Young talents of Spanish kitesurfing
Surely if you like kitesurfing you follow great riders like Gisela Pulido, Alejandro Climent or Abel Lago, but not only classic kitesurfers do real fancy things with the kite. Today, the new generations of riders enter stomping and at Kite and Roll Tarifa we present them to you.
Liam Whaley
The number 1 in the ranking of the Spain Kiteboarding League in the male freestyle category, with Spanish nationality, is only 22 years old. He lives in Tarifa, but grew up and learned to kite in Ibiza.
At the age of 13 he began to compete, training with Gisela Pulido, being Spanish champion on several occasions. He has had important successes in different tours and international championships, the most important “The Virgin Kitesurf World Championships”.
His level is such that Mitsubishi has been his sponsor since 2015 as he is considered one of the best riders in the world.
Pau Gisbert Mariscal
At 22 years old, Pau is one of the great promises of Spanish Kitesurfing. The Valencian, who currently resides in Tarifa, is currently among the top 10 ranked raiders in the Spain Kiteboarding League.
Pau, a traveler at heart, knows that his strong point is the Blind Judge 5 , his best trick. He started practicing Kite in Valencia at the age of 15. His fans were such that in 2013 he managed to convince his relative to move to Tarifa and train professionally. Today he stands out as one of the best freestyle riders.
Adrián Carbonell
Perhaps the youngest kitesurfer to participate in the Spanish league. At only 16 years old, he already promises to be one of the greats. Even studying ESO at LaSalle, Adrián is not only in the Top 10 riders in Men’s Freestyle, but is also the focus of attention for his ability learning and continuous improvement.
Last year he already got 4th place in the Spanish Kitesurfing Championship, in the Junior category. Today, Adrián continues to learn on the Valencian coast, his spots are usually distributed between Altea, Denia, Valencia and Alicante.
Alexandra Torres
From Fuerteventura, little 15-year-old Alexandra has also participated, along with Adrián Carbonell, in the Spanish Kitesurfing Championship. Currently, she is one of the riders who is among the top 10 kitesurfers in Spain Kiteboarding League.
Alexandra is playing a great role in the world of competition, despite her young age. She started kitesurfing with the Club Hijos del Mar in Fuerteventura, where she continues to train today. One of his dreams is to be able to navigate the coasts of Brazil.
Nina Font
At the age of 17, Nina Font was crowned champion of the TT:R Youth World Championships in China this May . Thanks to this merit, he has qualified for the Youth Olympics to be held this October in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the TwinTip:Racing modality.
Nina is from Castelló d’Empúries, also known as Empuriabrava, and she started practicing with the kite at her father’s kitesurfing center. Currently, in the Spain Kiteboarding League, the Catalan rider competes in the modality Women’s Freestyle but also competes in Race.
One of Nina’s favorite spots is Tarifa, as she considers it an ideal place to train, since you can find different types of winds.
Kite and Roll supports talent
As you can see, all the young promises agree on something: Tarifa is a perfect place to train Kitesurfing professionally, not only because it has perfect conditions all year round, but also because there are excellent coaches and riders who They have a lot of experience in the world of competition.
Probably kiteboarding will become an Olympic sport.
For the moment, the Youth Olympic Games already have this sport integrated into the program and everyone knows that the IOC uses this event as a test of new sports modalities. For the moment, kitesurfing has been ruled out as an Olympic sport in Tokyo 2020. But what about Paris 2024?
Whether it is an Olympic sport or not, Kitesurfing has more and more professional leagues and championships. Year after year the level is higher and young people must be prepared to face this challenge.
Kite and Roll Tarifa has high level certified instructors. We do not only have courses for beginners. Within our private courses, with classes tailored to the needs of each rider.
