Torch wins 4th World Cup Overall; Nove has Greece on top in T&C
The sun is setting in Friesland, and it is just starting to get chilly...most of the competitors are on the way home, and there is an awesome afterglow in the Netherlands that you only get when you witness something pretty fantastic.
The results are posted here.
Congratulations to Kirby McIlveen and Torch, the 2018 World Cup Champions!!!
The Combined/Overall division was hotly contested, and it
less that 5 points separating the top 4, and only two tenths (.2) of a point between the champ and second place. A complete newcomer to the Finals, Colombians Oscar Arevalo and his blue merle BC Afrika wowed the crowd with some amazing freestyle moves. His 18 point T&C round kept him in the hunt, and helped lock down second place. In third place Marina Fangareggi and Venus of Italy were 1 throw short of the World Cup title. Only a 12 point T&C round, among 16s 18s and 20s, kept them off the top of the podium. The locals were done proud as well, as Amy von Piekartz and her dog Kate finished in the eleventh place of 54 teams. They finished with a superb 4th place in the Freestyle Championship as well. At 13 years old, this is an impressive achievement and a great finish for the Netherlands.
Torch's Saturday was marked by an amazing freestyle, but he only managed 6 points in T&C. However, the World Cup Final format is the 2 freestyle rounds doubled, plus the best single round of one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This meant that Torch had one more shot to improve that T&C. And he did. Putting up 16 points in round 3 Sunday morning meant Torch would make some history. Their final freestyle was amazing, but not the best of the day-that would be the round put up by Bolle and Thomas Fischer. At 37.6 points, Bolle's Sunday round was the best of the entire event. Nonetheless, Torch's round was excellent, and it was just enough to hold on to the title for another year.
McIlveen and Torch doubled up titles once again, taking the World Cup Freestyle Championship for the second year in a row! In the closest race of the Finals, Torch just barely held off Fischer and Bolle of Germany to win. Only 1/10 of a point separated the teams!! Arevalo and Afrika nearly kept pace, finishing only 1 point behind Fischer and Bolle.
The T&C Title would end up going to Evanghelos Christofellis & Nove of Greece. This is the first ever World level title for a team from Greece!! They began the weekend very strong, with a 19 point round, followed by a 20 point round. But Sunday morning would see them skip a beat, and 'only' put up 13 points in round 3. This left the door open, and we had a true competition in the works-not a blowout. Several teams were poised to capitalize on this, including Simone Villani and Trouble of Italy, Bettina Koch and Aloha of Germany, Thomas Duppenthaler and Shea of Switzerland. But Nove and Evanghelos charged back very hard, and put up a second 20 point round to take the win over Trouble and Simone. It was an awe-inspiring performance, start to finish.
Now that the season is over, we should also recognize a couple more teams:
All season long teams are collecting World Cup points to qualify for the finals. The top 2 Majors and top 2 Locals count towards the total. The highest team this year is Daan Nijkamp & Faye of the Netherlands, with 226 points as of Friday. only 1 point ahead of Julia Zimmermann and Minai. Nice Job, Daan!
And our GRIDDDD Rankings came to a close for 2018 as well. The GRIDDD total is simply all of a team's T&C points summed up. Every event, every round counts. This year, in July, Aislinn and Marcel Buff moved into the lead, and the gap between 1 and 2 has only gotten larger. Aislinn loves T&C! Great Job Marcel!
Now it is time to finally relax, and we wish everyone a safe journey home. Once again, thanks to the Fly 'em High team for their excellent, excellent organization and brilliant handling of the World Cup Final.
- The UFO
The sun is setting in Friesland, and it is just starting to get chilly...most of the competitors are on the way home, and there is an awesome afterglow in the Netherlands that you only get when you witness something pretty fantastic.The results are posted here.
Congratulations to Kirby McIlveen and Torch, the 2018 World Cup Champions!!!
The Combined/Overall division was hotly contested, and it
less that 5 points separating the top 4, and only two tenths (.2) of a point between the champ and second place. A complete newcomer to the Finals, Colombians Oscar Arevalo and his blue merle BC Afrika wowed the crowd with some amazing freestyle moves. His 18 point T&C round kept him in the hunt, and helped lock down second place. In third place Marina Fangareggi and Venus of Italy were 1 throw short of the World Cup title. Only a 12 point T&C round, among 16s 18s and 20s, kept them off the top of the podium. The locals were done proud as well, as Amy von Piekartz and her dog Kate finished in the eleventh place of 54 teams. They finished with a superb 4th place in the Freestyle Championship as well. At 13 years old, this is an impressive achievement and a great finish for the Netherlands.
Torch's Saturday was marked by an amazing freestyle, but he only managed 6 points in T&C. However, the World Cup Final format is the 2 freestyle rounds doubled, plus the best single round of one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This meant that Torch had one more shot to improve that T&C. And he did. Putting up 16 points in round 3 Sunday morning meant Torch would make some history. Their final freestyle was amazing, but not the best of the day-that would be the round put up by Bolle and Thomas Fischer. At 37.6 points, Bolle's Sunday round was the best of the entire event. Nonetheless, Torch's round was excellent, and it was just enough to hold on to the title for another year.
McIlveen and Torch doubled up titles once again, taking the World Cup Freestyle Championship for the second year in a row! In the closest race of the Finals, Torch just barely held off Fischer and Bolle of Germany to win. Only 1/10 of a point separated the teams!! Arevalo and Afrika nearly kept pace, finishing only 1 point behind Fischer and Bolle.
The T&C Title would end up going to Evanghelos Christofellis & Nove of Greece. This is the first ever World level title for a team from Greece!! They began the weekend very strong, with a 19 point round, followed by a 20 point round. But Sunday morning would see them skip a beat, and 'only' put up 13 points in round 3. This left the door open, and we had a true competition in the works-not a blowout. Several teams were poised to capitalize on this, including Simone Villani and Trouble of Italy, Bettina Koch and Aloha of Germany, Thomas Duppenthaler and Shea of Switzerland. But Nove and Evanghelos charged back very hard, and put up a second 20 point round to take the win over Trouble and Simone. It was an awe-inspiring performance, start to finish.
Now that the season is over, we should also recognize a couple more teams:
All season long teams are collecting World Cup points to qualify for the finals. The top 2 Majors and top 2 Locals count towards the total. The highest team this year is Daan Nijkamp & Faye of the Netherlands, with 226 points as of Friday. only 1 point ahead of Julia Zimmermann and Minai. Nice Job, Daan!
And our GRIDDDD Rankings came to a close for 2018 as well. The GRIDDD total is simply all of a team's T&C points summed up. Every event, every round counts. This year, in July, Aislinn and Marcel Buff moved into the lead, and the gap between 1 and 2 has only gotten larger. Aislinn loves T&C! Great Job Marcel!
Now it is time to finally relax, and we wish everyone a safe journey home. Once again, thanks to the Fly 'em High team for their excellent, excellent organization and brilliant handling of the World Cup Final.
- The UFO