Katja Roose (born 27 March 1981) is a Dutch female professional kite surfer.

Biography

Early life

Playing with wind and water is something Roose grew up with. Her parents took her out sailing when she was just three weeks old. At her first body drag experience in 2001 she was hooked from the start. When she started competing, she wasn't ambitious at all and was already happy to be performing. Instead of being a "nobody" she seemed to have a talent for the sport. Within a year she had sponsors for her kites, wet suits and other clothing. She won the gold medal in the freestyle kiting competition of the 2003 Dutch Championships and took part in the 2004 King of the Air competition in Ho‘okipa,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, United States, her first international event, finishing fourth.

2005-2008

In 2005, she competed in her first PKRA World Tour organised by the

International Kiteboarding Association The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA), is the only kiteboarding class inside the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). The IKA class rules fall in the category of a development class. History The International Kiteboarding Associ ...

. She fully focused on the competition circuit and within three tour events she claimed a top five ranking, which she kept until the end of the 2005 season. At the same time she studied Technology and Policy at the

Technical University of Eindhoven The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

. She combined the PKRA World Tour season in 2006 with finishing her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. After her studies she wanted to combine her professional kite surfing career with a job outside of sports. She took a job offer from

KPN KPN (in full Koninklijke KPN N.V., also Royal KPN N.V.) is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History Un ...

, a Dutch

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

company and she focused on a new discipline in kite surfing, speed kiting as it is easier to train for in the Netherlands and because it has less competitions during a year. In

Lüderitz Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, includi ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

she set a new Dutch women outright speed record, meaning that she is the fastest Dutch women powered by wind on the water. With 39.56 knots (=73.3 km/h) average over 500 meters she is faster than

windsurfers Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, kite surfers and

sailors A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

2009–present

After two years of freestyle and two years of speed kiting it was time to focus on yet another new discipline. Course racing was a fast-growing discipline and has the opportunity to become an

Olympic sport Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing b ...

in the future. She had always liked to combine speed, tactics and upwind skills, but the opportunity to overtake opponents and to aim to keep them behind got her really excited. In 2011, she wanted to completely focus on her kite surfing and she decided to take a four-month

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

. This paid off in a successive way as she won plenty of competitions including European Championships, North American Championships and PKRA World Tour Championships. She finished 2011 as the number one in the World rankings. In 2012, she won her first World title at the

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

discipline, finishing in front of

Caroline Adrien Caroline Adrien (born 23 December 1987) is a French professional kite surfer. In July 2012 she won the silver medal in the Slalom World Championships, finishing behind Katja Roose, but in front of Kristin Boese. Achievements Source: ;2010 : PK ...

and

Kristin Boese Kristin Boese (born 1 July 1977 in Potsdam) is a German female kite surfer. In 2009, she was shortlisted by the International Sailing Federation for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards. Biography Boese was born in Potsdam, East Germany, ...

Achievements

Source: ;2003 : National Championships ( freestyle) ;2004 :4th King of the Air, Ho‘okipa ( freestyle) ;2005 :4th PKRA World Tour Brazil :5th overall PKRA World Tour ( freestyle) ;2006 : PKRA World Cup ( kite cross) :8th overall PKRA World Tour ( freestyle) ;2007 :1st National Championships ( speed kiting)^ :3rd overall PKRA World Tour ( speed kiting) ;2008 : National Championships ( speed kiting) : European Championships ( speed kiting) : PKRA World Tour Port Saint Louis ( speed kiting) : PKRA World Tour

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the North Africa region, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the northwestern coast of Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNES ...

( speed kiting) : Speed Challenge

( speed kiting) :3rd overall PKRA World Tour ( speed kiting) ;2009 : Open Belgium Championships ( course racing) :5th World Championships ( course racing) :4th European Championships ( course racing) :4th Kite Masters ( course racing) ;2010 :5th World Championships ( course racing) : PKRA World Tour

( course racing) : Open Belgium Championships ( course racing) :4th PKRA World Tour

Sankt Peter-Ording Sankt Peter-Ording () is a popular German seaside spa and a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the only German seaside resort that has a sulphur spring and thus terms itself "North Sea spa and sul ...

( course racing) : Overall Kitesurf Tour Europe ( course racing) : European Championships ( course racing) ;2011 : Open Belgium Championships ( course racing) : PKRA World Tour

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

( course racing) : Open North American Championships ( course racing) : PKRA World Tour

( course racing) :1st National Championships ( course racing)^ : Kitesurf Tour Europe Italy ( course racing) : Kitesurf Tour Europe France ( course racing) : Overall Kitesurf Tour Europe ( course racing) : World Championships ( course racing) : European Championships ( course racing) ;2012 : PKRA World Tour

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

( course racing) : PKRA World Tour Den Haag, Scheveningen ( course racing) : PKRA World Tour

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered around t ...

( course racing) : World Championships Westerland, Germany (

) :^ = unofficial

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roose, Katja 1981 births Living people Dutch kitesurfers Female kitesurfers Dutch sportswomen