Maria Kinkina has been steadily climbing up the rankings on this year’s KSWT and took a solid fifth place finish at this year’s event in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. She’s sitting in tenth overall and has been competing around Europe even outside of the Kite-Surf World Tour to sharpen her game in the last couple of seasons!

She actually lives in London and this shot of her was from her debut at the British Wavemasters in 2017!

Maria-Kinkina
Age:
28
Nationality:
Bulgarian
Sponsors:
Alooppa wetsuits
Years riding:
4
Years competing:
1
Best results:
5th GKA Portugal 2018
Specialist discipline:
Wave riding
Favourite spot:
Pacasmayo, Peru – because of the endless lefts and the chill vibes!
Favourite trick:
Going big and styling it with a grab!
Favourite thing about competing on tour?:
It pushes my riding, gives me the opportunity to hang out with awesome people and takes me to amazing spots!
Standout moment 2017:
Getting 5th place in Viana. I focused on training hard before the stop and it was so rewarding to see good results! This is a standout moment for me also because I just loved my time in Viana – the spot is world class when the conditions work and the people are amazing!
Favourite competitors to ride against and watch:
I like competing against everyone. I love watching Moona’s style and Jalou’s power - they approach the tour quite differently and it is interesting to see who will get ahead.
2018 goals:
My goals are to bring my riding to new levels, to get to know the rest of the riders, to help build the tour for the girls and - of course - to enjoy every wave along the way!
How do you train?:
I love HIIT / CrossFit, running and yoga. To improve my riding, I video myself and analyse my riding, writing down what I did well and what I need to work on, and setting goals for the next session. I also recently got into mental competition preparation, including visualisation, and I highly recommend it!

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