News
Sunday, October 18: The 2026 UIM-ABP Aquanike World Championship came to a close in Olbia with the year’s Champions awarded in the Sardinian city that has become the spiritual home of the sport. A clear day with glaring sun provided the perfect backdrop for the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy’s final Motos, as riders across all categories battled it out for this year’s bragging rights.
Runabout GP1
Francois Medori looked like the firm favourite to take the Moto 2 win after he took the holeshot and emerged from the splits with a comfortable lead over Samuel Johansson in second place. But the real focus was further back on Gyorgy Kasza, who knew the stakes were high and that this was the make or break Moto to keep his dream of a maiden World Championship alive. After mechanical issues saw him finish in tenth place, Kasza had a strong start to Moto 2, moving up to fifth place off the start, then taking two further positions on the first lap to move into third place. Kasza then began chasing Johansson for a further overtake, cutting down the distance from 1.889 seconds after the second lap to 1.195 seconds by the third lap. Meanwhile, current European Champion Jeremy Perez encountered yet more mechanical issues, stuttering to a stop on the third lap and yet again registering a DNF.
As Johansson battled defensively to maintain his position from an aggressive Kasza, Medori was able to continue extending his lead, which reached 8.631 seconds by the sixth lap. Soon after, Kasza finally made the move on Johansson, taking second spot on the eighth lap and quickly coming for Medori. The Hungarian’s pace was far faster than leader Medori, with Kasza registering a ninth lap time of 1:28.770 seconds to Medori’s 1:31.591 seconds, meaning they entered the tenth lap with just 1.635 seconds separating them.
The gap was short enough for Kasza to finally take the lead in the following lap as he emerged ahead of the splits from Medori. Kasza’s pace was unrelenting, as he continued to push his bike to its limits and managed to extend his lead to 6.885 seconds after a full lap in the lead, with the gap only growing as the race reached its conclusion, with Kasza achieving lap times that were almost ten seconds better than Medori’s. With a potential first world title hanging in the balance, Kasza channeled the pressure into the ride of a lifetime, delivering his best race yet to move from a tenth place start to winning Moto 2 by 22.921 seconds, placing him on even points with Medori going into Moto 3, thereby ensuring the World Championship would be decided in the season’s final race. Johansson finished in third, putting him eleven points behind the leading two riders going into Moto 3.
All eyes were therefore on the front two riders for Moto 3. With his bright neon sleeves, Kasza was unmissable as he flew off the start with an acceleration no other rider could come close to matching, with Medori trailing by a considerable margin by the first splits, and Johansson trailing in third. But some big waves during the second time through the splits slowed Kasza down, allowing Medori to gain on him and closing the gap to 1.752 seconds as they emerged from the splits. It was Medori who made the next error through the splits, missing a buoy and having to take the penalty buoy as a result and increasing his deficit with Kasza to 5.709 seconds.
Then unexpected drama threw the Championship wide open, as both Kasza and Medori were caught cutting the course and each given a two lap penalty, suddenly giving Johansson in third place the chance to snatch the title against the odds. Kasza crossed the line first, but his penalty pushed him down to ninth place, with Medori also docked positions, crossing the finish line in second place but ranking eleventh. This meant that although Johansson was third to pass the chequered flag, the penalties incurred by Kasza and Medori gifted him the race win, and with those 25 points Johansson unexpectedly snatched the World Championship by just two points over Kasza, finishing on 125 points to Kasza’s 123 and Medori’s 121.
Ski GP1
Going into Moto 3, the World Championship was already a decided affair, as with a 31 point lead there was no mathematical possibility of anyone outdoing Quinten Bossche. To little surprise, Bossche once again took the holeshot and led the race from start to finish. Jeremy Poret slotted in behind Bossche, with Soshi Sato in third. Sato fell into the water on the seventh lap, allowing Mattias Reinnas to take third as Sato failed to restart his bike and plunged out of the race.
In winning Moto 3, Bossche completed an invincible season in both the World and European Championships, winning every single Aquabike Moto of 2026 in one of the most dominant performances the sport has ever seen. Reinas took the second podium spot in Olbia, with Raphael Maurin going home with the bronze.
Ski Ladies GP1
Jessica Chavanne lined up in third knowing that any finish within the top six would guarantee her another world title. But the battle for the Grand Prix win was far more open, with Benedicte Drange leading going into Moto 3. After a red flag on the initial start due to Naomi Benini and Chavanne falling into the water, it was Jasmiin Ypraus who took the holeshot with Drange closely on her tail and Estelle Poret in third after Chavanne fell back into fourth place. Chavanne fell back further on the first lap, as Emy Garcia achieved the race’s fastest lap and executed a double overtake of Chavanne and then Poret to move into third place.
Drange’s chances of a maiden world title were gradually slipping away from her, as Ypraus continued to increase the gap between them to over ten seconds by the fourth lap, whilst an offensive push from third-place Garcia meant Drange had to worry more about what was going on behind her than in front. The positions remained stable for the rest of the race, with Ypraus in first, Drange second, and Chavanne in fifth – enough for her to secure the world title. Though she missed out on a World Championship, Drange could take the consolation of the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy win, edging out Ypraus by just one point in the weekend’s points tally.
Freestyle
Current World Champion Roberto Mariani delivered a crowd-pleasing routine, the highlight being a series of twenty consecutive backflips that impressed fans and judges alike. For his routine, the Italian was awarded 226 points. Demi Morgan followed Mariani, and delivered another energetic routine, though her repeated failures to execute some of her tricks cost her valuable points, which totaled 190, putting her behind Mariani for the Moto. Rashed Al Mulla was the final rider to show, and displayed his winning intent from the start, successfully completing a double-backflip that he had come close to closing in Moto 1. Al Mulla’s audacious routine was awarded 252 points by the judges.
With his significant point margin, Al Mulla secured both the Grand Prix win as well as his seventh career Freestyle World Championship. Mariani’s greater points total from the judges meant he took second place in Olbia over Morgan, but in the final Championship standings, Morgan took second place in her debut season, pushing current European Champion Mariani into third place.
Single-event categories
Karl Keskula had the race of his weekend to comfortably take the win in Runabout GP2’s Moto 3, but a third place finish for Mattias Siimann was enough to retain his World Championship with 70 points to Keskula’s 67 points. After finishing twelfth in the first two Motos, Elisa Tiberi delivered the ride of her weekend to take the Runabout Ladies GP4 win in Moto 3, with Annemarie Oiemets pushed into a third place finish. But that was enough for Oiemets to claim the World Championship after a remarkable rise since last year, when she finished in eleventh place.
Robin Sylvester was able to secure a Ski GP2 race win at the third attempt, narrowly winning Moto 3 by 2.957 seconds. But his Moto 3 win was not enough to snatch him the World Championship, which went to Karl Joosep Steinberg after he finished Moto 3 in second place, bringing his point tally in Olbia to 72, greater than Sylvester’s 69 point total. Current European Champion Leo Kete made it three wins from as many Motos to claim the Ski GP3 World Championship win after a dominant weekend. Ski GP4 was a similarly one-sided affair, as Csongor Jászai won Moto 3 to complete a hat-trick of wins in Olbia, adding the World Championship to his European Championship to make 2026 the most successful season of the Hungarian’s career so far.