An overview of the six sections:

Section 1: This year, the UNIT pool will undergo the biggest reconstruction in LAO’s history. A low-to-high ledge will be placed on the right rail, enabling a huge drop. In front of the pool is a booter for tricks in the pool. To the side is a kicker that allows a line onto an add-on rail and then onto the left-hand down rail of the pool. There is no shortage of different lines.

Section 2: As in previous years, there is one UNIT-L kicker on the right and one on the left. At this point, riders have to weigh up exactly how much risk they are taking so early in the run.

Section 3: In the air trick section, judges and spectators can look forward to big inverts. Alternatively, the riders have a real transformer at their disposal, which is made up of five different features.

Section 4: The Liquid Force section on the left consists of the legendary UNIT skatebox, which has been rotated 180° and is equipped with blue plastic barrels. On the right is a Rooftop Nico Hack, which can already be ridden in Langenfeld. Only the add-on rail on the rooftop will follow for the contest.

Section 5: In the FOLLOW section, there is a corrugated tube with step-down on the left. The UNIT features, which form the base of this hack, enable further step-up lines. Opposite on the right-hand side is an up-flat creeper + street series hack. This is also already available for public use in Langenfeld.

Section 6: As usual, the NISSAN section forms the finale. The kicker to corrugated pipe will demand everything from the riders’ concentration – this last hit is often decisive. Alternatively, there is an up-rail to box hack on the left – also already open to the public.

The starting field is once again impressive

Top international riders have once again registered for LAO this year–here is a small selection of the 60 riders in total:

The schedule so you don’t miss anything

Spectator tickets for on site can already be booked on the website of Wasserski Langenfeld. Adults pay €12.00 (incl. party), tickets for children and teenagers cost €6.00.

To get you in the mood, here are a few pictures from last year!

The best thing is to experience the action live and up close. If that’s not possible for you, there will of course be another opportunity to follow everyone via livestream. More on this in due course!

Respect to the crew from Langenfeld, who are once again conjuring up one of the big highlights of the contest season. So important for the riders, the community and wakeboard culture in general!

All photos: Lehnert