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Saturday, October 17: A hectic day of racing in Olbia came to a close ahead of tomorrow’s vital final Motos that will decide the winner of this year’s Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy, as well as who returns home with the 2026 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship. All the Aquabike categories raced throughout the afternoon, except for Runabout GP1 which was postponed until tomorrow following a crash at the start of its Moto 2.
Ski GP1
Having won every Moto so far this season, Championship leader Quinten Bossche gave his challengers the best chance yet to claim a win of their own as the Belgian started in last place due to an engine change. Alec Enderli therefore lined up in pole position, and took advantage of his starting position to take the holeshot ahead of Mattias Reinnas and then Raphael Maurin. Meanwhile Bossche showed why he has been so dominant, moving up from last to eighth position on the opening lap. Bossche’s rise up the ranks continued into the second lap, where he secured two overtakes to move into sixth place. Even though Bossche was in sixth, first place was still within his sights, as the top six riders entered the third lap with less than ten seconds separating all of them.
The tight battles at the front continued, as Enderli lost his lead on the fourth lap following back-to-back overtakes from Reinnas and then Maurin. Bossche continued his overtaking spree, moving up to fourth after passing Jeremy Poret and then Soshi Sato. On the following lap, Bossche moved up into third at Enderli’s expense, and with five minutes left, it felt like only a matter of time until Bossche delivered a repeat of his Moto 3 performance in Olbia last year, where the Belgian went from last to first in one of the most thrilling races of the season. On the seventh lap, Bossche took second place, and then took the race lead after a tightly fought eighth lap from Reinnas. His stunning win, going from last to first, means Bossche is now just one Moto away from winning the World Championship with an invincible season.
Ski Ladies GP1
Jessica Chavanne flew off the start and edged in front of Moto 1 winner Benedicte Drange, but the Norwegian was able to claw back her lead coming out of the splits to remain race leader, with Chavanne behind her in second place, and Jasmiin Ypraus in third. A poor start from current World Champion Estelle Poret saw her drop down to seventh place by the first lap, making her chances of retaining her title increasingly remote.
As she tried to chase down Drange for the lead, Chavanne soon had to pivot to riding defensively as Ypraus snuck up on her rear, closing the gap to 1.565 seconds after three laps. As the two riders headed to the split on the fourth lap, Ypraus emerged a whisker ahead of Chavanne to take second place, and just 1.961 seconds behind leader Drange. It took Ypraus just two laps to take another position, as Drange headed to the outside split and Ypraus took the faster inside split, emerging in first place with a lead of 1.860 seconds over Moto 1 winner Drange. Ypraus managed to hold onto her lead for the remaining four laps of Moto 2, and with that secured her first Moto win of the season.
Freestyle
The competition at the top of the Freestyle category has been thrown open this year with the entry of Demi Morgan to Aquabike. Morgan was an instant crowd favourite, as the outgoing American brought an electric energy to her Olbia debut. Crowds cheered as she successfully executed a routine full of technical somersaults and in which she repeatedly avoided plunging into the water when her fate had seemed sealed. For her energetic opening routine, the judges awarded Morgan 227 points.
His win last year in Olbia made the difference for Roberto Mariani on his successful charge last season to regain the world title. Returning this year knowing that the competition was greater, Mariani produced a routine geared towards a grande finale composed of a double backflip, which the World Champion could not quite find the sufficient rotation to complete. He scored 205 from the judges, which as in Shanghai, placed the Italian behind newcomer Morgan.
After Mariani’s attempted double backflip, former World Champion Rashid Al Mulla was keen not to be outdone, opening his routine with an attempt of his own in which he was able to come closer than Mariani to completing the trick, but also fell slightly short in his overall rotation. A high-flying routine followed, with Al Mulla achieving far more airtime than any of his opponents, for which he was awarded 230 points overall and with that the Moto win, pushing Morgan into a second place finish.
Single-event categories
In all the other Ski categories, the riders who triumphed in Moto 1 repeated their winning performances in Moto 2, leading from start to finish in all cases. Last year’s Ski GP2 runner-up Karl Joosep Steinberg is set to go one further this year after winning his second Moto. Leo Kete continued his winning streak in Ski GP3, and Csongor Jászai, fresh from his victory in the European Championship, continued to dominate Ski GP4 with another win.
Runabout GP2 was a typically hectic affair, as nine of the 22 riders ended the race under investigation for infringements. Karl Joosep Steinberg was able to power through the chaos, leading from start to finish to pick up another Moto win. Grantas Gurksnys took the holeshot in Runabout GP4, emerging from the first lap 4.414 seconds ahead of a chasing Jose Vainio. Vainio cut down the gap but never found the pace to overtake, with Gurksnys winning by 2.314 seconds. Annemarie Oiemets secured another win in Runabout Ladies GP4, placing herself as firm favourite to take the title going into the final Moto.