Laurent “Lolo BSD” Guyot mainly trains at his home spot, Lautaret Pass, in the French Alps and Serre Chevalier Valley. Sometimes he travels to other snow kite spots to explore mixed terrain and snow conditions.
In 2014, Lolo reached 2nd place at the world SKM freestyle and won the French championship title – his biggest achievement! Since then, he ended up in second place on the SKM and French championship podiums. His main goal was to win the World SnowKite Masters and regain the French champion title 🏂🪁🥇
“The first time I competed at SKM was in 2011. Back in the day, I was a rookie in snowkite freestyle. Year after year, I progressed. I trained a lot to push my level. My goal was to become one of the world’s top freestyle snowkiter.”
Will his nonstop training with pure dedication over a decade, from 2014 to 2024, finally pay off?
“I was pushing myself in freestyle and big air, felt super motivated, and 100% focused on my riding. I was determined to make it to the next level and finally take the win 💪🏽 I was focused on showing a new world’s first trick, the snowboard off 🤟🏽 and knew this trick would change the game in snowkite freestyle.”
SKM competition day
On the 3rd of February 2024, the wind was blowing around 12-15 knots, riders meeting at 9:30 am, and competing started at 10 am.
Judging criteria: height, power, speed, style. The judges score all the tricks on a scale from 0 to 10. They count each rider’s three best big air and freestyle tricks.
“I was ready to rock the spot. Let’s go! I knew I had to land my best tricks to qualify straight to the finals.”
Lolo watched the other guys’ heats; his competitors were boosting great big air and freestyle tricks, especially his main rivals, Didier Botta, Simone Borgi, and Guillaume Chastagnol, who showed up on form. He advanced straight to the finals by winning his round, waiting to face Chastagnol and Botta.
“We had a 15-minute heat to show our best tricks to the judges. I was feeling good and ready to boost my bigger tricks! 720 front one footer, then 1080 switch front tail grab with enormous height, then going in the kicker for a toe-side 720 indy grab to toe-side. Then I had to go for my freestyle tricks. I took full speed on the flat area to pop a massive s-bend to blind, then I went uphill, bringing speed and boosting a powerful unhooked front roll kite loop. Then I went back downhill with maximum speed again to send it with a radical double s-bend with perfect kite position.”
Lolo had landed three big air and three freestyle tricks and was confident for the ultimate push.
“I went uphill, unlocked my Flow bindings Hiback, ready to show the judges and spectators a world first 🏔🏂🪁🤟🏽!”
He chose the steepest line of the mountain and aimed for the perfect takeoff to lock in a long glide, grabbing the handle on his snowboard to showcase the first snowboard-off in SKM history.
“I was flying in the sky in front of the judges with my snowboard in one hand and legs free in the air! They all screamed in excitement, a crazy moment I will never forget! Haha 🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🏔🏂🪁 I landed perfectly 150 m away. I finished my heat with a few other big air and freestyle tricks, and I knew I had put a great final heat. Was it the day I would win the World SnowKite Masters after one decade of hard training?“
The prize giving was at 9 pm at “Le Chazelay” bar club. Everybody was there for the podium ceremony, but nobody knew the results. Head judge Emiel Rense took the microphone to announce the winners in each category (ski, snowboard, women, and men).
“When the moment arrived, announcing SKM 2024 freestyle snowboard men, at 3rd place Guillaume Chastagnol, 2nd place Didier Botta, and I couldn’t believe it… in 1st place Laurent Guyot 🏂🪁🥇😁🤟🏽🥳 After dedicating my life for over a decade for this sport, I finally reached my goal! I’m super STOKED!! I’m the new world snowkite snowboard freestyle champion and the new French champion 🏂🪁🤟🏽😁.”
For us, it’s the first time in World SnowKite Masters history that a FLYSURFER rider wins the World SKM in the snowboard freestyle category. Laurent used his beloved SOUL2 15 m during the whole competition. He is an ambassador for the local tourism agency and runs his legendary BSD Snowkite camps during winter. Get more information about his camps by following the links. Apply and learn from the best as well as demo the latest FLYSURFER equipment.
You Tube: lolo BSD
BSD SNOWKITE CAMP WINTER 23/24
Instagram: lolo BSD (@laurentguyot_lolobsd)
Congratulations Lolo 🏆
📸 Photos:
SKM 2024 / Bertrand Boone
SKM 2024 / Wareck Arnaud