This year's World Championship saw 28 boys and girls under 17 years old returning to Hang Loose Beach in Calabria for the first part of the IKA's Youth Festival. Kicked off by a camp for foiling newcomers, where any kind of foiling kite equipment could be used, it was first the A's Youth Foil Class taking the competition to the water, followed by the Formula Kite Youth Worlds the week after.
No racing on the final day of the A's Youth Foil Worlds means leaving the overall title with Gian Andrea Stragiotti of Switzerland.
Day four of the Kitefoiling Youth World Championships saw competition in 8 to 12 knot winds and another four races completed, with Gian Andrea Stragiotti winning all four.
Day three of the Kitefoiling Youth World Championships brought strong but unpredictable breeze that made it hard to choose the right size kite. As ever, staying out of trouble was a vital part of success, and avoiding the ever-present risk of a high-speed wipeout.
Day two of the Kiteboarding Youth World Championships saw a change of leader. The breeze was steadier than Wednesday, with all four races completed in winds of 8 to 16 knots which gradually moved around from the south-west to north-west throughout the afternoon.
Formula Kite is the new fast-n-furious Olympic class and the acrobatic skills of the riders while moving in breathtaking speed may look out of this world, but there is a simple and fun way to get there. It’s called the A’s Youth Foil Class and since 2021 it is the pathway to Olympic kitefoiling.
The Notice of Race for the 2022 Formula Kite U21 and A's Youth Foil Class World Championships in Torregrande (ITA) from 16 to 22 May 2022 has been published.
The event is open to 60 Formula Kite Men and 30 Formula Kite Women born in the year 2002 or after, and for 30 A's Youth Foil class competitors each in the U17 (born 2006 and after) and U15 (born 2008 and after) divisions.
Go to the Official Notice Board
Register here
Early bird registration ends on 17 April 2022. Entries are accepted on a first come - first served basis.
The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Executive Committee echoes the reaction of the International Olympic Committee regarding the developing situation in Ukraine.
Sport can be a force for good, bringing competitors from around the world together, united by the values of equality, inclusion, respect and fairness. We hope that the hostilities will end and that constructive dialogue will lead to the resolution of any differences.
In the meantime, following the resolution issued by the IOC Executive Board earlier today, the IKA Executive Committee will not accept athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus in any IKA class event. Furthermore, the IKA Executive Committee will not consider any class activities in Russia and Belarus or any cooperation with Russian or Belarusian entities.
The IKA Executive Committee will continue to closely monitor the situation and may adapt its recommendations and measures according to future developments.
The IKA Executive Committee reaffirms the call of the IOC President: “Give peace a chance”
IOC statement
The young Russian kiteboard foil racer Mikhail Novikov took the European crown in the A’s Youth Foil one-design class on the final, climactic day of action in Montpellier, southern France.
Novikov, 16, was late to the start of the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) A’s only race of the final day and did not compete. But with his unbroken run of bullets in earlier races off Villeneuve-Lès-Maguelone beach, the blond teenager was already guaranteed the crown.
“It feels amazing,” said Novikov, just before he was awarded his trophy in the U17 category. “I was second in the A’s Worlds, now I’ve got what I wanted, the European title, and I’m very happy. My next move is into Formula Kite.”
In the U15 category France’s Enzo Louber maintained the poise he had shown in the earlier races in the five-day regatta that suffered two windless days in the middle of the action. His performance was enough to secure the U15 title.
The IKA A’s Youth Foil European Championships, a one-design Olympic pathway class for 11 to 16 year-olds, was being staged in tandem with the Formula Kite Europeans event.
On identical SABfoil boards and hyrdrofoils, and Ozone Edge tube kites, the young A’s athletes were able to battle furiously on a level playing field that focuses on the racers’ abilities in a fun and safe environment.
The roster of young kiteboarding athletes who have braved coronavirus restrictions to make it to the start line of the Formula Kite European Championships, has grown dramatically as the countdown to the event’s Olympic debut has begun.
More young teenagers than ever have turned up to attend the biggest regatta of the year so far, being staged on the Mediterranean, off Montpellier’s Villeneuve Lès-Maguelone beach in the south of France.
Yet, on the third of five scheduled days of competition, the young athletes—among the stellar fleet of 91 men and 40 women from 29 countries and five continents—were again disappointed when the wind speed was never even close to the minimum limit of 5 knots and no racing was possible. The same fate that befell the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) A’s Youth Foil European Championships being run in tandem.
Frustrations aside, some of the young kiteboarders had tasted success already in the regatta’s opening races of the championships, which set the clock ticking on kiteboarding’s first Olympics at the Paris 2024 Games.