Australian rider Andy Yates won the men's freestyle title in the Kiteboarding world championships on Saturday after his rival Kevin Langeree of Netherlands twisted his knee during competition.
Langeree was dominating the final heat but an attempt to execute a blind judge trick in gusty 35-40 knot winds saw him down and out, waving for a jet ski to carry him to shore.
Langeree managed to attend the prize-giving ceremony and said he hoped the injury was not as bad as he feared.
Yates was happy to win but sorry for Langeree's injury. "I put together some good heats against some really tough competitors like Youri Zoon, Alex Pastor and then in the final Kevin injured himself," he said. "That's really unfortunate for him, my condolences are with him. I'm definitely going to take the win, I am really really happy about today."
In the women's freestyle division, Bruna Kajiya of Brazil was the winner, beating Polish rider Karolina Winkowska who had defeated Angela Peral and Gisela Pulido, both of Spain to reach the final.
"The conditions in Fuerteventura are very challenging, like always superstrong wind, gusty," said Kajiya. "But I really like it for some reason. Last year I won here, this year I also won and today was actually super good. I had a good heat, the best I had in a really long time, so conditions are great."
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