Kitesurfing
World's best kitesurfers ride the storm at spectacular Red Bull Megaloop
The cream of international kitesurfing dropped everything to see who could come out on top on a wild day at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
After a two-year wait, wind and waves finally aligned to create perfect conditions for extreme kitesurfing competition Red Bull Megaloop. The event was only confirmed on Thursday, when the weekend weather forecasts predicted winds of over 40 knots would hit the Dutch coast at Zandvoort.
This gave the invited field of international kiteboarders just 48 hours to make their way to the venue. The 16 participating athletes this year came from France, South Africa, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands. As well as the riders, over 8,000 fans defied force-nine gale conditions to turn out and watch the action from the beach at The Spot watersport club in Zandvoort.
The competition format pits riders against each other in heats of four, with each trying to perform the biggest tricks using the megaloop technique. Judges awarded points based on height, distance, style and performance of the megaloops, so one perfect jump within the heat's time limit would be enough to see a rider progress to the next round.
Conditions were initially difficult for the riders, with wave selection key on the choppy waters, but we were soon seeing the athletes boosting up to 15m vertically and 50m in distance.
Lasse Walker
© Jarno Schurgers/Red Bull Content Pool
Ready for the off
© Jarno Schurgers/Red Bull Content Pool
The megaloop in action
© Jarno Schurgers/Red Bull Content Pool
Ross-Dillon Player, Oswald Smith, Lasse Walker and Liam Whaley
© Ydwer van der Heide/Red Bull Content Pool
The final heat saw two South Africans, Ross-Dillon Player and Oswald Smith, pitted against local favourite Lasse Walker and Spain-based Liam Whaley.
Player laid down a strong early marker and held on to top spot throughout what was an extremely close finale. He eventually finished with a 7.90 score, just 0.3 points ahead of compatriot Smith. Walker's 7.47 was enough to claim the final podium spot.
Ross-Dillon Player
© Ydwer van der Heide/Red Bull Content Pool
Speaking after the event, a clearly emotional Player said, "Coming from the first round I thought I was going home, but after that I won every heat. That's four heats. I can't believe it, it just went so well."
Red Bull Megaloop has now been held four times since 2013. Previous winners are Jerrie van de Kop in 2013, Lasse Walker in 2015 and Joshua Emanuel in 2017.
Red Bull Megaloop 2019 results
- Ross-Dillon Player 7.90 points
- Oswald Smith 7.60
- Lasse Walker 7.47
- Liam Whaley 6.83
Watch the replay on Red Bull TV.