A total new racing format was launched officially this year, TwinTip Racing or TT:R, stands for high action paced downwind slalom racing, the format that will be used in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Argentina next year. Which creates a great spectacle for crowds and competitors, the European Champions of 2017 were crowned at the finale of the first TwinTip: Racing Europeans in southern Italy after almost a week of high-intensity action in the new discipline.
With a remarkable amount of 175 short-sharp races (heats) that were run in the Open, Boys and Girls divisions, the European Championships saw amazing racing action during the whole week, pleasing crowds and riders alike.
Croatia’s FLYSURFER team rider Martin Dolenc, 17 years old, took the lead early in the TT:R Open Class title with unmatched pace on our SONIC RACE kite that left his racing rivals awed. The teenager dominated the Open class, sitting top of the leaderboard right from the opening day and showing very consistent results. “I’m so, so happy,” said Dolenc. “This is my first European senior title, so it’s really great to win it. To be honest I’m really surprised. I just didn’t expect to be this fast. I wasn’t really full-on training for this before coming here, since I also train a lot kite hydrofoiling.”
Fellow FLYSURFER team mates fought it out for the remaining places in the Top 5, with England’s Olly Bridge climbing up the leader board after a rough first day, finally ending up in 2nd place in the final result, making him vice-European Champion. Germany’s rider Florian Gruber, a seasoned racer on snow and water, could score the final European podium slot in 3rd place. Youngster from France, Theo de Ramecourt, came in 4th place and Race veteran Atte Kappel from Sweden finally ended up 5th. Making it an unreal 1,2,3,4,5 for team FLYSURFER Kiteboarding, way to go guys! What a result, enormous respect from all of us.
The prospect of a place at the YOG 2018 in Buenos Aires had prompted 68 boys and 28 girls—out of a total of 112 riders from 21 nations taking part—to make the journey to Italy to practice the new TwinTip Racing format ahead of upcoming continental Olympic qualifiers. The race organization also included jumps inside the heats for even more suspense, depending on the conditions, but still remained as accessible as possible to these young kiters. The eight-person heats lasted about three minutes and start relentlessly like clockwork every five minutes.
10 year old FLYSURFER youngster Max Maeder from Switzerland, living in Indonesia, could do the unthinkable and finally won the Boys under 14 years class, making the FLYSURFER party complete, well done Max!
FINAL STANDINGS – 2017 IKA TWINTIP RACING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Boys’ Class (U14) IKA Europeans top five after 5 elimination rounds (1 discard)
1. Max Maeder (SWI) – FLYSURFER
Open Class IKA Europeans top five after 10 elimination rounds (2 discards)
1. Martin Dolenc (CRO) – 13pts – FLYSURFER
2. Olly Bridge (GBR) – 19pts – FLYSURFER
3. Florian Gruber (GER) – 27pts – FLYSURFER
4. Theo de Ramecourt (FRA) – 37pts – FLYSURFER
5. Atte Kappel (SWE) – 37pts – FLYSURFER