Capucine Delannoy wins Strapless Big Air World Title

Capucine Delannoy claims a well deserved win to become the New Qatar Airways GKA Women's Strapless Big Air 2022 World Champion.

GKA’s Holley Keenan reports: “The progression in the women’s strapless has been incredible to watch at this event. Every rider has been sending kiteloop manoeuvres in all of their heats.

"One of the highlight heats of the day was in round one with 4x Kitesurf World Champion Mikali Sol battling it out against the Vice Strapless World Champion Capucine Delannoy and Brazilian shredder Kesiane Rodrigues. Capucine started the heat with a huge front roll, followed by a front roll one foot. Mikali tried to answer but could not match Capucine’s fluency and consistency. She landed an impressive kite loop that sent everyone on the beach cheering to finish the heat off.” 

Photos: Samuel Cardenas

The first and only woman landing a double front roll and winning all the world tour competitions last year, French athlete Capucine came into this competition as the number one seed. Her game plan was strong, and scoring clever. We saw her pulling off lofty big front rolls, kiteloop board offs, and front roll one foots that ensured each move was counted in more than one trick category. In the semi-finals against Monica Gilardoni, in solid winds of 20-25knots, Capucine pulled her trademark double front roll - one of the biggest moves in strapless. 

Pumping through the straits of Gibraltar, the Levante winds stayed strong for the women's grand final. Capucine was firing hard with a 6.17 front roll opener, followed by a front roll one foot then front roll board off. All moves over five points, in different trick categories. Sticking kiteloops like a magic trick, Capucine landed some of her best moves, yet still the competition between her and Swiss rider Camille Losserand was intense. With just a 3.36 difference between the riders, we started seeing impacts over 2.5-3 g-force in the closing minutes.

Without a doubt, this was some of the best head-to-head riding ever seen in women’s strapless. Camille and Capucine bounced off each other, answering back every move until Capucine landed an impressive kiteloop board-off right on the buzzer.

16-year-old Capucine was riding the Comp 4'10 with the Orbit Kite. "I love the smoothness of the Orbit, especially when looping it. I also love how much control I have in the air. There's so many things I love about the Comp, it would be too long list them all. This board makes every trick so easy to land."

The young French athlete also holds the Vice World Champion and Junior World Champion titles for Strapless Freestyle. She has been training for three months for the Qatar Airways Big Air event, with lots of time on the gym and on the water. "I started to train with a fitness coach which has really helped me get stronger in and out the water. I also started to kite with the Orbit and it's helped me improve my kiteloops."

Congratulations to Capucine, the GKA and all our North team riders for putting on such an epic show! The competition was nailbiting and we can't wait to see what's next in the Big Air arena.

Watch the livestream here

View the event photo gallery here

Check out Camille's Team rider page and Gear here