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Draft:List of Kiteboarding Champions

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This page contains a list of champions and prize winners from various international and national tournaments of sports related to kiting. You will find information about the best athletes, their achievements and victories, as well as data on the competitions themselves. The page presents lists of winners in different categories: men, women, as well as in different disciplines: Big Air, Freestyle, Kite-surf, Park.

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Picture Name Description
KOTA Red Bull King of the Air - Annual competition held in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of the most prestigious events in the world of kiteboarding, where the best riders from all over the world compete in performing the highest and most complex jumps.
World Tour As of 2024, since 2017 the world tour has been organized by the GKA association. Previously, competitions were held under the auspices of WKT, PKRA, VKWC and others.
BAKL Big-Air competitions, held since 2021.

List of disciplines

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Picture Discipline Description
Big Air Big Air discipline is the fastest-growing category of kiteboarding. It is the natural evolution of “old school” Freestyle. The men and women athletes compete in the strongest winds, using the power of the kite to boost themselves off the water. They can achieve heights of 30 metres and travel more than 100 metres downwind.

  The Big Air discipline has two categories: Twin-tip and Surfboard.

  In each discipline the height, amplitude and explosiveness the athletes achieve is the biggest element of the judged scores. As the wind picks up, the emphasis on the height element increases exponentially.

Freestyle Competitions for Twin-tip Freestyle riders. Male and female athletes competing in Freestyle world cups perform a constantly-updated series of tricks to earn points from the judges and advance through the knock-out contest.

The Freestyle discipline has developed to encompass a variety of formats, in order to become more inclusive and take account of variable conditions.


In pure Freestyle contests athletes use the power of the kite to go as fast as possible in order to “pop” off the water, while avoiding using the kite for lift. The aim is to achieve the greatest height and amplitude possible, combining that with the execution of technical, aerial tricks. The scoring also focuses on the power and commitment to each trick, together with the smoothness of the landing.

Kite-Surf Kite-Surf discipline aims to find the most complete surfboard rider. The championship is contested over a series of pure wave events, pure strapless-freestyle and mixed format events, depending on the conditions. The success of the Kite-Surf tour has been that its format is able to adapt to a range of conditions, whether there are waves or not. Competition schedules are set months in advance, making it difficult to guarantee waves for a pure surfing contest.


In the pure wave events, riders are judged on their ability to surf the wave. Wave selection is one key element in the judges’ scoring criteria. Choosing the best waves gives the riders the greatest opportunity to showcase their skills, as it offers them the longest rides on the steepest faces.

In the absence of good waves, the discipline may be staged in a strapless-freestyle format, where the athletes are prohibited from using foot straps. Here the competitors perform tricks—jumps, rotations and kiteloops—off the small waves that act as take-off ramps. The athletes also use the power of their kites to help them get airborne.

Park The Kite Park League (KPL) was created by the World’s best slider and kicker riders. Established in 2016, it is the first time that kiteboard park riding has had a competitions series. Collectively the riders have been pushing this side of kiteboarding for years, drawing inspiration from other board sports like wakeboarding, skateboarding, and snowboarding. Style is of the utmost concern to the judges, with lesser rotations often receiving higher scores when grabs and presses are added. The event format is loosely based on snowboarding events, with a turn by turn drop in heat structure rather than a timer, that has now also been adapted into the freestyle discipline. Riders display their skill with both kicker and slider hits to move through the dingle elimination ladder to the top.

List of male winners of the competitions

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Year Competition Discipline Winner Brand
2024 KOTA Big Air
2024 World Tour Big Air
2024 World Tour Kite Surf
2024 World Tour Kite Surf
2024 World Tour Park Ewan Jaspan[1] Naish
2023 KOTA Big Air Andrea Principi[2] Duotone
2023 World Tour Big Air Andrea Principi[3] Duotone
2023 World Tour Freestyle Carlos Mario[3] Slingshot
2023 World Tour Kite Surf Airton Cozzolino[3] Duotone
2023 BAKL Big Air Cohan van Dijk[4] North
2022 KOTA Big Air Lorenzo Casati[2] Duotone
2022 World Tour Big Air Andrea Principi[5] Duotone
2022 World Tour Freestyle Gianmaria Coccoluto[5] Duotone
2022 World Tour Kite Surf James Carew[5] Duotone
2022 BAKL Big Air Giel Vlugt[6] Core
2021 KOTA Big Air Marc Jacobs[2] North
2021 World Tour Freestyle Arthur Guillebert[7] Eleveight
2021 World Tour Kite Surf James Carew[7] Duotone
2021 BAKL Big Air Janek Grzegorzewski[8] Core
2020 KOTA Big Air Jesse Richman[2] North
2019 KOTA Big Air Kevin Langeree[2] Naish
2019 World Tour Freestyle Valentin Rodriguez[9] Duotone
2019 World Tour Kite Surf Airton Cozzolino[9] Duotone
2018 KOTA Big Air Kevin Langeree[2] Naish
2018 World Tour Kite Surf Airton Cozzolino[10] Duotone
2018 World Tour Big Air Carlos Mario[10] Slingshot
2018 World Tour Freestyle Carlos Mario[10] Slingshot
2017 KOTA Big Air Nick Jacobsen[2] Cabrinha
2016 KOTA Big Air Aaron Hadlow[2] Duotone
2015 KOTA Big Air Aaron Hadlow[2] Duotone
2014 KOTA Big Air Kevin Langeree[2] Naish
2013 KOTA Big Air Jesse Richman[2] Naish

List of female winners of the competitions

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Year Competition Discipline Winner Brand
2024 World Tour Park Katie Potter[1] Naish
2023 World Tour Big Mikaili Sol[3] Duotone
2023 World Tour Freestyle Bruna Kajiya[11] Airush
2023 World Tour Kite Surf Moona Whyte[12] Cabrinha
2023 BAKL Big Air Zara Hoogenraad[4] Core
2022 BAKL Big Air Justine Avril[6] Duotone
2021 BAKL Big Air Pippa Van Iersel[8] Duotone

Comments

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  1. ^ a b "2024 First Kite Park Worlds in US".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "KOTA history".
  3. ^ a b c d "2023 GKA World Tour Ranking".
  4. ^ a b "BAKL 2023 Rankings".
  5. ^ a b c "2022 GKA World Tour Rankings". GKA Kite World Tour. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  6. ^ a b "BAKL 2022 Rankings".
  7. ^ a b "2021 GKA World Tour Rankings".
  8. ^ a b "2021 BAKL Rankings".
  9. ^ a b "2019 GKA World Tour Rankings".
  10. ^ a b c "2018 GKA World Tour Rankings".
  11. ^ "GKA World Tour".
  12. ^ "Big Air Kite League".
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