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TV broadcasters: ICARUS Sports’ output from the 2025 Formula Kite Worlds is now uploaded on ICARUS Sports SERVER:
VNR SHOTLIST:
TClist_IKA_2025_Formula_Kite_World_Championships_News.mp4 – Direct download* HERE.
00:22 – 00:41: Introduction / Location
Quartu Sant’Elena in the south of Sardinia, and 96 of the world’s best kiteboarders are here to compete in the Formula Kite World Championships.
00:42 – 02:07: Opening Series / Story of the week
Day one saw four back to back races for the women’s fleet and two qualifying fleets for the men. Jessie Kampman from the Netherlands took the early lead in the women’s fleet, holding a five point advantage from France’s Olympic silver medallist and defending World Champion Lauriane Nolot in second.
In the men, Max Maeder, the defending World Champion from Singapore, won all four of his qualifying races in his half of the qualifying draw. Local Italian hero Riccardo Pianosi holds second place ahead of Switzerland’s young up-and-coming talent Gian Stragiotti in third. After the light onshore winds of the first day, day two brought a strong offshore Mistral breeze with big gusts and wind shifts. Breiana Whitehead won two of the four women’s races, moving the Australian up to third place, while in the men Brazil’s Bruno Lobo won his first race of the week. More strong and gusty offshore breeze for day three, and Spain’s Gisela Pulido mastered the conditions to beat the women’s fleet. In the men, Maeder won all his races while in the other group the race victories went three ways to Toni Vodisek (SLO), Vojtech Koska (CZE) and Riccardo Pianosi (ITA). The first day of Gold Fleet racing for the top 25 men and some swirly wind conditions made consistency almost impossible. In the men’s second race, a big tangle between some of the front runners. Maeder stumbled, falling to fourth overall while Pianosi moved into the lead. Day five was the final opportunity to qualify in the top eight of the men’s and women’s competition before the Medal Series climax of the final day. Like previous days, moments of drama and chaos on the water and on Poetto Beach. Even Jessie Kampman had moments of losing control but the Dutch rider retains the yellow bib and goes into the final day on match point, joined by second qualifier Lauriane Nolot. The final placings for the men were in much greater doubt until the end of the session, but Max Maeder fought his way back up the rankings into second place ahead of training partner Stragiotti. So the Singapore rider joins Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi who holds the yellow bib. Married just over a month ago, could Pianosi make 2025 the best year of his life and claim his first world title on home waters? We will find out soon.
02:08 – 02:43: Medal Series up to before Grand Final
After six days of high-speed competition, we have our winners of the Formula Kite World Championships. The Mistral was already blowing hard early in the morning, with a forecast for it to get progressively stronger throughout the day. So the organisers opted for an early start to the medal series. The top eight women and the top eight men prepared themselves for a breezy, wavy and potentially treacherous race course.
Even for the very best, staying stable on the board was proving very tricky in the knock-out rounds. In the women’s quarter final, Britain’s Olympic Champion Ellie Aldridge tumbled out of contention while American six-time World Champion Daniel Moroz surged into the semi-final.
In the semi-final it was Switzerland’s Elena Lengwiler who suffered an early fall, while Moroz and Britain’s Lily Young earned their place in the final.
Meanwhile in the men’s knockout races, Benoit Gomez was on fire, the Frenchman blasting his way through the quarter and the semi-final and into the last four along with Olympic silver medallist Toni Vodisek from Slovenia.
02:44 – 03:24: Final Medal Race summary men
Now to the men’s final, where Gomez and Vodisek joined Singapore’s Max Maeder and local lad from Quartu Sant’Elena, Riccardo Pianosi in the yellow bib and holding match point advantage.
All four were fast out of the gate and still closely matched a the top of the course until Vodisek suffered a massive wipe-out. Pianosi held a slender lead. Maeder knew he had to go full throttle to keep the game alive, pressing to more than 40 knots of speed on the downwind leg and closing the gap.
Maeder was breathing down Pianosi’s neck all the way around the next lap and right up to the finish. But the Italian withstood the pressure to cross the line victorious, punching the air as he became Formula Kite World Champion for the first time in his career. Maeder took the silver and Gomez the bronze.
03:25 – 03:46: Winner Ceremony men
8th place Jan Marciniak from Poland
7th place Jan Matthis Voester from Germany
6th place Vojteck Koska from the Czech Republic
5th place Gian Andrea Stragiotti from Switzerland
4th place Toni Vodisek from Slovenia
3rd place Benoit Gomez from France
2nd place Maximilan Maeder from Singapore
1st Riccardo Pianosi from Italy
03:47 – 04:41: Final Medal Race summary women
And so to the women’s final, where Moroz and Young would join defending World Champion and Olympic silver medallist from France, Lauriane Nolot, and Dutch rider Jessie Kampman who has dominated all week in the yellow bib.
Kampman was fast out of the start although the others were not far behind. Nolot was pushing hard, keen to reel in the Dutch rider but then the French rider crashed and Kampman was now comfortably ahead. Not that anything was comfortable today as even Kampman fluffed her high-speed gybe and crashed, little more than a minute away from crossing the finish line. Moroz swept past for the win and now moved to match point alongside Kampman.
In the next race Young took a tumble out of the start line while Kampman moved into the lead. This time she stretched away, clung on to her advantage and crossed the finish line, the world title secure. A well deserved victory for the Dutch rider, and a silver for Moroz and bronze for Nolot.
It was a dramatic climax to the week, and back on Poetto Beach, Jessie Kampman and Riccardo Pianosi could finally let it sink in. They are the new Formula Kite World Champions.
04:42 – 05:03: Winner Ceremony women
8th place Ellie Aldridge from the United Kingdom
7th place Derin Atakan from Turkiye
6th place Elena Lengwiler from Switzerland
5th place Breiana Whitehead from Australia
4th place Lily Young from the United Kingdon
3rd place Lauriane Nolot from France
2nd place Daniela Moroz from the United States
1st Jessie Kampman from the Netherlands
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