Gisela Pulido: The child prodigy who has lived up to her billing

After all, the 30-year-old from Premiá de Mar, near Barcelona, has seen it all on a kiteboard.

A child prodigy who became a multiple world champion in freestyle, it is impossible to tell the story of kitesurfing without Pulido.

 

Starting young

Pulido was just eight years old when she first started kiteboarding and very quickly rose to the top of her sport.

At the age of 10 she was crowned world champion, setting a Guinness World Record as the youngest-ever female world champion in the sport.

To pursue her dream of succeeding at the highest level, Pulido left her home in Premiá de Mar, heading to the Tarifa, at the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula.

She moved with her father, leaving the rest of her family behind in Catalonia, and admits that the early period after arriving in Tarifa was not easy.

 

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She said: “I was 10 years old and to leave my family was very difficult. But I think it was even harder on my dad because he had to take all the pressure on him.”

It was her father who had inspired to pick up the sport.

She added: “I always saw him flying and surfing on the sea, and I saw how much fun he was having. I asked him if he would teach me, he told me that I was crazy but in the end I convinced him to buy me a small foil of three metres and I began to practise on the sand.

“One day I asked if I could go and practise on the water. My father put the harness on me and I started sailing.”

 

Global recognition

While coming to terms with being away from family, particularly her mother and her grandfather, was not easy, Pulido continued to thrive in her sport.

Whether it was the Gravity Games in Perth, or another world title in New Caledonia, she proved unstoppable in kitesurfing, focusing on the freestyle discipline.

The podiums and silverware earned her sponsorship deals with Red Bull and Movistar, while at 13 she became the youngest ever nominee for a prestigious Laureus award.

 

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There, she met Spanish sporting legends golfer Seve Ballesteros and cyclist Miguel Indurain as well as the American 400m hurdler Edwin Moses.

It was only in 2012, just after turning 18, that Pulido saw her streak of world titles broken and soon after she decided it was time for a change.

 

Staying power

Pulido’s father stopped as her trainer in 2015 and she took a break from the sport to explore the world.

She has since returned to kitesurfing, however, competing in Formula Kite ahead of its introduction to the Olympics at Paris 2024. That has meant a significant adjustment.

From the acrobatics of freestyle kitesurfing, to the speed required in racing, Pulido has had to learn a whole new set of skills, while her slight frame has proven an obstacle where the top riders in the fleet are often 20kg heavier than her.

“Changing from freestyle to racing was a big challenge,” she said.

Despite the challenge of changing discipline, Pulido quickly found her feet, winning bronze at the 2022 European Championships, while her sixth-place finish in the same event the following year in Portsmouth earned a women’s kite quota spot at the Olympics by finishing sixth.

 

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That followed a 16th-place finish at the World Championships in the Hague, with Pulido having to recover from illness to take her opportunity at the Europeans.

Speaking to The Edge podcast, she said: “It was one of the most difficult competitions for me because we had just had the World Championships in August and I didn’t qualify the country then because it was a tough event for me.

“Two weeks after we had the European Championships and only one spot given to the Olympics. They gave eight spots at the Worlds and one more at the Europeans. Coming from a bad event with a bad mindset, after two weeks, I went to the European Championships, where I had to qualify and where I had to fight with so many other girls who wanted the spot.

“I got sick the week before, I got a flu and after a big, important competition, your immune system goes down, and I got sick after the Worlds.”

Despite that sickness, Pulido did enough to secure a spot for Spain, and is now set to achieve an Olympic dream that has been present for more than two decades.

 

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She added: “I’ve been dreaming of going to the Olympics since I was six or seven years old, since I knew they existed.”

The challenge for such a multiple winner is that she is currently not as quick as the likes of home favourite Lauriane Nolot, the reigning world champion, or America’s Daniela Moroz, who previously dominated the sport.

She said: “It’s been really tough and I’m so competitive and I want to be the best and right now, I’m far from being the best. I’m still learning so many things from racing that I don’t know because I’m coming from freestyle. Those challenges make me work a lot.”

Whether Pulido can close the gap by the time Formula Kite makes its debut in Marseille remains to be seen.

But what is certain, is that one of the greatest kiteboarders of all is fittingly taking her place on the biggest stage.