Saturday, March 23: Frenchman Jeremy Perez, Estonian Jasmiin Ypraus and Frenchman Morgan Poret claimed victories in their respective Parallel Slalom heats and Italy’s Roberto Mariani snatched success in the first of the Freestyle Motos on a Saturday night of spectacular on-water action under lights in Thi Nai Bay, Quy Nhon.

Perez triumphed in Runabout GP1, Ypraus came out on top in Ski Ladies GP1 and Morgan Poret won the Ski Division GP1 Parallel Slalom in a two-hour session that was arranged for the evening to entertain massive crowds who have gathered for the inaugural Grand Prix of Bình Định-Vietnam, round one of the 2024 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship.

Jeremy Perez and Samuel Johansson battled it out in the first of the Runabout GP1 Parallel Slalom heats and Perez stormed to victory in heat one, Johansson levelled and Perez progressed in the last race.

Danish star Marcus Jorgensen and Hungarian Gyorgy Kasza contested the second semifinal. Jorgensen won the opening tussle and progressed with a win in the second to face Perez in the final. Johansson got the better of Kasza in a tie-breaker in the third-place shoot-out. Perez and Jorgensen faced off in the final and the Frenchman snatched the win in the final heat.

Jasmiin Ypraus and Benedicte Drange went head-to-head in the opening Ski Ladies GP1 Parallel Slalom heat with the win falling to the Estonian. Estelle Poret and Sofie Borgström lined up in the second heat. Borgström edged the opener, Poret levelled and the Bergstrom Swede snatched the decider to face Ypraus in the final, as Drange and Poret went head-to-head to decide third place with Poret taking the win.

Ypraus and Borgström rounded off Saturday’s action for the ladies in the Parallel Slalom final with the win going to the Estonian.

Swiss rider Alec Enderli and Mads Koch Hansen slugged it out in the first of the Ski Division GP1 Parallel Slalom heats. Koch Hansen spun off in the warm-up and lost out to Enderli. The French duo of Morgan and Mickael Poret were brothers in arms in the second heat. Morgan Poret beat his brother, the six-time Parallel Slalom World Champion, and progressed to join Enderli in a tie-break third heat.

Mickael Poret faced off with Koch Hansen for third place with the win falling to the Frenchman after the Dane fell in the second sprint. Morgan Poret and Enderli duelled in the final and a tight contest went in favour of the Frenchman.

The three Freestyle competitors took to the water to entertain the crowds in their Moto 1. First up was Portuguese airline pilot Paulo Nuñes, who continues to improve his combination of back flips, somersaults, rolls, side-spins, throws and combinations in front of a panel of judges who are looking for content, quality, style and general input by the riders.

World number one Roberto Mariani followed on to the water to delight the crowds and Emirati Rashid Al-Mulla rounded off the trio on a ski he had borrowed from rival Nuñes. He delivered a full programme before the ski stalled near the end of his stint and he pushed and paddled it back to the pontoon.

The judges determined that the Moto win went to Mariani with 87 points, Al-Mulla came home in second after scoring 17 less on the judges’ cards than the Italian and Nuñes finished third.