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The top freestyle kiteboarders in the world were in Leucate, France at the end of April for the second round of the 2016 Kiteboarding World Championships.
For team Slingshot fans, the event promised a highly-anticipated rematch between Carlos Mario and Yuri Zoon.
In the opening contest of the season earlier this year, the two RPM riders went head to head in the finals to claim the top two spots on the podium and set a high benchmark for the remainder of the nine-round season. Mario edged Zoon to claim first and establish himself as the rider to beat as the season progresses.
After several rounds of elimination heats in Leucate, the stage was set for a high-flying final between Mario, Zoon, Alex Pastor and Stefan Spiessberger. Mario narrowly advanced by eliminating former world champs Liam Whaley and Aaron Hadlow in an action-packed semi, while Zoon advanced after a crushing performance in his qualifier.
Unfortunately, conditions did not align for the final, and after three days of waiting for the wind to return, the final was called and the top four riders shared first place.
IKA Kiteboarding World Championships Overall standings after two rounds:
- Carlos Mario (BRA, Slingshot), 2000 pts
- Youri Zoon (NED, Slingshot), 1915 pts
- Alex Pastor (ESP, Airush), 1855 pts
- Stefan Spiessberger (AUT, North), 1615 pts
- David Tonijuan (ESP, F-One), 1510 pts
- Paul Serin (FRA, Naish), 1510 pts
The third round of the 2016 IKA Kiteboarding World Championships is scheduled to be held in Dakhla, Morocco, from 17 to 23 of June, 2016.
More information, full results and rankings can be found at www.worldkiteleague.com
For full results and heat-by-heat tricks and scores please see the complete freestyle elimination ladder athttp://www.f-ridescoremobile.com/temp/f-ladder-ika-freestyle.html
Follow the tour on social media:
www.facebook.com/kiteworldcup
https://www.instagram.com/kitewc
https://twitter.com/ikaclass