Frenchman Axel Mazella clinched victory in specularly close racing, in tricky conditions, on the final day of the KiteFoil World Series Traunsee, in Austria, fought out against a dramatic mountain backdrop.

But to take the trophy, Mazella had to see off stiff challenges from rivals that ensured he had to share the bullets from closing day’s eight races with four other competitors who pushed him all the way.

Just a week after Mazella seized the Formula Kite European championships crown, the 24-year-old took the podium’s top step and a share of the €15,000 prize money in the globe-trotting tour’s second act hosted by the UPPER AUSTRIA KiteFoil Grand Prix.

With victory in Austria, Mazella climbs to the top of the World Series’ standings, after he earned a second place at the first act in Gizzeria, Italy, in July. The upcoming stop, off Cagliari’s Poetto beach in Sardinia, next month, is one of three further events that will decide the International Kiteboarding Association's (IKA) KiteFoil world champions.

“I’m really happy,” said Mazella. “It’s sweeter because the conditions were really difficult. The wind was so gusty. It shifted a lot over the racing. So, any strategy was extremely difficult and I just tried to go as fast as possible. It was like playing poker. I’m overall tour leader, but for sure there’s a long way to go.”

The climactic fourth day of the UPPER AUSTRIA KiteFoil Grand Prix, sponsored by Upper Austria Tourism and Raiffeissenbank, finally delivered the classic conditions the strikingly-scenic lake is renowned for.

After the regatta’s first three windless days, when no racing was possible, the north-easterly thermal developed early, from around 10kts, building to 14kts, blowing over the flat fresh waters. Perfect conditions for high-octane kitefoil racing.

Thirty-one of the world’s fastest racers, 23 men and 8 women from 15 countries, had journeyed to the picture-postcard village of Rindbach, Ebensee, to fight for the prize. After the frustrations of waiting for the wind, all were stoked to battle in the last day’s eight short, sharp races.