Isla de Coche, Venezuela (Thursday, June 11, 2015) - The second stop of the Virgin Kitesurf World Championships (VKWC) 2015 saw another day of good conditions with 15 to 22 knots of wind and crowds of spectators for the third day of competition. Male top seeds put on display great action from round 2 to the beginning of round 4 until it was called off due to insufficient wind.
Local wildcard Oscar Hurtado put on a great show in front of his Venezuelan fans cheering for him. Hurtado delivered a wide variety of tricks but could not match Marc Jacobs (NZ) power who then took down Sergei Borisov (RU) in a close heat. Tomorrow Jacobs will be up against Liam Whaley (ES).
Marc Jacobs: "It went pretty well for me, I mean I’m not good in light winds. I’m more of a strong wind power rider. I’m not kiting as good as I normally do but I’m still happy that I’m in and I’m riding better every heat so I’m kind of getting back into it. Liam is riding super well, hopefully we’ll have some good wind to be full on and at least make the heat interesting and not so easy for him. It’s a good challenge."
Suprising news of the day was reigning world champion Christophe Tack (BE) loosing against Robinson Hilario (DO)in an extremely close heat. Unfortunately for Tack he lost half of his best score after preventing Hilario from entering the area of competition when he had right of way. Hilario then faced current leader Liam Whaley with who's impressive repertoire of powerful manoeuvres he could not keep up with.
Liam Whaley: "Today was pretty good until the wind went down. Everyone was riding really good actually and I had one of the best heats of my life. The wind was pretty light but everything worked out and I had my three doubles - a Back Side 317, a 317 and a KGB 5. I advanced the next round so I’m up against Marc. Tomorrow it should be good so hopefully I can beat him too!"
Two of the newcomers - David Tonijuan Colomer (ES) and Carlos Mario (BR) - showcased technical tricks in their respective heats. The young Brazilian once again landed a number of double handle passes sending him straight to quarterfinals where he will meet Tonijuan.
David Tonijuan Colomer: "Next heat is going to be a hard one against Carlos Mario. I will try to do my best, he has a huge level but we’ll see."
Both former world champions Alex Pastor (ES) and Youri Zoon (NL) rode extremely well dispatching Michael Schitzhofer (AT) and Ariel Corniel (DO) respectively. Then they met in the first heat of round 4 which got cancelled and therefore they will meet again tomorrow.
Youri Zoon: "Hopefully we’ll get good conditions so we can show what we’re made of and see who is going to win. Alex is getting back from the injury he had a year ago. He’s improving a lot, he’s been training hard and it’s definitely going to be a tough heat. It’s back to the old times again when I used to compete with him in a lot of finals, it’s going to be a good one."
Competitors meeting tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. (GMT -4:30) with a first possible start at 11 a.m.
Freestyle male results of the day :
Pictures credit: Rodrigo Ungaro