New Zealand kiteboarding champion Marc Jacobs has ended his first full professional season with another consistent display, this time at the Brazilian round of the world tour.

The 21-year-old Mount Maunganui rider grabbed another podium finish, placing third in the single elimination freestyle and fourth overall.

Marc Jacobs. Photo: Toby Bromwich/PKRA.

It's his third consecutive fourth-placing on the tour and has cemented his spot at fourth in the world rankings.

After toppling Austrian Stefan Spiessberger and world number five Tom Hebert (France) in the early rounds, Marc then struck the ultimate challenge, lining up against world number one Youri Zoon of Holland.

'Competing against Youri is always a massive challenge,” says Marc.

'He's just on fire this year and you really have to perform at your very best to even come close.

'I had a pretty solid heat but his execution and clean landings gave him the win.”

In the double elimination finals at Brazil's Rio Grande Do Norte, Jacobs kept a high-risk approach going.

'I was trying to land every trick by going as big as I could and with my kite low as possible doing this, I was taking a lot of risks – it either works outing rewards you with a win or it goes completely wrong, like it did for me in my heat against Brazilian champ Carlos Madson. I crashed a lot during our heat and I ended up cracking my board.”

Unfortunately, the Brazilian leg of the world tour looks like being the last of the season, with further rounds in New Caledonia and Australia in doubt.

It leaves Jacobs unable to press his claims more with a best result of second at the season-opening world cup round in Thailand earlier this year.

'Overall I'm very pleased with my overall ranking of fourth in the world, especially as it was my first full year on the tour.

'I've got a good perspective now of how the tour works and I'll have all summer to train for next year, when I'll be having a serious crack at the title.”