Round 3 & 4 results, video, photos and details – WKL Finals New Caledonia

Heat 05

Bruna Kajiya continued her dominance with an super impressive array of tricks including an 8.43 Heart Attack and a total score of 31.7 giving her a lead of more than 3 points over her nearest rival and going straight into the final.

Maureen Castelle pulled out a strong heat to grab second place from Annabel van Westerop. A successions of strong consistent tricks including a hinterberger and s-mobe saw her rack up an very impressive 28.29 in total.

Annabel van Westerop had a tougher heat as she battled not to drop down to fourth place and elimination. A missed front blind attempt and a crash mean’t she had to rely on her initial s-bend blind and back to blind to carry her through in third place with a very respectable score of 27.23.

Pauline Valesa had two crashes and a missed trick which left her two strong scoring tricks with an s-bend blind and slim chance, but unfortunately her 313 and blind judge just did not pack enough punch to see her grab the third place spot from Annabel and she will be gutted to exit the competition at her home spot like that. Full credit to her as she rode really well all competition but just a couple of crashes at the wrong time and she is eliminated.

Final scores for Heat 05 – Round 3 as follows.

• 1st KAJIYA B. (BRA) – 31.7
• 2nd CASTELLE M. (FRA) – 28.29
• 3rd V. WESTEROP A. (ABW) – 27.23
• 4th VALESA P. (FRA) – 23.6

Heat 06

This was an epic heat with the top 3 separated by just 1.6 points with some impressive riding from all the girls.

Hannah Whiteley took the win with two tricks scoring her over eight points, a backmobe and a strong KGB which netted her 8.5 points. That supported by her s-bend blind and 313 gave her 30.37 points in total and making her the only girl other than Bruna to get over 30 points in a heat at this stage.

Paula Novotna managed to grab second place but only just. Having started on an 11m she switched down to a 9m after aborting her first trick. Her second trick was a crash and it did not look like things were going her way, but she picked it up and scored five consistent tricks in a row meaning she had four tricks over 7 points including a 7.53 back to blind which the judges seemed to reward just how far she tweaks the board around, and carried herself through to the next round.

Rita Anraus will have been bitterly disappointed with not grabbing second place here as she started her heat really well and scored four tricks over 7 points in her first four attempts with a 7.3 hinterberger and a 7.27 slim chance. Unfortunately she was not able to better those in her final attempts with a crash and missed trick as she tried to go big and got edged into third by 0.5 points.

Marine Duprat had what we can only call a stinker. Known for going big she just could not quite stick her landings and got some unlucky crashes. That added to a change from 10m down to 9m and then back to 10m showed that she just could not get herself back into the place she needed to be to stick the points on the board. She was eliminated after not sticking and high scoring tricks, but the score is not a testament to how powerful and committed she rode throughout this competition.

Final scores for Heat 06 – Round 3 as follows:

• 1st WHITELEY H. (GBR) – 30.37
• 2nd NOVOTNA P. (CZE) – 29.33
• 3rd ARNAUS R. (ESP) – 28.77
• 4th DUPRAT M. (FRA)- 4.87

Heat 07

Now things started to get VERY interesting with the first two girls in this heat going into the final and third and fourth being eliminated. This was without a doubt one of the closest heats we have ever watched and was nail biting down to the very last tricks.

Annabel van Westerop took the win with a massive 32.1 points which must have had her parents who we know were watching at home in Aruba jumping off their chairs. This was the highest female heat score so far of the competition an 8.8 point Heart Attack and an 8.63 KGB. With girls not often scoring over 8 points, to have two tricks over 8.6 was what gave her the heat. With points like that we are sure Bruna Kajiya won’t be counting her chickens just yet.

Paula Novotna had to wait until the very last trick to grab her second place with a last moment 8.47 KGB just giving her the edge she needed to secure her place in the final. Not forgetting that she had already scored 8.5 in her second trick with a huge Heart Attack. She would have been very super relieved to grab this place and give her the chance to battle it out for the podium places.

Rita Arnaus on the other hand would have been devasted with the result as she was pushed down to third yet managed the highest scoring female trick of the competition with an 8.93 (so close to the mythical 9’s) with her Heart Attack. This was on the back of a previous strong heat that also saw her pushed down to 3rd place it is a testament to the level of the girls riding to score 29.83 and still be in third place. However our heart goes out to Rita as she just misses her place in the final.

Maureen Castelle continued to ride strongly and will also be disappointed with what might have been the highest scoring heat of her life with a 29.37 and yet she still found herself in 4th place. An impressive 8 point hinterberger and a strong s-bend to blind, but with three crashes she did not have the chance to improve in her tricks with four stomped attempts giving her less to choose from. She can be justly proud of her effects as she was the highest placing French rider and rode a really strong competition.

Final scores forHeat 07 – Round 4 as follows:

• 1st V. WESTEROP A. (ABW) – 32.1
• 2nd NOVOTNA P. (CZE) – 30.7
• 3rd ARNAUS R. (ESP) – 29.83
• 4th CASTELLE M. (FRA) – 29.37

So it is set, the final which will take place in the early hours tomorrow (tune in from 10pm GMT for all the action) will see Bruna Kajiya take on Annabel van Westerop, Hannah Whiteley and Paula Novotna as the top four girls from the competition are also the top four on the tour rankings meaning they are riding for more than just the event podium but also the final years standings.

First place takes home 1000points, second place 900, third 810 and fourth 730. This means that with her current 359 point advantage the title the overall title will go to Bruna Kajiya, but we know she will want to be on that top step of the podium to receive it.

The other places however are not that cut and dry, ..currently the rider stand as follows:

Hannah Whiteley – 2556 points
Annabel van Westerop – 2511 points
Paula Novotna – 2501 points

This means that with only 55 points between them, every single position counts and second, third and fourth in the competition will be taking home the same placings for the year.

With so much to play for we will be glued to our screens tonight and we advise you to be too. We also wish all the 4 girls all the best for this epic show down and regardless of the final positions they can all be accredited with raising the level and profile of female freestyle kiteboarding into a new era supported by the enormous advancements of the WKL.

It took almost a decade, but we finally have slow motion replays and that is the one thing this year in the kitesurfing industry that no one can deny is a game changer.

Published on: 17th December 2016