German Freestyle Battle: Niclas Nebelung and Lisa Kloster win in Meldorf
Text: Loris Vietoris
Leon Struppeck set off for the skippers' meeting at 8.30 am and a total of 22 participants set up their equipment at the Speicherkoog in the early hours. The strong westerly wind of a good 35 knots provided plenty of ventilation and allowed the freestylers to use sails from 3.6 m2 to 4.0 m2. There were also some newcomers in the men's event; Leon Gluth and Julius Hartmann did not miss out on celebrating their debut and second battle respectively. In addition to some debut battlers, the usual suspects were also present at the spot. In total, a single and double elimination was completed in record-breaking time.
Single Elimination Men
Due to the conditions, those freestylers who had already spent a few weeks on Fuerteventura, Karpathos or in Leucate had a clear advantage. With a good 35 knots, even the heavyweights were forced to resort to the 4.0.
In the first heat of the day, Magnus Wessel convinced the jury with a powerful forward and high shakas and secured victory against newcomer Leon Gluth. In the following heat, fireman Kevin Langbehn showed how to put out fires early and secured the five additional style points with a perfect ponch, defeating Luis Ponseti.
Sebastian Gux, who has already gained a lot of contest experience over the last few years, was unable to really bring his performance to the fins and was eliminated from the single elimination in the first heat against newcomer Julius Hartmann. After a short injury break, organiser Leon Struppeck showed that he also belongs to the elite of the German freestyle scene and led in his heat against Foivos Tsoupras until the last minute. However, Tsoupras was then able to relegate Leon to fifth place with a flaka shaka.
As the single elimination progressed, you could see which riders are very familiar with the conditions. Jannes Thomsen, for example, gallantly jumped three speed loops in one go before his heat, two of which were glided through. Thomsen, who was the only rider to have built up 4.4 m2, was not impressed by his opponents and was only stopped by Foivos Tsoupras in the Losers Final.
The final of the single was impressive, Niclas Nebelung proved that he is still the brightest star in the German freestyle sky and reeled off his repertoire of double power moves with aplomb. What he didn't see was that his younger brother Lucas Nebelung was also jumping all the double powermoves par excellence and even put a bongka on the scoresheet in the final heat.
After seven minutes, it was clear that Lucas Nebelung had beaten his older brother for the first time in GFB history with a 7-point difference. Victory for Lucas Nebelung.
Single Elimination Ladies
In the women's event, Lisa Kloster, Shania Raphael and Elena Dominick took the opportunity to battle it out. With 3.6 sails, the women showed the highest level ever seen in the battles in extremely difficult conditions.
Shania showed incredible control in her regular ducks, where some of the gentlemen were previously sure that the conditions did not allow for such manoeuvres. Nevertheless, she rotated through solid conos.
Elena Dominick showed that time in the water is also reflected in control and was able to beat Shania with a front loop, semi-funnel and spock.
Unchallenged and above all fearless, Lisa Kloster jumped flakas, funnels, shakas and switch konos to secure victory in the women's single elimination.
Double Elimination Men
The wind even picked up at midday and the conditions were perfect for one of the windiest battles of all time. Sebastian Gux, who had to give up in the single against Julius Hartmann in the first heat, seemed much more alert and experienced in the double, skilfully sending Luis Ponseti back onto the dyke and was absolutely in mode from that moment on. But Magnus Wessel also showed that the conditions were beginning to suit him, and he prevailed over his opponents with loops on both sides. He was only stopped by an absolutely hot gux.
Luca Hartmann also impressed the judges with his technically clean scopus and burners and confidently overtook Niclas Dost and Julian Hohenstein.
Hartmann and Gux met in the battle for fifth place. While the Frankfurt powerhouse Gux rode his fifth heat in a row and reeled off his manoeuvres like a conveyor belt, Luca Hartmann fluffed a few rejections and was unable to prevail against his team-mate at the end of the heat, but still managed to secure sixth place.
A fresh and motivated Foivos Tsoupras now faced Sebastian Gux, whose hands were already open and bleeding. Foivos performed extremely clean ponches, burner 360s and scopus and relegated Sebastian to fifth place with an air flaka that couldn't have been jumped any better.
Foivos was now more motivated than ever and left absolutely nothing to be desired in his heat against Jannes Thomsen, with both riders producing a veritable firework display of power moves.
Thomsen, who was still riding 4.4 square metres because there was nothing else in the car, was lucky that his board, which was now seven years old and felt like it weighed 20 kilos, kept him on the surface of the water. In the heat, it was a neck-and-neck race between the two, with Jannes performing extremely high manoeuvres but often simply being blown away on the landings. Foivos played it safe, but risked everything in the final minute and went for a puneta into burner and landed it unspeakably cleanly, thus securing his ticket to the small final.
Niclas Nebelung, who now had to assert himself, did just that. The business informatics specialist's heats seemed programmed and gave his opponent no chance to counter. In the end, a strong third place for Foivos.
The final between the two Nebelung brothers was extremely exciting. Niclas, who once again transformed into a contest machine, crashed virtually no manoeuvres in his heat and demanded everything from his younger brother Lucas. The younger Nebelung's training seemed to pay off and he also jumped double burner, bongkas and air funnel into burner. However, it was just not enough to beat his brother's powerful style again. As Lucas had won the single, a super final was needed, and after a short heat break, the time had come: Niclas and Lucas once again fired up the Meldorf Speicherkoog, which was already boiling. The manoeuvre combinations they both performed are otherwise only found in videos of the PWA Freestyle Elite. Both showed that they absolutely have the skills to compete at the top of international competitions. After seven minutes of the heat, however, it was clear. Niclas Nebelung once again prevailed against his brother and won the first stand-by battle of the season.
Double Elimination Ladies
A double elimination was also completed in the women's event, with Elena Dominick once again coming out on top against her opponent Shania Raphael in the first heat. Both women performed extremely clean jumps and rotations, even in overpressure.
Lisa Kloster seemed to feel extremely comfortable in the conditions and didn't miss a beat, jumping fearless front loops and switch conos and finishing 6 points ahead of Elena Dominick at the end of the heat. First place for Lisa, whose strong wind training in Tarifa and Leucate had obviously paid off.
Once again it was a top-class freestyle battle, the conditions could hardly have been better and neither could the atmosphere. Even after more than 10 years of the German Freestyle Battle, the principle of riders judging riders and only riding when there is wind still needs no improvement.
Results GFB Meldorf 2023
Gents
1. Niclas Nebelung
2. Lucas Nebelung
3. Foivos Tsoupras
4th Jannes Thomsen
5th Sebastian Gux
6th Luca Hartmann
7th Julian Hohenstein
7th Magnus Wessel
9th Leon Struppeck
9th Julius Hartmann
9th Niklas Dost
9th Gabriel Heider
13th Kevin Langbehn
13th Sebastian Buder
13th Nils Martens
13th Roman Handke
17th Magnus Fink
17th Leon Gluth
17th Luis Ponseti
Ladies
1. Lisa Kloster
2 Elena Dominick
3. Shania Raphael
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