Press Release Summary: An exciting day ensued as Day 4 of the Movistar Kiteboarding World Cup 2007 continues. Freestyle singles event won by Kevin Langeree and Karolina Winkowska while the Wave event wrapped up to Round 2.
Press Release Body: The Movistar Kiteboarding World Cup 2007 in Matanzas, Chile - the last stop of the 2007 PKRA World Tour kicked off to its fourth day of extreme kiteboarding competition with the conclusion of the Freestyle event. It was a very exhilarating day as 34 men and women from all over the globe battled it out for $40,000 prize money.
As the PKRA World Title is at stake, the battle between the top seeds was an exciting match but in the end, the best kiteboarder won the game. Bright, sunny skies prevailed during the whole day of the event with the temperature reaching a high of only 15° Celsius during the afternoon. The cross-onshore wind from the south west blew at an average of 19 knots (5 bft) creating 3-meter waves which paved the way for some high-flying moves from some of the competitors.
The mandatory skippers meeting started at approximately 11:30 am as scheduled and as a welcome relief, the wind came in much stronger than the previous days. The Freestyle event ran with 4 people on the water at a time to give the Wave event competitors more time on the water as possible.
Men's Freestyle
The second round of the men's Freestyle started the day's contest with heat #9 between the tallest and the smallest PKRA tour riders, Russian Petr Tyushkevich (Cabrinha) and Madison Van Heurck (Naish) who hails from U.S. Virgin Islands. In a tightly-fought heat, Tyushkevich outshone his opponent via technical moves and switch variation, landing a regular and switched slim, regular and switched front mobe, front mobe to blind and a mobe 5. Van Heurck was able to land a front mobe to blind, slim, blind judge, mobe and KGB but eventually lost the game. Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain) and Marc Jacobs (North, New Zealand) were also seen action in the same heat. Although used to the chilling weather conditions in New Zealand, Jacobs was pushed hard by the Spanish champion and eventually succumbed to Onieva's wider and more varied selection of moves. Onieva stomped a regular and switched slim, blind judge with aerial handle pass, front mobe, mobe 5 and kiteloop handle pass while Jacobs landed a nice late pass mobe, 313 5 and kiteloop handle pass but was not enough to beat Onieva.
In the 10th heat, Rocky Chatwell (Airush, U.S.) managed to beat Austrian Julian Hosp (Best) with a front mobe, mobe, kiteloop handle pass and back to blind air-pass. Hosp landed a front mobe, mobe 5 and a 313 but with a much higher kite angle. In the following heat, Spanish conquistador Cesar Portas (North) defeated Etienne Lhote (F-One, France) with more power and some switch moves. The Barcelona native landed a slim, mobe, regular and switch back to blind air-pass and blind judge with aerial handle pass, beating Lhote's mobe 5, slim chance and kiteloop handle pass.
In the start of the third round, Tyushkevich defeated Onieva courtesy of a regular and switched front mobe, regular and switch slim, mobe 5, kiteloop 5, front mobe to blind and front side 360. Onieva on the other hand, landed a regular and switch slim, mobe 5 and kiteloop handle pass, loosing the game with less variation and switch moves.
Portas went up against Mallory De La Villemarque (North, France) in heat #14 of the third round, which became a North team show down. It was a closely-contested heat with a 2-1 judges decision in favor of the Spanish kiteboarding champion. A slim, blind judge, front mobe to blind, a powered mobe off a big wave plus a big 313 were enough to beat the French kiteboarder's mobe 5, regular and switch back to blind air-pass and kiteloop handle pass. Also in the same heat, Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK) won the heat against Michael Schitzhofer (Naish, Austria) with more technical moves and more variation, plus with a lower kite angle and powered riding. The reigning world champion landed a regular and switched slim, regular and switched kiteloop handle pass, front mobe to blind, s-bend to blind with aerial handle pass, back to blind air-pass, and a frontside 360 off the waves. Schitzhofer meanwhile, landed a regular and switched slim, front mobe, 313, blind judge with aerial handle pass and a KGB.
In the semi-final round, Tyushkevich proved no match for the Dutch kiteboarding champ and world champion challenger Kevin Langeree (Naish) who rode with more technical moves, more variation and more power. At the same time, Hadlow beat Portas with another display of even more technical, variation and power moves, advancing to the finals to.
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