The AUD$38,500 Kiteboarding event saw child superstar, 11-year-old KPWT World Champion, Gisela Pulido (Spain) surge well ahead of competitors to claim the championship title. Pint-sized Gisela beat 25-year-old Theresa McKirdy from Perth (Mullaloo) to win valuable competition points and rankings in the KPWT (Kiteboard Pro World Tour) World Cup.
The winner of the men’s division was 18-year-old Thomas Cocquelet (France) who beat current World No. 1 Mickael Fernandez (France) to win the AUS$7,445 first prize. Runners-up in the men’s were Tom Herbert (New Caledonia), local entrant Jake Gordon (Perth, WA) and Antoine Auriol (France).
The contest field included 20 male and, for the first time, four female kiteboarders, representing countries such as France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Brazil and across Australia.
Gravity Games H2O was the first KPWT kiteboarding event in Australia and the first Pacific stop on the World Tour, preceded by rounds one to three in Italy, Turkey and Brazil.
MEN’S KITEBOARDING 1st Thomas Cocquelet, FRA 2nd Tom Hebert, NCA 3rd Jake Gordon, AUS
WOMEN’S KITEBOARDING 1st Gisela Pulido, ESP 2nd Theresa McKirdy, AUS 3rd Jessica van den Berg, AUS