Overview
“I’m very happy to win here, even though I used a seven meter kite, which I almost never use. So I’m even more stoked about coming in first. I’m very happy.”
The 2019 GKA Freestyle World Cup Leucate was a premier professional kiteboarding competition held as part of the 23rd annual Mondial du Vent festival in Leucate, France. The event took place in April 2019 and served as the opening stop for the Freestyle discipline on the 2019 Global Kitesports Association (GKA) Kite World Tour.
The judging criteria focused on pure freestyle kiteboarding, evaluating riders on the technical difficulty, execution, power, and amplitude of their unhooked tricks.
Location and Conditions
Typically, competitions in Leucate are held at Plage des Coussoules, famous for its Tramontane, a strong northwesterly wind blowing from the Pyrenees. However, this year saw an exceptionally rare and violent southerly wind. As a result, for the first time in the 23-year history of the Mondial du Vent, the competition area was moved to Port Leucate to find suitable conditions. The water was characterized by massive swells, and the wind reached gusts of over 40 knots, creating an incredibly harsh environment. Competitors struggled just to get out past the break and were forced into a survival battle, having to use their smallest 5m or 7m kites. Given that the previous year’s event was historically canceled due to a complete lack of wind, there was a unique mix of relief that the wind had arrived and excitement surrounding the extreme conditions.
Format and Competitors
This event marked the test introduction of a “countdown system” that managed the allotted time for each trick attempt in real-time, requiring riders to make tactical, split-second decisions based on wind and wave timing. Furthermore, taking into account the extreme conditions of massive waves and stormy winds, a special rule was urgently applied during the men’s final and other heats, extending the time limit given for a single trick attempt from the traditional 60 seconds to 90 seconds.
Highlights and Showdowns
In the Men’s Freestyle division, defending world champion Carlos Mario fought his way through extreme pressure, utilizing a 7m kite that he rarely uses. In the final, Switzerland’s Maxime Chabloz executed a flawless Backside 315, earning a high score of 8.43 to heavily pressure the champion, but Mario managed to defend his title by a razor-thin margin of just 0.81 points. While Adeuri Corniel, the previous year’s tour runner-up, suffered an early exit in the quarter-finals in a major upset, Liam Whaley made a powerful comeback from injury, securing one of the highest scores of the event and signaling his complete return to form.
In the Women’s Freestyle division, Italy’s Francesca Bagnoli defeated the previously unbeaten queen Mikaili Sol to claim her first career World Tour victory. Sol struggled to control her 5m kite in the explosive winds during the final, crashing her first three tricks, which relegated her to second place. Spain’s Claudia León took third place, marking her first-ever tour final appearance after overcoming a grueling rehabilitation from a severe ACL injury.
“I almost crashed, but I said, ‘No Claudia, you have to land it!’ and I could land it. I am super happy.”
— Claudia León
Additionally, former world champion Bruna Kajiya, who had been sidelined long-term with an injury, demonstrated she was still in top form in her return event. Notably, all four women who competed in the final rode Duotone gear, resulting in a complete podium sweep for the team.
Event Results
Men’s Freestyle Final Results
- 1st: Carlos Mario (Brazil)
- 2nd: Maxime Chabloz (Switzerland)
- 3rd: Valentin Rodríguez (Colombia)
- 4th: Gianmaria Coccoluto (Italy)
Women’s Freestyle Final Results
- 1st: Francesca Bagnoli (Italy) *First Tour Victory
- 2nd: Mikaili Sol (Brazil)
- 3rd: Claudia León (Spain) *First Final Appearance
- 4th: Pippa van Iersel (Netherlands)
Search Aliases: Mondial du Vent, MondialduVent