After the official training was finished under blue sky and the burning sun, 85 riders from 8 nations attended the opening ceremony in front of a packed tribune. European Champion
of 2009 Dominik Gührs (GER) received his award for the rider of the year and current World Champion Kirsteen Mitchell (GBR) spoke the rider’s oath on stage. The city of Izmit welcomes the sport of wakeboarding with big interest and the next four days will be filled with action. On Wednesday night at the official opening of the Gölkay Wakepark turkish rock-band maNga played in front of more than 5.000 people on a platform in the middle of the lake and were joined by some riders for a spontaneous wakeboard-show which received big enthusiasm.
On Thursday morning all teams had their chance to get prepared for the competitions under excellent conditions. Sunshine and turkish atmosphere all around made it a perfect start for this year’s season highlight. The opening ceremony was followed by the first qualification rounds for the boys, girls, junior ladies and open ladies category in which Denise de Haan (NED) surprised and qualified first, followed by Kirsteen Mitchell (GBR) and Maxine Sapulette (NED). That sets the ground for a tough fight for the title this years.
Already after the end of the Open categories' finals at 15:00 it’s pretty obvious that this European Championships exceeds all previous expectations. For the first time millions of people had the chance to follow such a tantalizing final live. 7 cameras made it possible to celebrate wakeboard at its finest here at the Gölkay Park. Right on time at 13:00 started the live broadcast of 12th the European Championships with the Open Men. Like in past years everything was possible for this final with some of the world’s best wakeboarders. 5 Riders had justified chances to get the title. After 2 exciting and exhausting runs Mike Ketellaper (NL) definitely showed that he still has his board under control took the number 1 spot for this year’s European Championships. 2nd place after loosing the handle on his last trick is titleholder Dominik Guehrs (GER) and Steffen Vollert (GER) took the third place after risking everything in his second run.
After years of Maxine Sapulette’s domination things have changed and everything was open in the Open Ladies category. Already at the World Championships Kirsteen Mitchell from Great Britain surprised when she took the title. And she did it again: Kirsteen Mitchell (GBR) is European Champion 2010 and Maxine Sapulette (NL) risked too much in her second run, crashed unfortunately and got second. Denise de Haan (NL) had two solid runs and takes place 3 for her comeback to the cablewakeboard-scene.
As expected Frederic von Osten (GER) took the title for the Junior Men, Declan Clifford (GBR) landed on the second spot and titleholder Rocco van Straten got third. Especially remarkable is the big interest that was generated by cablewakeboarding in a very short time.
On of the main reasons is that this is the third big IWWF competition in Turkey after 2 successful international events in Bursa. For the opening of the Gölkay Park more than 5.000 spectators came to see turkish rock-group “maNga” who performed live on a stage in the middle of the lake.
Download the Press Release: here
Team Scores
Wakeboard |
|
|
Position |
Nationality |
Points |
1 |
Germany |
4192 |
2 |
Great Britain |
4032 |
3 |
Netherlands |
3904 |
4 |
France |
1264 |
5 |
Austria |
1024 |
6 |
Espana |
384 |
7 |
Turkey |
288 |
8 |
Croatia |
192 |
|
|
|
Wakeskate |
|
|
Position |
Nationality |
Points |
1 |
Germany |
2240 |
2 |
France |
978 |
3 |
Netherlands |
633 |
4 |
Croatia |
562 |
5 |
Great Britain |
544 |
6 |
Austria |
185 |
Media
Top 10 Facts
Total number of Rider: |
85 |
Number of Wakeboarder:
|
59 |
Number of Wakeskater: |
26 |
Number of Countries: |
8 |
Open Men Champ: |
Mike Ketellapper (Netherlands) |
Open Ladies Champ: |
Kirsteen Mitchell (Great Britain) |
Best Country: |
Germany (4192 Points) |
Best Country Wakeboard: |
Germany |
Best Country Wakeskate: |
Germany |
Country with the most riders: |
Germany (39 riders) |
Aditional Information