The beautiful Sardinian city of Olbia will host round three of the 2025 UIM-ABP Aquabike Circuit Pro World Championship on October 17th-19th.
The popular European venue has been hosting a round of the UIM-ABP series since 2018, is now a traditional stop on the aquabike calendar and has become a firm favourite with competitors. The Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy will again stage the major four racing categories, in addition to the Junior riders and several of the other Ski Division and Runabout classes.
Raimondo di San Germano, CEO of Aquabike Promotion, said: “Olbia is one of the most popular rounds of the World Championship and this year we will see a switch from the heat of the summer to slightly cooler temperatures in the middle of October. The city always plays a perfect host to our competitors and, by that point in the season, we will know who the title contenders are for the remainder of the year.”
Sardinia has been staging World Championship aquabike racing since 2011. The hamlet of Arbatax hosted round two of a four-event World Championship that year before action moved to the northeast coast of the island to the beautiful town of Golfo Aranci in 2012.
François Medori triumphed in the Runabout GP1 category with a pair of Moto wins on his way to the World Championship title. Jérémy Poret also completed a win double in Ski Division GP1 and Julie Bulteau and Pija Sumer shared a win apiece in the Ski Ladies GP1 category. Rok Florjancic dominated the Freestyle programme.
After a switch to the Italian mainland over subsequent seasons, Olbia hosted its first event in 2018. A pair of Runabout GP1 wins gave Jérémy Perez victory in the Grand Prix of the Mediterranean. Kevin Reiterer and Krista Uzare topped the standings in Ski Division and Ski Ladies GP1 and Rashid Al-Mulla prevailed in Freestyle. Grand Prix wins in the four other Ski Division and Runabout categories were earned by Benjamin Scharff, Barnabas Szabo, Samuel Johansson and Philip Salobir.
Olbia hosted round two of a four-event calendar in 2019 and Al-Abdulrazzaq, Reiterer, Emma-Nelli Ortendahl and Al-Mulla earned success in the major four categories. Sultan Al-Hammadi, Gonçalo Oliveira Rodrigues. Marcus Jorgensen and Salobir came out on top in the other sections.
After the year of global travel restrictions, racing returned to Olbia in September 2021 with the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy. Perez, Reiterer, Jonna Borgström and Al-Mulla were triumphant in the major four classes and minor honours went to Mattias Reinass, Mattias Siimann and Clara Muchembled.
The city then hosted the final round of the 2022 World Championship, where Jorgensen, Valentin Dardillat, Jasmiin Ypraus and Al-Mulla were crowned as world champions in the major four categories with Grand Prix wins falling to Medori, Dardillat, Ypraus and Al-Mulla.
In 2023, Olbia hosted the opening round of the World Championship and Medori, Oliver Koch Hansen, Jessica Chavanne and Roberto Mariani stole the headlines in Runabout GP1, Ski Division and Ski Ladies GP1 and Freestyle. Rodrigues, Reinass, Manuel Reggiani, Alejandro Prats Palau and Nikola Dryjakova earned success in the other categories.
Last year, the city played host to the second round of the World Championship: Siimann, Quinten Bossche, Chavanne and Al-Mulla won their respective Grand Prix and there was also success for Reinass, Yoni Hamelin, Karl Keskula and Cyrielle Bramm.
