By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda’s kiteboarding athlete, Tiger Tyson, grabbed a second place finish in the pro division of the Caribbean Foiling Championships held in St Martin over the weekend.
Tyson, who suffered a setback on Saturday’s opening day when he crashed and split his helmet in two, rebounded on Sunday to grab a top three finish, but surrendered the title he had won the year before.
He finished second in the races on Saturday, beaten only by St Martin’s Julien Quentel who overtook the Antiguan following his crash. Nell de Jaham was third in the races category.
Tyson, for a second time, had to settle for the number two position behind Quentel on day two when they competed in the Around the Island Race. France’s Mahe Stakelborough was third in that category.
Speaking with Observer media following the championships, Tyson expressed some disappointment in not being able to defend his title, but said he was happy he didn’t walk away empty handed.
“Every race we had was between me and the guy who came first [Quentel] and he is a local in St Martin so he had home advantage, so every race we were in like meters of each other. Sometimes, we were less than a second crossing the finish line and almost every race was like that. I am not too disappointed because it was a really good practice racing like that because we’re pushing 100 percent the whole time,” he said.
The athlete, who landed in Antigua on Monday, said he will take some time to relax ahead of his next competition slated for January.
“Now I have a month at home so I want to relax a bit because it’s been a pretty full year. I am going to be doing a little bit of training, working a little bit and saving myself for the next event which is at the end of January in Florida,” he said.
Last week, Tyson wrapped up his Kite Foil World Series campaign with a ninth place finish in the final race of the series held in the Canary Islands, landing Antigua and Barbuda sixth overall in the competition.