About Xantos Villegas

Xantos Villegas is a kite foil racer from La Paz, Mexico, currently aiming to represent Mexico in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for kiteboarding.  This quest has taken him to 18 kite racing competitions globally in 2018 alone, and earned the Gold Medal for kiteboarding at the 2018 Central American Games (Centroamericanos) in Barranquilla, Colombia - the first gold medal to be given out in the Olympic era for kiteboarding.  The next stop on his journey to the Olympics is the 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru.
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"The feeling from hydrofoiling is like you are flying all the time.  There is no other feeling in the world" - Xantos Villegas

His passion for racing started when he was 6 years old, when he received his first go-kart.  Within two years, he became a state champion and has lead him to pursue racing in every sport he takes on.  At age 10, Xantos took on two new sports, sailing and windsurfing, which taught him sailing strategy along with wind and water navigation that would later be used in kite racing.  Throughout his teenage years, he competed in countless sailing regattas, went 3 times to the National windsurfing regatta, and 4 times to the state windsurfing championships.  During the National windsurfing Championships in 2006, Xantos took 3rd place.  At age 20, Xantos took on kitesurfing and entered his first kite race in 2011 using the 70cm formula race board. 

In February of 2015, Xantos completed a long distance trip of 83 nautical miles on his kitefoil, traveling from La Paz to La Ventana.  The trip took approximately 5 hours and set what is believed to be a record for the Baja peninsula for long distance kiteboarding.

Xantos’ mission in life is to inspire the next generation of kiteboarding athletes to pursue their dreams and is committed to representing Latin America on the world circuit and showing the huge opportunity for adventure sports in those countries.

His passion for sharing his knowledge around the sport is why he has been coaching for 9 years and developed the 4Elements Kiteboarding methods for teaching, a combination of maximizing water time with real time coaching feedback that accelerates skill progression.  As an IKO level 2 certified instructor, he combines advanced progression techniques with his extensive knowledge as a professional athlete.  The 4Elements Kiteboarding kite center operates from La Ventana, Mexico, where he spends 6 months out of the year to train and to coach others.

Xantos also founded La Ventana WindFest, with the purpose to bring together the kiting community of all ages and skill levels to have fun in a multi-day event, and to help promote the local businesses that depend on visitors to the area.  It is one more way Xantos aims to inspire the next generation of youth to join kiteboarding.

Hometown:  Guadalajara, Mexico
Currently Lives:  La Paz, BCS, Mexico
DOB:  Jan 7, 1986
Owner of 4Elements Kiteboarding, La Ventana, Mexico
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See what Xantos is doing now: