All to play for next week at the GKA Kite-Surf World Tour finals

by Matt Pearce on 30 Aug 2017 So, after an incredible event in Fehmarn at the Kitesurf World Cup in Germany last week, it's time to recap - and to soak up the calm before the final storm in Mauritius next week.

Matchu Lopes won the main event with Airton Cozzolino in second and Paulino Pereira in third. This marks a pivotal moment at a late stage in the 2017 GKA Kite-Surf World Tour as, although Airton stills holds the overall lead, 2016 champ Matchu has propelled himself back into second place on the tour and into contention for the world title after the next, and final, stop in Mauritius just one week from now. He’ll have to close quite a significant points gap to catch up to Airton, but anything can happen at competition and even Airton can make mistakes as we saw last year in Mauritius when he went out at the hands of Jeremy Chan in round three.

Top five after Germany
1. Airton Cozzolino: 3580 points
2. Matchu Lopes: 3210
3. Paulino Pereira: 3160
4. Mitu Monteiro: 3080
5. Keahi de Aboitiz: 2760

Points allocation:
First: 1,000
Second: 900
Third: 810

A couple of Mauritius scenarios
If Airton finishes fourth or worse and Matchu finishes second or better, Matchu will be champion.
If Matchu wins the contest, but Airton reaches the final, Airton will be champion.

Paulino still holds third overall after yet another super-consistent performance from the Portuguese Powerhouse but with the One Eye specialist Mitu Monteiro, a rider who has spent perhaps more time than any other rider on the tour riding this iconic wave, just 80 points behind him in the overall rankings he’ll have his work cut out in Le Morne.

Extra events in Germany:
Airton won the Big-Air comp ahead of Keahi de Aboitiz in second and Gustavo Arrojo in third. Keahi then went on to land an absolutely huge Tow-Up air in the Tow-Up contest that must have been at least 35 metres in height!

Now it's all about the next and final event in Mauritius which is set to be an epic finale to this year's tour with 65 riders registered to take on the infamous One Eye. There are also 19 women competing in Mauritius, including former KSP Wave world champion Jalou Langeree and ten time World Freestyle Champion, Gisela Pulido (who switches her focus to waves), so this last stop will truly showcase the absolute best waveriders from across the sport.

Mauritius is going to be huge!