Julia Damasiewicz (POL) and Martin Dolenc (CRO) both became first-time winners of a World Series event at the conclusion of KiteFoil World Series Traunsee in Austria.
While Britain’s Ellie Aldridge, who scored three second place finishes in the final day’s demanding and seemingly fluky condition, finished second overall in the women.
And in the men’s event Guy Bridge (1,4,7,3) was fifth and Connor Bainbridge (4,5,5,DNC) tenth.
With only one race completed on the 12km-long freshwater lake after three days of competition, the pressure was on to squeeze in as much racing as possible on the final day.
While some might have argued the conditions were at times too marginal for kitefoiling competition, the consistent performance of the two winners suggested there was still method to the apparent chaos on the Traunsee race course.
Both Dolenc and Damasiewicz scored three race victories from four, and both riders were discarding a worst score of 4th.
In the women’s fleet, the closest challenger to Damasiewicz was Ellie Aldridge.
A point further back in third overall was the reigning Formula Kite World Champion Daniela Moroz (USA), with a bit of a gap back to two riders in fourth and fifth respectively, Leonie Meyer (GER) and Alina Kornelli (AUT).
In the men’s event, Martin Dolenc was still coming to terms with his maiden World Series victory. He finished one point ahead of his training partner Mximillian Maeder (SGP).
Denis Taradin (CYP) was happy to take third after a long time away from international competition.
While just off the podium but displaying flashes of world-class brilliance were Markus Edegran (USA) in fourth and Guy Bridge (GBR) in fifth place.
KiteFoil World Series Traunsee – Final overall leaders
Men (34 entries)
1st CRO Martin Dolenc 3 pts
2nd SGP Mximillian Maeder 4 pts
3rd CYP Denis Taradin 5 pts
Women (21 entries)
1st POL Julia Damasiewicz 3 pts
2nd GBR Ellie Aldridge 6 pts
3rd USA Daniela Moroz 7 pts
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