GKA Freestyle World Cup Fuerteventura - Day 3
by Matt Pearce 23 Jul 02:34 PDT
19-24 July 2019
Corniel the Conqueror! © Svetlana Romantsova
Yesterday Paula Novotna won the women's division here at the GKA Freestyle World Cup Fuerteventura 2019, and today Adeuri Corniel won the men's with the most powerful performance of the entire event!
Here's how it happened round by round..
Semi-Finals
The action kicked off at 11:35 this morning with the first semi-finals heat. Adeuri opened with a double heart attack for 8.6 but Maxime bested that with a BIG BS 317 for 8.73 and the duel was on!
Corniel then took the lead with a slim 7 for 9.17 points and a hefty 317 but, as the end of the heat neared, Chabloz was closing in with an even bigger slim 7 for 9.33 points. Corniel was still in the lead though and, while that would have perhaps changed if Maxime had landed his backmobe 7 attempt, he retained his position. Corniel and Chabloz went through with Nico Delmas and Valentin Rodriguez exiting the event.
In the second semis heat the riders went blow-for-blow, trick-for-trick. None of them were opting for 'bankers' (easy tricks for safe points) and the lead was changing every time one of them touched down.
At the halfway point though, it was Louka Pitot and Gianmaria Coccoluto in the top two positions while former World Champs Carlos Mario and Liam Whaley were down in third and fourth.
Liam and Carlos needed to make their move, but Liam was getting unlucky with his timing and lining up for tricks, edging and releasing to find that he'd missed the gusts and didn't have enough power to land the trick he was aiming for.
Carlos was having similar difficulty, but when he finally stuck a heart attack five for 9.07 points he was able to move into first. Gianmaria then seized the top spot from him with a 319, the first of the event, to go through to the final with Carlos while Louka Pitot and Liam Whaley were knocked out of the running.
The Finals
So now it was down to the wire with Gianmaria Coccoluto, Carlos Mario, Adeuri Corniel and Maxime Chabloz about to face off. The wind was picking up to 30 knots in the gusts and the event title was on the line.
Carlos surged into first place early with a clean front blind mobe but Adeuri still had the momentum after his semi-finals win and he hammered home a MASSIVE double heart attack to move ahead of Mario.
The riders were sizing down to eight metre kites as Chabloz took the top spot with a backside 315 and he managed to hold it for all of a couple of minutes before Carlos Mario nailed a 317 to take it from him.
It looked like Carlos might pull away with the heat from here on (as he often does) but Adeuri had other ideas and a huge 319 earned him 9.49 and knocked Mario off the first place spot. It was so big and powered that, had he not scrubbed the landing a little, it would probably have scored him a 10!
The final was now Adeuri's to lose with Carlos down in fourth due to the efforts of Gianmaria and Maxime who were battling for second. Corniel slotted a KGB just to make sure he had a decent points buffer and Maxime Chabloz was now the only person who could potentially take first from him - and he was going to need a 9.29 to do it!
Maxime had one option. He had to do a backmobe 7 - a trick that had earned him the only perfect 10 of the event when he'd landed it on day one. He headed out the back, went for it and made it, but he'd butt-checked his landing so it wasn't perfect... but would it do?
No it wouldn't! The judges only awarded him a 7.6 for it and it wouldn't be enough. He'd secured second, but Adeuri Corniel from the Dominican Republic had won with a gargantuan combined score of 36.03!
Adeuri is a prodigious talent no doubt, but at the start of this event many people would have had their money on Carlos Mario or Maxime Chabloz.
To have overcome such a stacked field is not only a huge achievement for him, but may also signal a potential changing of the guard at the top of the division so it's doubly impressive!
Check the final standings after that beast of a heat below.
Men's Final Results
1: Adeuri Corniel (DOM)
2: Maxime Chabloz (CHE)
3: Gianmaria Coccoluto (ITA)
4: Carlos Mario (BRA)
Up next...
That's the Main Event completed, but the GKA Freestyle World Cup Fuerteventura is not over yet. This afternoon, the riders were out warming up for tomorrow's Big Air event which will see mixed teams of kiteboarders and strapless freestylers going head-to-head in a battle for the skies.
Women's Final Highlights
Today's highlights video is coming up. In the mean time, catch up on the key moments from yesterday's action below!