British kiteboarder Aaron Hadlow is something of a pioneer in his sport.
With five world championship titles to his name, as well as two successive ‘King of the Air’ titles in 2015 and 2016, Hadlow is easily one of the all-time greats having been dominant in kiteboarding since 2004.
For the uninitiated, kiteboarding contains a wide range of disciplines from racing, technical tricks and huge jumps but arguably the biggest leaps on show are the way the sport has progressed in a relatively short space of time.
Everything has progressed from technological advancements in kite design, to increasing sponsorship deals, and Hadlow has played a key part in the sport’s journey after his dad first started kiteboarding right at the very beginning.
“I feel like I’ve contributed in certain ways and that’s really nice,” said Hadlow, when asked if he feels like a pioneer.
“I was competing from a young age and was at the top of my game in those years.
“Every year I had to bring something new to the table to keep my position.
“In many ways I’ve always tried to innovate and push the sport in the technical side of things and make new tricks.
“Coming up with new projects – things like video series – and I was young and developing with social media.
“As that’s changed throughout, sponsorship deals change and nowadays it’s a totally different landscape. You have to adapt and find new ways to do things.
“Now, where I am today, I’m still motivated to compete and I’m obviously much older.
“I’ve had the process of being a young grom coming through and now I also like to help kids develop.”
‘It’s a very fragile thing, an athlete’s career’
Despite the titles to Hadlow’s name, one of his biggest achievements didn’t actually bring any silverware with it.
The now 33-year-old faced a lengthy spell out injured a few years ago, a period that brought with it all manner of challenges.
“I finished competing in 2009 and took a couple of years off,” he explained. “I needed something different.
“I took some time off and a few years later realised I wanted to come back and prove myself, and then in the preseason I got injured and tore my ACL.
“I was out of the game for seven months – came back in, strong and felt I was good – then I had another setback for three months.
“I lost almost a year of riding whilst the other guys were gaining a year of experience and it put me so far back. It was a really difficult moment, but I learnt a lot from it.
“The best moment was the competition I came back at – I got my first podium straight back in. The dedication of training and getting back to where I was when, at points, I thought I would never be the same again.
“Later on that year I went on to win a couple of championship events and win the King of the Air soon after that as well.
“Out of all the achievements this was one of the ones that had the most satisfaction. Even though it wasn’t a whole championship, just to get that feeling and to know I was able to get back to where I wanted to be and see the reward was a telling moment.”
While that period brought understandable challenges for the British kiter, it was arguably something he needed in his life.
Simply put, without that period on the sidelines he might not still be in the sport now competing.
“I’ve just turned 33 and I’m still here in the sport and relevant doing what I’m doing,” he said.
“Without that injury, at that time, worse things could have happened.
“I learned so much about how to control my body in the right way, when to stop, when to say enough is enough and when to train hard and when to push and put that into good knowledge for the longevity of my career.
“Obviously there is the mental resilience as well. There were points where I didn’t know much about injuries at the time – I’d had a few tweaks here and there and I was always back within a few weeks.
“To have something that was a year out, there were moments where I thought this was it.
“It’s a very fragile thing, an athlete’s career, in certain places so that was a nice realisation that there was more to come and that there’s other things you can do and focus on.
“It allowed me to focus on the business side of things a bit more as well as learn about the body and to move forward with that.”
‘Once I jump out on the water it’s like the back garden’
The Red Bull King of the Air is the most highly anticipated kiteboarding event in the world, featuring the best athletes around.
The latest edition, in Cape Town, South Africa, takes place between November 18 and December 3 with Hadlow currently out there preparing for the competition he has won twice before.
Quite simply this event is all about the spectacle, jumping as high as possible while displaying the best package possible of power, technique and innovation in their tricks.
For Aaron, he heads into this competition in fine form having topped the leaderboard and setting a new European highest jump record of 34.4m at the Woo World 2021.
That gives you an idea of how high some of the kiters will be getting above the water.
“I’ve been staying fit, riding in Europe and doing what I can but to come out here with two weeks it’s a little bit more crammed in trying to get as much time on the water and get ready for those final preparation stages,” said Hadlow.
“But at the same time I’ve been coming here for 20-odd years. Once I jump out on the water it’s like the back garden, we’re so used to it now.
“It’s one of the biggest events of the year and the whole kite community is talking about it and everyone’s getting excited.
“Now all the riders are turning up and starting to ride you can see what everyone’s level is at.”
With around 7,000 people attending the event each day, there is sure to be plenty of drama on the water out in Cape Town for the duration of the event.
For more information and to keep up to date on Aaron Hadlow visit www.redbullkingoftheair.com
