1) Only Andrea has the S-Loop Board Off
He used it twice: in the semi-final heat against marc and then again in the final. It made the top-3 scores both times. A mad move for a deserving x2 back to back World Champion.
2) Aaron’s got dem’ double loops
Surely no one doubted the GOAT, did they?
3) Babyshark is not a fluke
When Josue beat Cohan in the early rounds on Bacares (event one), most thought it was a one-off occurrence, made possible by poor kite choice from Cohan Van Dijk. But no. Josue took out Aaron in Tarifa, proving himself as a serious competitor.
4) Marc Jacobs is BACK
He hasn’t been the same since his maiden KOTA win in 2021, for understandable reasons. But it seems the fire is returning: he did two moves he’d never landed before in Tarifa: double loop late back BO and the Boogie version, too.
5) Jeremy is Just-As-Good
Him and Lorenzo were neck and neck. There was nothing to separate them. This was the first time we’d seen Jeremy perform at his best, at a major event. Keep an eye on him.
6) Underpowered technicality = rewarded
Look no further than the podium standings of Lorenzo Casati (3rd) and Giel Vlugt (4th) and you’ll see the bias towards small 5m kites and board offs. Giel’s 8m kite was at a more critical angle throughout the whole final, but this detail went mostly unnoticed by the judges. When we put this too them, their response was that kite size doesn’t matter, it is the height generated, weight of the loop and what you’re doing that does matter.
7) The 7m Orbit can double
In the previous year, the 7m was thought impossible-to-double by the likes of Jesse Richman and Marc Jacobs (who took that huge slam on the 7m). But come 2023, Cohan proved it to be nothing more than a myth. He took the 7m, got it round twice, with amazing kite angles, and pulled it off consistently throughout the day. It was the 7m moves that landed him 2nd place.
8) Cohan is the darkest horse
Since, KOTA, where he semi-finalled on his debut, he’s only been beaten by Babyshark and _. Oh wait, no one, because he drew with Andrea in the Tarifa finals. Andrea took 1st place because of his higher best result at the previous event. Cohan, despite the hype, is still underrated.
9) Angely better than the rest
Angely Bouillot’s semi final in Tarifa was the most impressive performance in women’s big air to date. She landed the late back board off a massive kiteloop board off. If she’d repeated this in the final, she would have cruised to her first world championship win. But light winds meant that it wasn’t to be.
10) Liam has cracks
Liam is known for his strategic mastermind-ery. But in the semi final against Cohan, he unravelled somewhat. Not in his riding, but in his kite choice. He chose to change down to a 5m, that he’d never ridden before. In his defence, Cohan was on fire – so Liam was correct to roll the dice and try something else. But it was interesting to see him making crucial decisions in the dying moments of a heat and for them to be the wrong decisions. Liam almost always gets it right.
Watch our series ‘Posterboys’ to see everything, warts and all, of the GKA Tarifa event.