VKWC St Peter Ording – Freestyle Finals – The Complete Run Down

VKWC St Peter Ording – Freestyle Finals – The Complete Run Down

It was a tough final day of freestyle competition at the VKWC full of surprises and loaded with emotions. We give you a heat by heat run down of the days action.

Wow what a day at the VKWC in Germany at St Peter Ording. Today was the finals of the girls freestyle competition and it went down like this.

As the day started the winds were strong and the tide high which made very very difficult conditions with almost head high swell and loads of chop. This made not only take-off but also spotting the landing extremely difficult and with the gust that accompanied the strong winds it made throwing down the usual array of tricks extremely challenging.

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First heat of the day saw a strong performance from the newly qualified Therese Taabbel as she beat Kristiin Oja to advance to the next round. As well as a mighty kite-loop she also managed to land an s-bend pass which saw her in to the next round. Kristin took a nasty crash which saw her stuck underwater for a moment and this really had an effect in her confidence for the rest of the heat although she came out of the water unscathed.

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Next up was local wildcard Sabrina Lutz against Rita Arnaus. Sabrina had been riding well and Rita has just come off recording the highest heat score in the qualifiers but in the end it was Sabrina with the home support who came through by the narrowest of margins (0.3 points) as both girls struggled in the conditions but Rita was unable to land the tricks she wanted in the time she had.

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Next up was Dioneia Vieira against Hannah Whiteley. Hannah enjoying riding powered stuck some good tricks but Dioneia trying more passes was unlucky in landing her tricks and in the end it was Hannah who went through.

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Then came a fierce match up between rival Annelous Lammerts and Paula Novotna. In a tense and very close heat it was Annelous who came through in the conditions as wha managed to land more tricks than Paula. Paula fought hard and it was a shame to see her go out but she paid the price for her position in the previous heat due to the wind conditions which did not favour her.

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This mean’t the first quarter final was between Bruna Kajiya and Therese Taabbel, and although she had fought hard to this point, Therese Taabbel was out ridden by the more experienced Kajiya who had more tricks in the bag and managed to stick them to advance to the semi-finals.

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Next up was Gisela Pulido against Sabrina Lutz. Gisela hungry for her first win of the season was taking no prisoners and pulled off an accomplished heat, landing her tricks and not giving the salient Sabrina a chance to advance further.

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Next up was Annabel van Westerop against Hannah Whiteley. Annabel rode really well sticking most of her tricks, whereas this time the conditions lucked out on Hannah as she struggled and even after changing her kite mid heat was unable to match the score of Annabel.

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The final quarter final was between current tour leader Karolina Winkowska and the on fire Annelous Lammerts. Both girls rode well considering the conditions, but Karolina was unable to stick the tricks that would normally have elevated her score and just before the end of the heat Annelous landed an epic back-mobe off a kicker that presented itself to her to clinch the heat by a narrow 0.37 points much to the joy of her support caddies and family.

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The first semi final saw Gisela Pulido beat Bruna Kajiya as she quite simply out scored an over powered Bruna to advance to the final.

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The other semi final was a different matter however as Annelous Lammerts and Annabel van Westerop battled for a guaranteed minimum second spot on the podium which would be a highest placing for both girls. This put a huge pressure on two very tired competitors and made for a really close heat which could not be called as the girls came off the water. As they waited for the judges decision there were hugs all around but it was Annelous who got the win which sent her team into overload and her jumping for joy. Our thoughts and respect to Annabel in this situation as it is never easy to be in her position.

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The final between Gisela and Annelous was run immediately after as the storm clouds started to gather and the winds increased. Both girls rode well, but Gisela took the win in the end, landing more tricks than Annelous.

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The losers final between Bruna and Annabel went to Bruna as an emotionally and physically tired Annabel was overpowered and although also overpowered Bruna managed to land one more trick early on giving her the win.

It has been a exhausting couple of days in the finals and we think all the girls are happy to have the competition over although Annelous will be defending her lead in the slalom tomorrow, however we think she will still find time to celebrate tonight.



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