We are excited to announced Lacuna Kites rider Jason van der Spuy has made the final list of riders for the Red Bull King of the Air 2020 event. No easy task as there are many video entries of top-class riders.
These video entries showcase riders’ ability to perform some of the most death-defying tricks at incredible heights way above 20m. Therefore, having made the top 24 of these entries is certainly well-done.

Jason van der Spuy, age 18, well known for his titles as South African freestyle champion will be going head-to-head against some of the biggest names in kiteboarding.
His freestyle background is an advantage when competing in Big Air competitions.

The Freestyle discipline offers a strong basis for the transition into Big Air kiteboarding. With many of the Big Air event trick scoring moving higher into technical difficulty.
The predominant scoring is still based on height and extremity at 70%, with technical difficulty at 20% and 10% at impression score.

The 20% technical ability and 10% impression score make for an interesting dynamic to the event.
Riders will not only be asked to reach an unthinkable height but also be asked to do daring tricks at the same time! Mind-blowing when these tricks only count towards your score if you land them.
With traveling distances of over 100m downwind one can easily understand that not landing the trick can result in a large loss of time before being able to attempt it again.

If that isn’t challenging enough, the best 3 tricks are taken, however, and this is the spanner in the works, an impression score counts 10% towards the heat scoring.
The impression score is determined by the number of additional tricks combined with their technical difficulty and crowd-pleasing effect.
This score can often determine the difference between going to the next round or going home.

We wish Jason van der Spuy all the best in the competition and are incredibly proud that he made it into the event. This is a massive achievement.

Good Luck Champ.