WELLINGTON water skier Sarah Teelow has made waves at the 2013 World Water Ski Racing Championships at the Canary Islands in Spain after being crowned champion in the Formula 2 category.
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Teelow dominated Formula 2 from the outset winning the first two of four races .
The boat's motor failing at the start line of the third race set Teelow the task of having to at least take second place, within 14 seconds of the winner, in the fourth race to win the championship.
But Teelow bettered this by striking again to come first in the final race claiming the world championship with three out of four race wins.
The talented display from the first-time world champion saw Teelow help her Australian team win all six categories of the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) event.
Australian athletes such as Teelow faced competitors from USA, Austria, Belgium, UK, Spain, Germany and Italy at the championship held once every two years.
Sarah's father, Chris Teelow, said the family was "ecstatic" with his daughter's win after she worked hard to recover from a broken ankle suffered more than 12 months ago.
"Her last operation to get the pins out was 12 months ago," he said.
"When you realise the time and effort that goes into it and for her to ski like she did, it was fantastic."
"She beat the 2011 Formula 2 champion, she ran second to Sarah."
Teelow is the daughter of the sport's two-time world champion Tania Teelow.
"Tania was again ecstatic because she knows the effort it takes," Mr Teelow said.
"It is a motor sport as well so it doesn't always go to plan."
The training session of Sydney-based Teelow leading up to the world championships involved skiing in the ocean off the suburb of Brooklyn three times a week while juggling university study.
Teelow began skiing in 2007 as a 13-year-old at Burrendong Dam and made her first Australian team two years later as a junior placing fourth at the 2009 world championships in Belgium.
According to Chris Teelow the next step in his daughter's sport career would be to start racing in the Formula 1/Opens category.
"During the week in those races she actually came second to the winner of the Formula 1 category," he said.
"It is a big commitment and you have to start planning for the next world title now."
The Opens category is defined by the unrestricted horsepower boat motors can have compared to the 300 horsepower limit in Formula 2.
Teelow arrives home from Europe later this week and will begin preparations for the summer racing season in Australia.
