UIM ABP Aquabike Offshore Grand Prix of Qatar: Runabout & Freestyle Highlights
UIM ABP Aquabike Offshore Grand Prix of Qatar: Runabout & Freestyle Highlights
Old Doha Port Grand Prix of Qatar - Highlights
Qatar's Old Doha Port delivered a blockbuster finale to the 2025 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship, with tight, technical waters, rebounding harbor chop, and a packed crowd creating edge-of-your-seat racing across Runabout GP1 and Freestyle.
Runabout GP1 Moto 1 was pure chaos and composure. Kuwait's Youssef Al-Abdulrazzaq surged to the holeshot before a wild twist: both he and points leader Francois Medori retired with mechanical issues after briefly leading. Hungary's György Kasza inherited P1 until three-time world champion Jérémy Perez executed a clean pass in the parallel section to seal the win, with Kasza second and Qatar's Waleed Al-Sharshani third.
Moto 2 became a champion's charge. Starting from the back after early struggles, Francois Medori carved through the field-timing splits, threading traffic, and powering past Kasza for the lead in the closing laps. Medori took the moto victory and, with it, his third circuit world title. Behind him, Al-Sharshani thrilled the home crowd with P2 to capture the Grand Prix overall, while Pierre-François Savelli snatched P3 at the flag. Final championship podium: Medori (Champion), Perez (2nd), Kasza (3rd).
Freestyle Under the lights, the sport's showmen turned Doha Bay into a theater. Local favorite Bader Al Abdulla electrified with barrel rolls and no-hand combos for fourth overall. Italy's Massimo Accumulo stacked crisp back-to-back combos to edge onto the podium in third. Veteran icon Roberto "Italian Superman" Mariani wowed with near-perfect 360s, his trademark Superman and fountain sequence-and an audacious 20-backflip showcase-earning runner-up on the night and clinching his second world title in three years. But the Grand Prix belonged to the UAE's Rashid Al-Mulla, back on his own ski and back to imperious best: inventive 360s, clean backflips, flowing barrel rolls, and a double backflip in Moto 2 for a perfect 50-point haul and the Doha victory.
Why it mattered Doha's return after a decade delivered one of the season's largest fields and its most demanding course, rewarding race craft, split-section strategy, and composure in traffic. It crowned Francois Medori (Runabout GP1) and Roberto Mariani (Freestyle) as world champions, and sent the home fans into raptures with Waleed Al-Sharshani's Grand Prix triumph.
A finale of high drama, high skill, and high emotion-Qatar signed off the season in style.