Duotone Diversity Magazine No.02 2020

VALENTINRODRIGUEZ LORA * 02-07-2002 5′9″/177cm 150 lbs/68kg Colombian Since when are you kiting? Since I was 10 years old. What was the first competition you took part in? St Pierre La Mer Junior World Cup 2017 Titles won? 2019 GKA Freestyle World Champion Which title are you dreaming of winning? Right now I want to keep winning the world champion title every year for as long as I can and I would also like to win the Red Bull King of the Air. Howmany days are you traveling per year? I travel almost the whole year, part for training and part for competitions. What’s your favorite spot for training? La Boca River, Cabarete Dominican Republic Taiba Lagoon, Brazil Are you doing anymental training? I like to practice a kind of meditation; mindfulness and a flowing state of mind so that I can feel calm and concentrated, especially in high-pressure moments. What’s important for video analyzing? I like to play back my own videos to analyze every single detail of the trick. I check the position of the kite, body, and the movements. Which other sports do you practice besides kiting? I like wakeboarding and biking. Your favorite Duotone Setup? Team Series Hadlow 140 I ride the narrowest stance on the board 3.5cm fins Vegas 11 22 meter lines, small Click Bar with wake style loop Ion Riot Harness Which competition series will you take part in in 2020? I will do the entire GKA Freestyle Tour and possibly the Redbull King of the Air. Your favorite trick and why? My favourite trick is BS 319 because it is one of the hardest tricks and there is no better feeling. Any training secrets to share with us? Be happy and motivated every time you go train and believe in yourself. Where do you want to push kiteboarding in the next years ? In the next years, I want to push kiteboarding to the highest level! I want to win as many world titles as possible but I also want to land some tricks that no one thought could be possible! I would also like to compete in big air and do videos that will motivate the people to practice this amazing sport and lifestyle! MIKAILI SOL *30-10-2004 5′6″/170cm 130 lbs/60kg Brazilian and American Since when are you kiting? I have been kiting since I was 8 and a half years old. What was the first competition you took part in? My first competition was in Barra Grande when I got a PKRA wild card spot when I was nine years old. TitlesWon? 4 Jr. World Titles 1 GKA World Big Air Title in 2018 1 WKC Freestyle World Title in 2018 1 GKA World Freestyle Title in 2019 1 GKA Strapless title in Prea Brazil 2019 Which titlemeans themost to you of those you won? My first WKC Freestyle World Title. I had qualified to do the WKC World Tour when I was twelve years old but I was not allowed to compete because of my age. You had to be turning 14 during the competition season; so, I had to wait. When I was finally allowed to participate, I won every event that entire year! I was able to prove to everyone that I really was ready for the World tour. Which title are you dreaming of winning? I am dreaming of winning both the GKA Strapless Tour and Freestyle Tour! That would be amazing! What’s your favorite spot for training? My favorite spot for training is my home spot in Taiba, Brazil! Are you doing anymental training? My mental training is working with visualization techniques. I practice seeing myself doing my tricks and landing them perfectly. Which other sports do you practice besides kiting? I really love to surf in the off-season. I live on the beach, so it is mostly watersports for me. Also I had a blast last year snowboarding with my coach Fabio and Maxime Chablou in Switzerland. If I lived in a cold country, for sure I would be snowboarding! Your favorite Duotone Setup? For Freestyle: Team Series 138 Carbon, Duotone Boots of course, 3.5cm fins, Vegas 10, 22 meter line Click Bar and the Ion Nova Curv 10 Harness For Strapless: 4 ′ 11 ″ Whip, 7m Neo, 22 meter line Click Bar and the Ion Nova Curv 10 Harness Which competition series will you take part in in 2020? I am hoping to do both the GKA Freestyle/Big Air and Strapless/Wave Tours! I know it is a lot, but I am going to try to adjust my calendar to do all of the GKA Freestyle Tour and as many of the Strapless/Wave events as possible! Your favorite trick and why? My favorite Freestyle trick at the moment is the Back Mobe 5. I have been working on this trick for years! This trick is so technical and challenging that it has taken me a long time to master it. I am excited to do this trick in competitions this year. I am also ready for my doubles! My favorite Strapless trick is the Front Roll board off and the Rodeo kite loop! The front roll board off is all about timing, and you really just float through the trick! The Rodeo Kiteloop is insane! It is all power and lots of courage! What’s you secret weapon for competitions? I like to listen to my music, but really my secret is that I focus on competing against myself. PIPPATINKEBEL VAN IERSEL * 01-07-1999 5′6″/170cm 125 lbs/57kg Dutch Since when are you kiting? I started kiting when I was 14 years old. What was the first competition you took part in? My first competition was the Open Zandvoort Championships, I got 3rd place from three girls in total, haha. TitlesWon? 2× Dutch Champion 2nd Place Queen of the air 2019 2× 3rd of the world: 2018 (GKA Air Games), 2019 (GKA Freestyle) Vice Junior World Champion Vice Junior European Champion Which fitness training are you doing? When I am at home and there’s not much wind, I go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I have been kickboxing a couple of times as well to increase my reaction ability and movement speed. I enjoy it way more than being in the gym. I always like the competition factor and if you train alone in the gym you don’t have this. Are you doing anymental training? Yes. The mental part for me is as important as my physical health. In the beginning, I didn’t really believe in mental support. I thought I’d be fine and don’t need help besides training on the water. As soon as I went to competitions, the nerves played a big role. Sometimes I get super nervous and doubted about my riding right before my heat. My mental coach helps me to stay cool and turn this negativity in strong positive thoughts. Why is video analyzing important? Video analyzing is super important. You see what you’re struggling with and can compare it with someone else that performs the same trick perfectly. Like this, you can figure out where it goes wrong. This is why the Duotone Academy App is a big advantage to improve faster. All the tricks are in one application and are really easy to find. Which other sports do you practice besides kiting? To be honest I practice lots of sports because I’m addicted to sports in general. When I was younger, I played soccer at a high level and wanted to be a professional soccer player but the moment I got into kiting, this dream slowly faded away. I was also skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding, sailing and many other sports. Doing other board sports helps with getting the feeling and creating more balance in different ways. Your favorite Duotone Setup? My favorite setup for freestyle is a 9m Vegas, 22 meter line Click Bar small, Team Series 134, having my boots exactly in the middle of the tracks with a slightly small duck stance. The Vegas gives me the perfect slack which makes it easier to pass the bar. For big air, I love to use the 7m Vegas or 8m Dice. With the 7m Vegas, the loops are more radical and aggressive. But sometimes it’s nice to go high and smooth; therefore I would choose the 8m dice. Favorite trick and why? Freestyle: It’s the heart attack, because I have a lot of control in this trick and it gives me such a good feeling going full speed into these rotations and coming out with lots of speed. Big air: Kiteloop late backroll, can’t describe this feeling in words. Pulling a sick loop and rotate halfway gives this adrenaline rush and a good feeling in the stomach :) JAMESSTORMCAREW * 14-07-1999 5′11″/180cm 200 lbs/91kg Australian Since when are you kiting? I first started kiting in 2009, when I was a little grom. Surfing was always my passion and the natural progression for me was to kite! At the time, I was 10 years old and ever since then, I’ve loved it. What was the first competition you took part in? The Australian nationals was my first competition, it was in 2010 and I was 11 years old. I was riding straps on my surfboard with a Rebel in the waves. It was the biggest waves I had kited in at the time. Onshore, 6ft, and chunky, with light wind. None of the organizers wanted me to go out but I was a frothing little grom. I only rode about 2 or 3 waves the whole comp and remember getting destroyed by the other competitors who were older and knew how to handle the conditions. It sucked, I wanted to win, but somehow that is what started it all. Titles won? 3rd World Champion 2019 GKA 2nd Mauritius 2019 GKA 2nd Germany 2019 GKA 3rd Cape Verde 2019 GKA 3rd Prea 2019 GKA 1st Fuerteventura 2018 BIG AIR GKA 1st Australia Nationals 2018 1st VIC state titles 2018 Which titlemeans themost to you of those you won? Taking 2nd place in Mauritius in 2019 is definitely my favorite out of all the titles that I’ve won. Mauritius is always a place I wanted to win. Even though, it is not the win, it’s the best for me. Seeing everyone push their level throughout the whole comp was awesome and being able to hold them off during the doubles and head into the finals in pumping conditions was epic. Which fitness training are you doing? I’m in the gym everyday if possible hitting the weights, mainly building muscle and conditioning myself. I put in some functional work like balance and body weight training to keep myself on top of my game. 2–3 times per week, I add in some sprint or long distance run training to keep my aerobic system pumping and lungs alive, I find this also helps to keep my heart rate down which is critical for competition. Your favorite Duotone Setup? Board: 5 ′ 9 ″ Pro Wam. I choose this board as I’m a bigger person so the 5 ′ 9 ″ seems to be the perfect length and it has a really comfortable but explosive feel. You can let the tail of this board go with ease but if you don’t want it to release it’s easy to keep it in the water. Fin Setup: Thruster M/L fin. I usually ride a large fin however when I’m looking to get more radical and release, I will ride a medium fin for a looser feel. I love the thruster as the drive you get from bottom turns pushes me into my next maneuver. Kite: Clearly the Neo. The drift capability is insane and never fails me. It also has an awesome strapless freestyle ability so it’s the dream crossover kite for both disciplines. Do you use any special modifications for the equipment? I always ride my kites on the hard setting with 22m lines and a low V. I love the bar pressure this setting gives you, you can feel every little movement the kite does and it gives you a locked in feeling. Your favorite trick and why? The Boogie Loop. Although, I haven’t landed one yet and I’ve only come close, it’s one of the most powered and big tricks we can do strapless. The feeling you get when you loop is insane and to do it with a late front roll makes it impossible not to love. G Supporting talented young riders has always been of key importance at Duotone. Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined this would lead to not only one, but two World Champions emerging from our teamwithin the same year: Mikaili Sol at only 15 years of age and Valentin Rodriguez at 17. Plus, more of our young guns are making a strong impression on the GKA tour, taking spots on the podium. Here is to our young talents: Mika, Valentin, Pippa and James – watch out for these guys, there’s loads more to come from them for sure! Interviews Laura Alexy Photos GKA, Svetlana Romantsova P E O P L E 38 39 P E O P L E C O M P E T I T I O N