Sarah Sadek finished second in the women's division of the Red Bull King of the Air Taiwan Qualifier in Hsinchu, Taiwan, behind Alessa Sophia Mensch, who took the winner's spot at the finals in Cape Town. Sadek, the Egyptian Big Air rider on Harlem Kitesurfing, wrote on Instagram that a new variety scoring system cost her first place.
Red Bull says the two division winners, Mensch and Hugo Wigglesworth in the men's category, each secured a spot at the 2026 Red Bull King of the Air finals. Those finals return to Kite Beach, Bloubergstrand, with a waiting window of 21 November to 6 December 2026. Sadek's post gives a detailed account of how the women's final was decided. No official heat-by-heat scores or rule text had been published in the material available to us.
Who won the King of the Air Taiwan Qualifier
Alessa Sophia Mensch won the women's division and Hugo Wigglesworth won the men's, according to Red Bull's event page. Red Bull Taiwan's report says Mensch beat Sadek to the women's title with steady high rotation jumps.
- Women's 1st: Alessa Sophia Mensch (GER), per Red Bull
- Women's 2nd: Sarah Sadek (EGY), per Sadek's Instagram post
- Women's 3rd: Francesca Maini, per Sadek's Instagram post
- Men's winner: Hugo Wigglesworth, per Red Bull
- Venue: Hsinchu, launching from Nanliao Fishing Harbour
- Weather window: 21 to 26 October 2026
- Cape Town finals waiting window: 21 November to 6 December 2026
Mensch's win came on short preparation. Red Bull Taiwan writes that she had been injured for a long time and did her first practice after returning the day before the competition. Sadek congratulated her in the post for "taking 1st place and securing her ticket to King of the Air" and credited Maini with third.
The men's final turned late. Sportz.im reported that Red Bull athlete Finn Flüge led with jumps scored 8 and 8.2, and that Wigglesworth overtook him with a high-scoring jump before the end. No full men's ranking was available.
How Sarah Sadek's competition unfolded
Sadek describes two competition days with very different wind, and three kite sizes. She wrote that she was "riding Typhoon Champi". That reference could not be verified.
Day one on the 5m Thrive
Sadek wrote that the first day brought "some seriously strong wind" and that she went straight into her heat on her 5m Thrive "without ever having ridden at the spot before". She says she landed a double loop scored 8.0, which she calls the highest trick score across all the women's heats.
Semifinal on the 6m
The wind was "much lighter than expected" on day two, according to Sadek. She rode her semifinal on a 6m Thrive and lists a backroll boardoff, a boardoff, late backs and contra boogies. She says that heat was the highest heat score of the entire competition. Both scoring claims rest on her post alone.
Final on the 7m
For the final Sadek moved up to her 7m Thrive and was "still underpowered", but she says she landed all her tricks. For reference, retailer MacKiteboarding lists the Thrive wind ranges as 24 to 45 knots for the 5m, 23 to 41 knots for the 6m and 21 to 38 knots for the 7m.
How variety scoring decided the women's final
Sadek puts second place down to the new variety scoring system and her own reading of it. She wrote that with the light wind and no real height, she "didn't think we'd reach the 6.5 points needed for variety to count", so she focused on bigger tricks to the left rather than trying something to the right.
Sadek chose bigger tricks to the left over a trick to the right, and the variety points went elsewhere.
"Turns out that wasn't the best strategy," she wrote. "But that's competition, and I'm taking it as a lesson." She added that she knows what to train next: "getting some bigger tricks to the right into my pocket so I can collect those variety points next time".
Red Bull's published material, as available to us, does not set out the variety rule or the 6.5-point threshold. Sadek's description is the only account of how it works, and it should be read as her explanation.
Hsinchu's first King of the Air qualifier
The Red Bull King of the Air Qualifier was held in Hsinchu for the first time, Red Bull says, launching from Nanliao Fishing Harbour, home to the International Kite Arena. Red Bull's press material refers to the introduction of the qualifier event in 2025 and says riders will once again be given the chance to earn a golden ticket to the finals this year.
The international event page says the competition was greenlit at the start of the weather window. Sadek's own account covers two days.
How riders got in
The women's division had six riders, according to Red Bull. Five qualified directly through a Video Contest based on the overall ranking, and one more spot was awarded through the Women's Challenge Heat. Riders could submit their best 60-second video from 6 August to 6 September 2026, and the full line-up was revealed on 15 September 2026.
Red Bull's line-up page lists the women as including Sarah Sadek (EGY), Alessa Sophia Mensch (GER), Francesca Maini (ENG), Eszter Nagy, Gisela Pulido Borrell and Lana Herman.
Sadek thanked Red Bull Taiwan for its hospitality and "the opportunity to kite at this incredible secret spot", and called Taiwan "a hidden gem".
The riders on the women's podium
Sadek's GKA Kite World Tour profile lists her as a 30-year-old Big Air rider from Egypt, sponsored by Harlem Kitesurfing, with Babybay in Dahab as her home spot. Harlem announced her arrival as "a Big Air talent from Dahab, Egypt". Our athlete records list her as a semifinalist at the first women's Red Bull Megaloop and a direct semifinalist at Lords of Tram 2025.
Naish's team rider page describes Mensch as a Big Air rider from Germany living in South Africa, with Cape Town listed as her home spot. The finals she has qualified for are in Cape Town.
Maini won the first women's division at Red Bull King of the Air in 2024, as her North rider page states. She also holds the GKA Rookie of the Year award. Red Bull's press material for this year's events says the defending champions, Andrea Principi and Maini, return to Cape Town.
Did Sarah Sadek qualify for King of the Air Cape Town
Nothing in the material confirms a Cape Town spot for Sadek. Red Bull names Mensch as the women's rider who secured a place from Taiwan. Red Bull's FAQ for the qualifier says the final list of confirmed riders for the 2026 Cape Town finale will be confirmed later this year. The same FAQ lists a video selection from 15 September to 15 October 2026, with a rider line-up announcement set for 30 October 2026.
Sadek closed her post with "Can't wait for the next one". Mensch now heads to Kite Beach, Bloubergstrand, where the waiting window opens on 21 November.
