Big day for Erika Heineken at Formula Kite World Championships

Published on August 20th, 2014

Istanbul, Turkey (August 20, 2014) – After rough conditions challenged the field for the opening day the 2014 Formula Kite World Championships, conditions moderated today as the event completed four more races.

In the women’s fleet, defending World Champion Erika Heineken (USA, ML/Ozone) posted a 1-1-3-1 to pull near even with day one leader Steph Bridge (GBR, North). Still sitting strong in third position is 17 year old Elena Kalinina (RUS, TMV/Elf). Aga Grzymska (POL, ML/Ozone) and Astrid Berz (SUI, ML/Ozone) complete the top 5.

In the men’s fleet, 17 year old European Champion Oliver Bridge (GBR, North) scored three bullets to sit in first place, rising the rank to now be tied in points with defending World Champion Florian Gruber (GER, UC/Ozone). Riccardo Leccese (ITA, ML/Ozone) is close on their heels only 4 points behind, and Maxime Nocher (FRA, North) who proved his lightwind skills today climbing up into 4th position and Blazej Ozog (POL, North) only a few points behind.

Racing continues tomorrow with the Final Series for the men, when every competitor carries two times his position forward after the qualifying series. The real racing starts now when the top guys battle it out in the gold fleet.

The women’s fleet continue their single opening series with another 4 races scheduled.

The forecast is lighter for the next two days, which gives the light wind specialists a chance to catch up after racing in stronger breeze for the past two days. The wind prediction for the medal series day on Saturday still looks strong, which means that the 2014 world titles are wide open.

Overall standings after 8 races:

MEN:
1. Oliver Bridge (GBR, North) – 10 pts
2. Florian Gruber (GER, UC/Ozone) – 10 pts
3. Riccardo Leccese (ITA, ML/Ozone) – 14 pts
4. Maxime Nocher (FRA, North) – 19 pts
5. Blazej Ozog (POL, North) – 20 pts

WOMEN:
1. Steph Bridge (GBR, North) – 12 pts
2. Erika Heineken (USA, ML/Ozone) – 12.7 pts
3. Elena Kalinina (RUS, TMV/Elf) – 20 pts
4. Aga Grzymska (POL, ML/Ozone) – 25 pts
5. Astrid Berz (SUI, ML/Ozone) – 33 pts

Full results: http://internationalkiteboarding.org/images/documents/results/2014FKWorldsResults.pdf

Post by Michael Petrikov.