Duotone Magazin No.01 2019

Copy: Bernd Zerelles Photos: Toby Bromwich, Svetlana Romantsova S he has this smile – slightly mischievous, carefree, timid – that radiates from deep within. The natural laughter of a teenager who has the world at her feet. There seems to be barely a photograph of Mikaili Sol in which she is not laughing. No wonder then that in the survey for her sponsor’s team introduction, her response to the question ‘What else would you really like to tell us’ was the title of a song by the Grateful Dead from 1972: ‘Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!’ And Mikaili Sol has every reason to smile. In 2018 the 14 year old won everything there was to win in the competitive kiteboarding arena. She is the GKA Airgames world champion and she won every single event in Tarifa, Cabarete and Fehmarn. She is also the WKC Freestyle Tour world kiteboarding champion, likewise winning every single individual event in Turkey, Morocco and Brazil. Her form showed incredible improvements as the year went on: at the WKC tour stop in Turkey she was consistently hitting high scores in the nines, such as marks of 9.73 for a KGB with grab or 9.77 for a Slim Chance 5, but at the subsequent event in Morocco she achieved an incredible score of 10.00 for her Double Heart Attack – the first time this was landed by a woman in competition. A look back. Tarifa, June 2018. The official brand launch for Duotone, which by chance coincided with the first GKA Airgames stop with sufficient wind. Mikaili whirls through the crowds, pursued by her brother Kaiki, who is two years her junior. ‘Stop, could you just answer a couple of quick questions?’ And she does – first of all smiling in a way that is genuine and uncontrived. Her responses come shyly, as you would expect from a 13 year old (which she still was at that point). ‘Pretty cool’ is how she feels about being on the international Duotone team with other women such as Francesca, Paula, Hannah, and Colleen; she feels a ‘connection with them’. What is it like travelling so much, does she miss her home, her family? ‘I don’t really like being in one place for too long. Being on the road is normal for me, and my family comes to join me regularly for a couple of weeks or so. I haven’t been home to Brazil for six months.’ She travels the world with her coach Fabio Ingrosso, who has been looking after her for two years. Her schedule over recent months: Italy, Sri Lanka, South Africa, France and now finally Tarifa. Later her mother Jodi will relate how she got a phone call from Mikaili in Sri Lanka, where her daughter spent four weeks training with Fabio: ‘Hey Mom, you don’t need to travel with me anymore, I’m totally on it now.’ Jodi’s response: ‘What do you mean? You’re only just 13.’ Her father Marcio was slightly indignant, but her mother has a more relaxed outlook: ‘We’ve got to let her go, she can handle it because she’s got both feet firmly on the ground.’ So who is this young talent, who has been part of the Duotone team since March 2018? Mikaili Sol, born on 30 October 2004 in Jericoacoara, Brazil. When Mikaili was eight, the family moved to Preá and they now live in Taiba. In brief: Mikaili grew up in one of the best places for kiteboarding in the world. Warm temperatures and constant wind throughout the year. Her mother Jodi is YOUNG, HAPPY, SUCCESSFUL . AT THE AGE OF 14, MIKAILI SOL IS ALREADY DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION OF THE 2018 WKC WORLD TOUR AND THE 2018 GKA AIRGAMES. SHE IS THE GREATEST TALENT THAT KITEBOARDING HAS SEEN IN A LONG TIME. T R U E T R U E 96 97 N E X T G E N E R A T I O N