The champions received their trophies in the presence of several sporting legends, including Ukrainian Olympic pole vault gold medallist Sergey Bubka and three-time Olympic shooting champion Niccolò Campriani of Italy.

Those honoured included XCAT world champions Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali and aquabike's Quinten Bossche and Daniel Svae Anderen.

At the gala dinner, UIM President Raffaele Chiulli said: "The annual UIM awards giving ceremony and gala dinner is undoubtedly one of the biggest appointments on the international powerboat season calendar.

"We believe in celebrating and honouring the achievements of our world champions and we are proud to share this evening with the distinguished drivers."

In addition to the honouring of the 2017 champions, the UIM also announced Estonians Rasmus Haugasmägi and Stefan Arand as the winners of the driver and junior driver of the Year awards.

The most honourable award given, however, was the UIM Stefano Casiraghi Memorial Trophy, given to Italy's Nicolo di San Germano, in recognition for his 30 years in the sport.

Di San Germano is credited with having played a pioneering role in several powerboat events including F1, aquabike, class one and the Nations Cup.

The gala dinner also saw UIM announce measures to help develop the areas of youth, sustainability, inclusion and equality in the sport.