2nd Day of the IWWF Europe & Africa Wakeboard Championships Sees High Level Riding Amongst Junior Riders

31 July 2018

21 riders in the Boys category, riding at a very high level, had everyone on their feet at the commencement of Day#2 of the 2018 IWWF Europe & Africa (E&A) Wakeboard Championships at Borgo San Pietro, Lago del Salto. Colin Hart (GBR), a veteran judge with years of experience at international and European level, said “since I’ve been judging IWWF European Championships over the last 20 years, I have never seen a higher level like this, it was superb, very high performance.”

The next line of stars of the future were on show in Junior Men with current IWWF World Boys Champion Maxime Roux (FRA) winning his heat with two 720’s and three handle pass inverts. Maxime won the 2^nd stop of the 2018 IWWF European Wakeboard Pro Tour this summer, qualifies to compete in the Boys category but has bumped himself up to compete with the Junior Men. Another talented young gun and current IWWF Junior Men’s World Champion Luca Kidd (GBR), who lives and trains full-time in the USA, also showed the Open Men what they need to deal with once he hits 18 with an array of technical tricks.

No surprises in Open Women with Italian twins Alice and Chiara Virag placing 1^st and 2^nd in Heat 1. Defending IWWF European Open Women’s Champion, Sanne Meijer (NED), and Caroline Djupso placed 1^st and 2^nd in their heat to advance to the Final.

In Open Men, top seeds Nikita Maryanov (RUS), who won the bronze in last year’s IWWF E&A Championships, and Nicolò Caimi (ITA) were surprisingly beaten by Lorenzo Soprani (ITA) and Patrick Benzidane (FRA) in their respective heats but still advanced to the Semi-Finals, placing 2^nd in their heats. Multi-talented rider, equally proficient behind the boat and on the cable, 2017 World Games Bronze Medalist Guy Firer (ISR) won his heat as expected. Another boat & cable rider, Ariano Blanik (GER), who won the recent IWWF Jordan Ayla Cable Wakeboard World Cup, placed 2^nd in his heat to advance behind Paul Johnston (IRL) who won his heat to advance to the Semi-Finals.

It was inspiring to see former IWWF World Cup riders still competitive on the water: Julien Bonnet & Michael Callebert from Belgium, Lucas Langlois & Yann Calvez from France all advancing to the Masters Men’s Semi-Finals. Roberts Linavskis (LAT) put in a solid performance to win his heat and also advanced to the Semi-Finals.

Mastercraft, the official towboat of the IWWF Europe & Africa Wakeboard Championships, had their 2018 X-Star running all day kicking up the biggest wake for the riders to perform at their best, all aspiring to be an IWWF European Champion.