Casati and Burlando, kings of the Gran Canaria Air Battle
Tenerife’s Lorenzo Casati and Jeremy Burlando were proclaimed Spanish champions in Waves and Big Air respectively, while Casati was crowned again in Strapless Freestyle and Burlando excelled in all the wing foil categories.
In the women’s Big Air, the show comes from Fuerteventura with Alexandra Torres and Julia Castro as champion and runner-up of Spain, while the Andalusian María Gallardo is crowned in Waves.
The finals of the Gran Canaria Air Battle have brought a lot of spectacle to Vargas beach, as well as leaving most of the titles of the Spanish Kiteboarding Championship in the categories Big Air (high jumps) and Waves in the Canary Islands.
Of all the competitors, Lorenzo Casati from Tenerife (of Italian origin) has been the one who has won the most finals in several kiteboarding categories: Big Air, Waves and Strapless Freestyle, being crowned in the last two after demonstrating that he is the best at catching waves and doing tricks with the board when flying. While Jeremy Burlando has been the most complete rider according to the judges, as he can win in any category, also dominating all the disciplines of kitesurfing and wing foil.
Casati not only became Spanish Wave Champion, but he also amazed the judges with his radical turns, bringing innovation to his manoeuvres. “The average age of the riders who used to win the Wave category was 40 years old, but now this young man has arrived with a surprising freshness and innovation, making turns with incredible power and fluidity on the wave”, explained Javier Ippolito, competition director. The Waves category has been led by the Gran Canarian Víctor Gil and Aarón Navares in second and third place. Officially, the second place on the podium went to Aarón Navares and the third place went to David Marín as Víctor Gil was not federated.
However, Jeremy Burlando (Tenerife) beat Casati in Big Air, being the rider who flew the highest, achieving the best jumps during the final and proclaiming himself Spanish champion in this category. In this category, the judges especially value high jumps taking the horizon line as a reference, and Jeremy’s jump “passed the horizon line by far”, said Alex Díaz, judge of the competition. Jeremy’s jumps took him to the top of the podium, followed by Lorenzo Casati and Joss De Pfyffer (Tarifa).
Alexandra Torres and Julia Castro from Fuerteventura, the queens of the air
In the women’s Big Air (high jumps), the title stays in Fuerteventura, with the final between Alexandra Torres and Julia Castro, a final in which the “student managed to beat the teacher”, according to Castro, one of the favourite local riders. For Alexandra, who retained her title, “the conditions were a bit extreme, but I am very happy to compete here, although I hope that more girls will come next year, as there are still few of us”, she said after the final. Both kitesurfers from the municipality of Pájara set the bar very high, highlighting the judges “a considerable difference in height with respect to the rest of the competitors, comparable to the men”, commented the director of the competition. For Julia, it is “a great pride to represent Fuerteventura here” and to compete again. Third place in the classification went to Paula Alonso from Huelva.
The title of Queen of the Waves goes to Andalusia with María del Mar Gallardo
The women’s Wave category was dominated by the Andalusian María del Mar Gallardo (originally from La Línea, Cádiz), after beating the Indonesian Iris Dewi (based in Tenerife) in the final, thus proclaiming herself Spanish Wave Champion. “The quality with which she catches the waves is very high, as well as the fact that she flows with a lot of style”, said the competition director. In his opinion, the Andalusian has managed to perform well on the beach of Gran Canaria, highlighting the suitability of Gran Canaria and Vargas as a strategic spot for the practice of wind and water sports. The third and fourth places were disputed by Julia Castro and Alexandra Torres, with Castro winning this time.
Lorenzo Casati’s tricks crown him again in Strapless Freestyle
Lorenzo once again excels in Strapless Freestyle with his tricks, beating the Andalusian Beltrán Eugui in the final. This achievement is added to the victory he obtained at national level in this category in the Gran Canaria Air Battle 2021 edition. Casati always surprises when he flies, getting this time the best score from the judges with the combination of a front (rotation of the body forward), followed by a rodeo (placing the board between the legs and releasing one hand) and a tic tac (rotation of the board clockwise), ending with a kiteloop (rotation of the kite backwards). With this combo he scored 9.7 out of 10 points. Likewise, his second-best manoeuvre was a front combo with a kiteloop that the judges said was “very high”, scoring 9.5 points. In the class, third place went to Noah Nicolas (Frenchman based in Tarifa), followed by Jeremy Burlando.
Jeremy Burlando, the most complete rider, is also a pure spectacle with the wing foil
When the wind dies down, the riders take to the water, flying over the water permanently thanks to the foil installed under their boards, allowing them to compete in just a few knots of wind. In the contested wing foil categories, Jeremy Burlando also shone with the most technical manoeuvre done so far in the Freestyle category, a front flip (forward rotation over the wing) which was awarded the highest score by the judges, a trick that he left for the end of the task against Olwen Guascone. The third place in the class went to Ancor Sosa. “Jeremy is what we call a waterman, he is a very complete competitor, he can do everything”, said the competition director after finishing the Freestyle final.
In addition to Freestyle, the other wing foil category that has brought more innovation has been the Waves, being the first time that a competition of this modality is organized in Spain and one of the first in the world. Another modality in which Jeremy Burlando has once again stood out, managing to beat the “Team Valencia” led by Sebastian Ducos, and especially the Valencian rider Adrian Carbonell, who got second place and was a “surprise” in the opinion of the judges. Third place on the podium went to Olwen Guascone from Andalusia. The third category in wing foil was Slalom, where Jeremy also made it to the podium, but this time he got third place, behind the German based in Fuerteventura Gunnar Biniasch and the Valencian Sebastián Ducos.
