News
Friday, October 2: The first competitive racing of the 2026 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship took place in an overcast Shanghai. Riders battled it out in the city’s Baoshan district for pole positions over two qualifying rounds, ahead of Moto 1 this afternoon from 3.15pm local time.
Runabout GP1
After a slow start in Free Practice, current World Champion Francois Medori rediscovered his usual dominant pace in Q1, achieving a lap of 01:41.407 seconds on his first attempt, which proved too fast for anyone to beat. Former World Champion Samuel Johansson provided the strongest challenge, achieving a best lap 1.966 seconds slower than Medori, with Alex Barret coming in third with a best time of 01:43.486 seconds. Gyorgy Kasza, who had topped the standings during Free Practice, came fourth, ahead of Robin Laforge, Jeremy Perez, Pierre Savelli, Rasmus Koch Hansen, Petr Dryjak, and Linus Lindberg, all of whom made it into Q2.
Kasza rediscovered the form he had in Free Practice for Q2, storming to the top of the standings on the first lap with a time of 01:36.976 seconds, 0.693 seconds faster than Medori, who was relegated to second place. As the water’s choppiness increased, Medori struggled to match the pace of his opening lap, let alone Kasza’s, achieving a time of 01:40.638 seconds in his final lap of Q2. Laforge moved up into third place for Q2, whilst current European Champion Perez just missed out on the top three places by 0.120 seconds and came fourth. Johansson and Barret both failed to match their strong Q1 performances, coming in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Ski GP1
It was one-and-done for Quinten Bossche in Q1, as he achieved the session’s fastest lap of 01:45.178 seconds in his first attempt, after which he spent the rest of the session on the sidelines as the other riders tried to match the Belgian’s pace. None managed, and the top three ended up being an inversion of the morning’s Free Practice session, with Jeremy Poret finishing second fastest and Valentin Dardillat this time in third place. Behind the top three and qualifying for Q2 were Alec Enderli, Xavier Pessleux, Soshi Sato, Matteo Benini, Anthony Beernaut, Maxence Russel, and Morgan Poret.
Bossche continued his fine form into Q2, once again achieving the best lap on his first attempt, this time with a time of 01:39.745 seconds. Jeremy Poret was once again in second place behind him, coming within 2.562 seconds of Bossche, with Enderli climbing the rankings in Q2 with a time of 01:43.881 seconds to finish third. After an excellent morning, Dardillat was off the pace in Q2, finishing in eighth place.
Ski Ladies GP1
Current World Champion Estelle Poret carried over her world beating pace into this season, coming out on top in Q1 with a best lap of 01:44.249 seconds. Jasmiin Ypraus, who came second at the last Chinese Grand Prix she raced in in 2019, provided the closest challenge to Poret, coming second 2.039 seconds behind Poret. Jessica Chavanne finished in third with a time of 01:46.387 seconds, followed by Benedicte Drange, Jonna Borgstrom, Naomi Benini, Virginie Morlaes, Sofie Borgstrom, Janina Johansson, and Kexin Wang who all qualified for Q2.
Poret’s good form continued into Q2, where she once again achieved the fastest lap, this time of 01:41.489 seconds. As in Q1, Ypraus was Poret’s closest challenger, closing the gap to 0.656 seconds but never quite coming close enough to taking the top spot. Chavanne finished third again, taking the last of the top three places.
Freestyle
The judges awarded the Freestyle pole position to Rashid Al-Mulla, the multiple-time World Champion, after one of his characteristically impressive performances replete with flips and tricks.
In her Aquabike World Championship debut, Demi Morgan impressed the judges with a technically rigorous routine that saw her place second in the qualifying round.