CONTENTS
- Gisela Pulido | The best female kitesurf rider
- Karolina Winkowska | The queen of sports
- Bruna Kajiya | First woman to land a "Backside 315”
- Annelous Lammerts | The queen of Park Riding
- Carla Herrera | One of the best female kitesurf riders
Women riders are here to stay, which is why we're going to show you the best female kitesurf riders in the world.
Kitesurfing is no longer a men-only sport. For many years men have outnumbered women among those practising it. But in recent years female riders have emerged of the calibre of Spain's Gisela Pulido (10-time world champion), who has shown brands the huge market there is among women.
Kiteboarding is a multidisciplinary sport, so it's hard to find a definitive list of female riders who shine above the rest, as it largely depends on the discipline they usually compete in. Below we'll review the main women kitesurfers who are succeeding right now.
Gisela Pulido | The best female kitesurf rider
Gisela Pulido was crowned Kitesurf world champion for the first time in November 2004, at just 10 years old. Following this sporting success, she received a Guinness World Records award recognising her as the youngest Kitesurf world champion in history.
2006 was another extraordinary year for this young Spanish rider. As the trophies piled up, the Catalan rider (Premià de Mar) attracted countless sponsors, rounding off the season with the title of Spanish champion.
In 2009 Gisela opened her own kite school, the Gisela Pulido Pro Center, in Tarifa, the kiteboarding paradise. In 2015 she won her tenth world crown.
After stepping away from competition for a few years, her big goal now is Paris 2024, to try to become the first Olympic champion in the history of kitefoil.
Karolina Winkowska | The queen of sports
This young Polish rider, born in 1990, is Gisela's main rival in recent Kitesurf world championships. She started out in snowboarding but decided to make the jump to kitesurfing in 2004. This ability to adapt so quickly to sports makes her one of the best female kitesurf riders.
She was champion in 2012 and is another great example for young people looking to get into the sport. Her transition from winter sports (where she also achieved great success) to kitesurfing has been astonishing, and today no one can deny her privileged place among the most prestigious riders on the circuit.
Bruna Kajiya | First woman to land a "Backside 315”
Bruna Kajiya (born 25 February 1987) is a Brazilian professional kiteboarder. She is a six-time kitesurf world runner-up and a three-time freestyle world champion (2009, 2016 and 2017) in the World Kiteboarding League (WKL).
In 2018 the WKL was replaced by the Global Kitesports Association (GKA), which became the official organisation of the Kite Surfing World Title. In 2019 Bruna was the GKA freestyle world runner-up, giving her her sixth world runner-up title.
In 2016 she had already established herself as one of the best female kitesurf riders, as she was the first woman to land a "Backside 315", a trick that combines a 540-degree rotation and a double handle pass.
In 2016 she had already established herself as one of the best female kitesurf riders, as she was the first woman to land a "Backside 315", a trick that combines a 540-degree rotation and a double handle pass.
The Brazilian is originally from Ilhabela, where she competed as a swimmer from a very early age, earning the nickname "Little Fish". After a surfing accident, she looked for a new sport and discovered wakestyle kiteboarding while studying in Maui.
She's so famous that the manufacturer Mystic even launched two harness models bearing her name.
Bruna is sponsored by Red Bull, Mystic and North Kiteboarding. You can find all these brands in our online kitesurf shop.
Annelous Lammerts | The queen of Park Riding
Annelous started kitesurfing in the summer of 2009 and has been hooked on the wind ever since. Every windy day she would travel 17 kilometres to Brouwersdam for a kite session and, sometimes, arrive when the wind had already gone. For her love of the sport alone she deserves a place in this top list of the best female kitesurf riders.
After finishing secondary school, she started working as much as she could to save enough money to escape the Dutch winter.
In 2012 the Dutch rider became European freestyle champion and, after another year competing on the European Tour, decided to focus on the world championships. In the following two years, 2014 and 2015, she achieved several podium places in the freestyle world cups and finished fourth overall. In an attempt to earn some extra money, she also decided to compete in slalom and became slalom world runner-up in 2014.
In 2016 she decided to focus on a new discipline, Park Riding. She managed to win the wildcard video for the biggest kite park event, the Triple S Invitational, and this really got her competing in this discipline.
She then won her first Kite Park League event, the Hood Jam 2016. In 2017 she won two of the 4 events of the Kite Park League, the park riding world tour, and became the 2017 Kite Park League Champion.
In 2019 Annelous made her biggest dream of recent years come true by winning the Triple S Invitational 2019, the biggest KPL event. She took second place at the second stop and another win at the last stop, becoming Kite Park League world tour champion for the second time.
Carla Herrera | One of the best female kitesurf riders
Born in the Dominican Republic in 1993, she has lived her whole life in the Spanish city of Toledo. She fell in love with the sea thanks to Conil, where she spent her summer holidays with her family.
She discovered bodyboarding, her first water sport, but then moved on to surfing. Thanks to a friend she got into the world of kitesurfing, which is now her passion, although at first she even doubted she would like it.
In the end, she decided to move to Tarifa, where she could devote herself fully to kitesurfing. In her day-to-day life she trains on and off the water, and in the summers she teaches kite lessons.
In 2018 in Tarifa she achieved her first win in a world championship, the GKA Strapless, finishing as world runner-up in the competition.
In 2019 she took first place in Sylt, Germany, the third event of the GKA Kite World Tour 2019. Her official sponsor is currently Brunotti.
