In the Women’s, the race for the World Crown was still wide open: Mikaili Sol (BRA), Pippa Van Iersel (NED), Rita Arnaus (ESP), Claudia Leon (ESP) and Nathalie Lambrecht (SWE) were all in the race for the title; same in the Men’s, with an unusually high number of riders all still in contention.

The format of the event was 100% freestyle, i.e. 4 tricks from 4 different trick families counting from 7 attempts with the riders taking turns to perform one trick in 45 seconds.

The freestyle action was intense right from the start of the event.

Already by Day 2, two of the male title contestants — Erwan Jaspan and Val Garat (Duotone) — were eliminated and their chance to take home the World Title dissipated.  

In the Women’s, reigning World Champion Mikaili Sol blew everyone away, scoring a perfect 10 for her flawlessly landed 317 — it was THE VERY FIRST TIME a woman has landed this highly technical manoeuvre in competition! The judges awarded the young shredder from Brazil accordingly. Cleaning up with a total heat score of 33.43, Mika secured herself a spot in the semi-finals.

Day 3 saw a major upset with reigning World Champion Valentin Rodriguez’ (Duotone) hopes to regain the crown smashed in Round 5, after losing his heat and getting eliminated from the event.

French rider Arthur Guillebert jumped on the opportunity, catapulting himself with his final trick into the top position in the World Rankings, untouchable for everyone else and winning his first World Champion Title – congratulations Arthur!

Finals Day delivered shake ups and highlights:

Although starting off strong in the semi-finals, Gianmaria Coccoluto’s (Duotone) winning streak ended here, unable to pull off his last four trick attempts. The locals were ruling the Men’s final, with three Brazilians and one Swiss rider locking horns for the event win. Carlos Mario was on fire, throwing one of the sickest Heart Attack 7’s of the comp, securing him a perfect 10 and ultimately the top spot on the podium in Cumbuco.

Things really started to heat up in the Ladies final, a breathtaking display of power that had everyone on the beach and in front of the screens ecstatic to witness today’s top women pushing the envelope of the sport to the max!

Not only one, but two 3x World Champions, Mikaili Sol (Duotone) and Karolina Winkowska, were battling it out against Rita Arnaus and Nathalie Lambrecht (Duotone), whose incredible level of riding throughout the event had boosted her into her first ever World Cup Final.

Neck and neck right from the hooter sounding at the start of the heat, both Rita and Mika were still in the game to take the World Crown. Pushing each other to go further with each trick attempt, Mikaili Sol threw a mighty Slim 5 scoring 9 points as well as a massive 315 amongst other tricks. 

Landing yet another textbook 317 and locking in a perfect 10 for it, both the event win and the World Title were a done deal for Mika. As the freshly crowned 2021 GKA Freestyle World Champion and the winner of the GKA Freestyle World Cup Cumbuco, Mika cruised back to the beach super pumped with her achievements “that 317 was one of the best ones I have ever done in my life. I’m super stoked and happy for everything that has happened here at this event.”