup pitted French strapped foil-kite aerialists against American strapless tube-kite stylists. Deaf athlete Robin Siewert claimed 3rd place communicating via a beach sign-language interpreter, while 17-year-old rookie Maxime Desjardins upset defending champion Fred Hope in the quarterfinals. In the final, France’s Charles Brodel landed two world-first maneuvers—his “Brodel Flip” and a “King Deadman” bar-between-the-legs variation—to score 30.02 points and claim the 2021 GKA Hydrofoil Freestyle World Title (with Germany’s Maike Elisa winning the women’s event).
Beyond the main tour, the 2020–2021 era also saw the launch of the GKA Youth World Championships in Saint-Pierre-la-Mer and Tarifa, the birth of the sister GWA Wingfoil World Tour, and the debut of the regular “GKA News Show” hosted by Jo Ciastula—transforming the challenges of the pandemic into a springboard for the sport’s future.
Show Detailed Competition Results (Spoiler Alert)
[2021 GKA Annual World Champions & Final Rankings Top 5]
(*No annual World Champions were crowned in 2020 due to the pandemic)
■ GKA Kite-Surf (Wave & Strapless Freestyle) Division
• Men’s Overall Ranking: 1st James Carew (Australia) / 2nd Airton Cozzolino (Italy / Cape Verde) / 3rd Pedro Matos (Brazil) / 4th Matchu Lopes (Spain / Cape Verde) / 5th Reece Myerscough (Canada)
• Women’s Overall Ranking: 1st Peri Roberts (Australia) / 2nd Capucine Delannoy (France) / 3rd Johanna-Catharina Edin (Sweden) / 4th Charlotte Carpentier (France) / 5th Marcela Witt (Brazil)
■ GKA Freestyle (Twin-Tip) Division
• Men’s Overall Ranking: 1st Arthur Guillebert (France) / 2nd Jeremy Burlando (Spain) / 3rd Carlos Mario (Brazil) / 4th Posito Martinez (Dominican Republic) / 5th Maxime Chabloz (Switzerland)
• Women’s Overall Ranking: 1st Mikaili Sol (Brazil) / 2nd Rita Arnaus (Spain) / 3rd Pippa van Iersel (Netherlands) / 4th Nathalie Lambrecht (Sweden) / 5th Bruna Kajiya (Brazil)
■ GKA Hydrofoil Freestyle Division
• Men’s Overall Ranking: 1st Charles Brodel (France) / 2nd Maxime Luan Desjardins (France) / 3rd Robin Siewert (Canada / USA) / 4th César Natoly (France) / 5th Joselito del Rosario (Dominican Republic)
[2020–2021 All 11 Events Winners List]
[2020 Season]
1. GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Cape Verde 2020 (Feb–Mar, Cabo Verde) *Counted as Stop 1 of the 2021 Kite-Surf Ranking
• Men: James Carew / Women: Ines Correia
2. GKA Distance Battle 2020 (Sep–Oct, Online Event)
• Strapless Men: Pedro Matos / Strapless Women: Capucine Delannoy
• Twin-Tip Men: Maxime Chabloz / Twin-Tip Women: Mikaili Sol
3. GKA SuperFoil Brazil 2020 (Nov, Fortaleza, Brazil)
• Main Event Winner: Fred Hope / Super Session (Best Trick) Winner: Charles Brodel
4. GKA SuperKite Brazil 2020 (Nov, Ilha do Guajiru, Brazil)
• Men: Maxime Chabloz / Women: Mikaili Sol
[2021 Season]
5. 2021 Tarifa GKA Freestyle World Cup (Jun, Tarifa, Spain)
• Men: Arthur Guillebert / Women: Mikaili Sol
6. GKA Distance Battle: Aluula All-Time Big Air 2021 (Jul, Online Event)
• Twin-Tip Men: Jesse Richman / Twin-Tip Women: Angely Bouillot
• Strapless Men: Airton Cozzolino / Strapless Women: Capucine Delannoy
• Hydrofoil: Charles Brodel
7. 2021 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Sylt (Aug, Sylt, Germany)
• Men: James Carew / Women: Capucine Delannoy
8. 2021 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Hvide Sande (Sep, Hvide Sande, Denmark)
• Cancelled after 6 windless days (attendance points awarded; season discard eliminated)
9. 2021 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Morocco (Oct, Dakhla, Morocco)
• Men: Airton Cozzolino / Women: Capucine Delannoy & Marcela Witt (Joint Winners due to darkness)
10. 2021 Cumbuco GKA Freestyle World Cup Brazil (Nov, Cumbuco, Brazil)
• Men: Carlos Mario / Women: Mikaili Sol / Super Trick Winner: Maxime Chabloz
11. 2021 GKA Hydrofoil Freestyle World Cup (Nov, Fortaleza, Brazil)
• Men (World Championship): Charles Brodel / Women (Event Title): Maike Elisa
🔗 Related Link: 2021 Season Recap is here! – GKA Kite World Tour
Search Aliases: 2020-2021 GKA Kite World Tour (Season Wrap-Up), 2020-2021GKAKiteWorldTour(SeasonWrap-Up)