Friday, July 5: The Baltic Republic of Estonia may only have a population of around 1.3 million people but it is punching above its weight across a number of international sports.

The country has already crowned a world rally champion (Ott Tänak in 2019), has a multiple winner of stages in the Tour de France (Jaan Kirsipuu) and has won world championships in judo, fencing and skiing, in addition to a gold medal in the decathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics (Erki Nool). But the sport of aquabiking is now at the forefront of the country’s success.

Several racers excelled at the recent Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy in Olbia and have either already won titles or are in contention for World Championship honours when the season reaches a conclusion in Indonesia on November 16th- 17th.

Jasmiin Ypraus is a former World Champion and the Tallinn-based 23-year-old marketing and human resources specialist currently holds a slender one-point lead over French rival Estelle Poret in the battle for honours in the Ski Ladies GP1 World Championship. Defending champion Jessica Chavanne is 12 points further behind in third place. They will decide the outcome of the championship in Lake Toba in the autumn.

Mattias Siimann missed the opening round of the Runabout GP1 World Championship in Vietnam but the youngster’s decision to compete in the sport’s flagship category in Sardinia was a good one. Siimann delivered a masterclass performance over the weekend to snatch victory in the first of the Motos against a world-class field and then follow that up with second place in Moto 2 to win the Grand Prix in Olbia. He may be out of title contention with two Motos to run on Lake Toba in November but Siimann has announced his arrival in Runabout GP1 in spectacular style.

Siimann’s stunning weekend of Sardinian success wasn’t restricted to just the Runabout GP1 category, however: the Estonian dominated all three Motos in the Runabout GP2 category and was crowned World Champion with a maximum 75 points.

Mattias Reinass is the new Ski Division GP2 World Champion. He won the opening two Motos in Sardinia and clinched the title with second place behind Csongor Jászai in Moto 3. Fellow countryman Marlon Tiik finished fourth in each of the three races and earned a similar position in the points’ standings. Tiik also finished sixth in the Ski Division GP3 World Championship.

Reinass also added the Ski Division GP4 world title to his collection after beating Belgian Yoni Hamelin on a tie-breaker. Reinass finished fourth, second and first in the three Motos, while young Ander Hubert Lauri eventually finished fifth in the title standings after failing to score points in Moto 3 to add to the second place and Moto 2 win he had secured earlier in the weekend.

Karl Keskula opted to concentrate on the Runabout GP4 category and one second place, a heat win and a third earned the Estonian 67 points and that was sufficient to win the world title by six points from last year’s champion Alejandro Prats Palau. Fellow Estonians. Arti Molter, Henri Koppas and Marek Laanisto, finished in third, fifth and 10th with Koppas winning Moto 1.

Annemarie Randla narrowly missed out on the Runabout GP4 Ladies world title to Cyrielle Bramm of France but her consolation was second place after a third, a Moto 2 win and a second in Moto 3. Ester Rosin flew the Estonian flag proudly to finish fifth and Carmen Roosmaa was seventh.