German Freestyle Battle: Lisa Kloster and Niclas Nebelung trick their way to victory in Orth

It was the day of the European elections and the day of the battle. Organiser Leon Struppeck set the meeting time for 8:30 the evening before. With a minimal delay, which can certainly be understood in the context of the academic quarter, the first rounds could be started a short time later. In the skippers' meeting, Leon made it clear that this battle would be one of the closest to the original battle and that he would deliberately avoid any professional airs and graces. There was neither shelter for the judges nor enough power to keep the Ipads and therefore the judging system running reliably throughout the day, and the conditions were more of a binary code, a clear one or zero thing. A total of 21 freestylers came together in Orth.

• GFB History: How the German Freestyle Battles made history

Lisa Kloster wins the women's single elimination

Melina Schütt from Denmark travelled the furthest on this day. As early as 2023, Melina was able to show that she has what it takes to be one of the top GFB ladies. A total of five female freestylers took part on Sunday in Orth and the heats were peppered with manoeuvres that were in no way inferior to the men's rounds. Shakas, funnels and switch manoeuvres were not uncommon from the first heat onwards.

Maike Lang celebrated her GFB debut and impressed the judges as the underdog. In the subsequent heats, it became clear that Elena Dominick and Melina Schütt were absolutely equal opponents. Funnels, spock 540s, grubbys and semi-switch conos filled the score sheet. The current leader of the Freestyle Pro Tour, Lisa Kloster, brought a little more variance and thus also the victory of the single elimination to the beach.

Nebelung brothers battle for first place

Alongside some newcomers such as Luke Müller, who has only been into freestyle windsurfing for a little over two years, there were also some old hands on the sunny island. Quirin Kraus contested his first German Freestyle Battle after almost 3 years of abstinence and he showed that not much has changed, he was able to reel off his manoeuvres solidly, but was stopped earlier than desired by Lucas Nebelung.

Sebastian Gux is a prime example of the modern freestyle windsurfer, because like few others he rode his heats with tactics and only dared to tackle difficult manoeuvres after he had deliberately filled his scoresheet. He was the first to perform a clean double burner in the rough conditions of the Orther Reede.

Leon Struppeck also seemed to have improved his riding skills again last year, whereby this improvement could be divided into two quarters control and two quarters technically perfect manoeuvres, i.e. 4/4 pure style. However, Leon was topped by Sebastian Gux, who took a well-deserved third place in the single elimination. Many people are aware that both Lucas Nebelung and Niclas Nebelung are currently the spearheads of German freestyle windsurfing, so it was not an unusual sight to see the brothers battling for first and second place in the final heat of the single elimination. Niclas finished the single elimination with a well-deserved 221 points on the scoresheet after a clean double air culo ahead of his brother with 204 points.

Motivated ladies in the second half of the season, Kloster leaves nothing to chance

The women's second round showed that a good atmosphere and mutual motivation can have a positive influence on driving behaviour. All the ladies put on an unrivalled show in the second round. In a close heat, Lina Schmiedt came out on top against newcomer Maike Lang - both showed switch manoeuvres and rotated completely on their respective good side.

The heat between Denmark's Melina Schütt and Elena Dominick was a tough one, as they were tied on points with just under a minute to go until the end of the heat. Elena was finally able to prevail with a grubby and won by two points. Lisa Kloster left nothing to chance and jumped clean scopus, punetas and shakas. Victory for Lisa Kloster after a very exciting day of competition.

Niclas Nebelung makes the right decision and wins the GFB in Orth

The men's double elimination was characterised by cancellations and repetitions due to patchy wind conditions. The judges endeavoured to do justice to the German Freestyle Battles and to only ride when the same and good conditions could be offered to all participants. In the double, it was Kevin Langbehn who knew how to utilise his many years of experience. The fireman rode a solid four heats in a row and was thwarted in his final heat by a broken harness line, much to the delight of Gabriel Heider, who had already knocked his employer Quirin Kraus out of the race in the previous heat. Leon Struppeck finally put an end to Gabriel Heider's run and sent him back to the beach with flying colours.

At this point it should be mentioned that Leon Struppeck jumped what was probably the first regular chachoo in a German Freestyle Battle Heat after Adrian Beholz's last participation... Unbelievable. Inspired by this performance, Leon now faced his opponent in the single elimination, Sebastian Gux.

It couldn't have been closer, as Leon Struppeck was clearly behind with one minute to go in the heat, missing a manoeuvre on the inside and the score on the outside could also have been higher. While Sebastian Gux improved his manoeuvres in a tactical manner, Leon Struppeck put all his eggs in one basket and rotated over his left shoulder into an absolutely perfect Kabikuchi. High risk, high reward - Leon thus secured his first ever podium finish and Sebastian Gux also secured his best result to date in the freestyle battles with fourth place. This left only the battle for first and second place open, with Niclas and Lucas Nebelung in top form in the premium conditions. Both showed double power moves with which they would not have had to hide even from the world elite. An extremely close competition that had it all. Niclas Nebelung made the tactically wiser decision and switched to the 4.4 sail shortly before his heat, while Lucas stayed on his 4.8. After seven minutes and six scored manoeuvres, it was Niclas Nebelung who won the final in a neck-and-neck race.

Back to the roots

The German Freestyle Battlers agree that this was an event that couldn't have come any closer to its origins.

At this point, we would like to emphasise once again that we are happy to receive any constructive input on the implementation of a battle and are grateful for any support.

Results GFB Orth 2024

Ladies

1. Lisa Kloster
2nd Elena Dominick
3. Melina Schütt
4th Lina Schmied
5th Maike Lang

Gents

1. Niclas Nebelung
2. Lucas Nebelung
3. Leon Struppeck
4th Sebastian Gux
5th Gabriel Heider
6th Kevin Langbehn
7th Quirin Kraus
7th Sebastian Buder