The event started out with women tricks and Erika Lang was first off the dock. With two solid standup passes, Lang set the pace. With the mounting pressure, many skiers tried to perform their hard trick runs, causing some to fall early, such Whitney McClintock and Natalia Cuglievan. Natalia Berdnikava and Giannina Bonnemann both impressive the crowd with stand up runs but Erika held onto the win with 9,240.

Men’s tricks Jimmy Siemers had a stellar performance, rocking two passes but just falling short on his last flip of his hand pass. With 9920 Jimmy left the door open for the next trickers. Siemers was followed by big upsets on early falls from both Pato Font and Franck Desboyaux. Yet, the biggest shock came from World Record Holder Aliaksei Zharnasek, who stumbled early on his 1st pass. Ace was forced to ditch a couple of tricks mid sequence and tried to recover points by adding bigger tricks to the end of his run. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off and even the World Record Holder ended up in the water early. Dorien Llewellyn displayed his consistency with two rock solid runs, only losing one big trick (TWLBB=480pt) and ending up with 9740, just short of Siemers. The final was completed when Aliaksei score came through with 9660, giving him 3rd place. Other notable skiing also came from Martin Labra. The 11-year-old tricked in 6 rounds, standing up every round and improving his score all the way to the end.

In women slalom there seemed to be a traffic jam each round at 2@11. With Karen Truelove,
Manon Costard, Vennesa Vieke all getting a piece of 3 in prelims and semi-rounds, leaving the
question of who would be the one to put the pressure on Whitney McClintock-Rini. In the
finals, Manon stepped up to the plate and posted a score of 2.5 at 11-meters to put some
pressure on Whitney. Whitney had to make sure she would have to get a good start at 11, if she
was going to take out the win. She had been rock solid every round, showing that confidence is
the only way to dominate the Yarra river. Whitney got a good start, but needed to pull all the
way to 3 ball resulting in taking a massive hit to get the full 3 buoy score. This marks Whitney’s
7th Moomba Master Slalom Title, a pretty impressive feat for such a young skier.

After two days of low scoring rounds, the Men’s slalom final was primed for a strong showing on Moomba Monday. Stephen Neveu came out of the gate swinging (both literally and metaphorically). He set the tone with a huge 2 buoys at 10.25 meters, the highest score of the tournament and only one buoy shy of the course record. Young guns Thomas Loft and Joel Poland showed glimpses of excellence during their final sets on the river, but had to settle for scores at 11.25 after unfortunate falls. As the event progressed, the strong tail current on each skier’s first pass was accompanied by an increasing tail wind. Despite valiant efforts from Will Asher, Benjamin Stadlbaur, and defending champion Thomas Degasperi, Neveu held firm to the lead as both Asher and Degasperi came flying by 2 ball at 10.25. The combined speed from the wind and current was simply too much for them to reach the buoy in time. In impressive fashion, Nate Smith’s nerves of steel made him unbeatable once again. Smith looked at ease as he ran 10.75 and strong coming back with a 3 at 10.25. In the end, Benny’s semi-final high score broke the tie with Asher and Degasperi for 3rd, Neveu finished in 2nd, and Smith took home another 1st place victory.

The jump event was a chess games for every competitor in the finals. A strong head wind and head current were accompanied by a high frequency of wind gusts. Experienced skiing was on order and Natalia Berdnikava and Marion Mathieu-Ellis were up to the challenge. Each were able to find their timing for a good jump, with Marion flying 171 ft. and Nati landing 2 feet father with a 173 ft. jump. Jacinta Carroll also struggled with the gusty winds but her brute strength from power lifting paid off with a huge leap of 187feet.

The conditions continued to change sporadically as the men took to the water. With the timing for the turn to the ramp already being difficult on the Yarra, many jumpers only were able to get one good jump on the board. Felipe Miranda even elected to pass on his final two jumps, his first jump of 213 ft. being his only score. Yet that is the beauty of the jump event, you only need everything to fall into place once!

The rivalry of Freddy Krueger and Ryan Dodd continued to intensify every day. Freddy’s normal fashion would be to knock one out of the park on his 1st jump but he failed to find his rhythm on his first two jumps of the finals. Still missing some speed but getting his legs on his 3rd, Freddy left the door open for Dodd. Still, 217 ft. is respectable jump. Ryan tried to ease into his jump set for a smooth controlled win, but he came up short twice, realizing that it was not so easy out on the water. With everything on the line and one jump, Ryan came into the bottom of the ramp with tons of speed and booted a 225 ft. jump for one incredible final.

But wait, it’s not over, night jump is on. Top 6, Claudio Kostenberger, Scott Ellis, Rodrigo and Felipe Miranda, and of course Freddy and Ryan all begin with 3 jumps in the dark off a 5.6 ft ramp. Felipe, Ryan and Freddy all posted solid scores and were able to move onto the next two jump round. Ryan and Freddy would get one more chance to challenge each other as they proved to be the last two left standing for the one jump, head to head finals. Freddy was on the water first and nailed a 216 for redemption from day jump. Ryan dug deep and once again had crazy speed into the bottom of the ramp, but couldn’t find his legs and came up short with 204.

The Moomba Masters never leaves the crowd disappointed. This event is like no other in the world. With skyscrapers in the background and crowds in excesses of 15,000 sitting on the banks of the Yarra River each day, skiers from around the world consider it one of the best, if not the best, events every year. Crowds are memorized by the breath-taking performance from the greatest skiers and wakeboarders on the planet. If you are a water sports enthusiast, Moomba is one event you must put on you bucket list. Melbourne is one incredible city and the Australians are some of the friendliest people on the planet. So plan now to join us next year at the 2019 Moomba Masters!

For more results, stories and profiles of your favorite athletes, go to www.worldwaterskiers.com

Plenty of action was on the menu this Sunday for the Semi-finals day of the Moomba International presented by Nautique. Big names went down in Slalom, new faces made big statements, and jumpers posted both big scores and scary moments.

In Women’s tricks, Yarra newcomer Giannina Bonnemann laid down two stand up passes, finishing with a score of 8980 to take the lead into the final day of competition. On upset alert was former world record holder Erika Lang, who fell only four flips into her hands run. In an unusual turn of events for her, Lang had to rely on her toe pass to make it through to the finals. She was able to stand up her second pass and grab the final spot heading into Moomba Monday.

In the Men’s event, Ace once again was unstoppable. Even while missing a couple tricks in his run, he is in the lead heading into the finals. The big story of Men’s tricks was the emergence of young 11-year- old Martin Labra, who may have just become the youngest finalist of all time at a Moomba Masters (no source was used in this statement). The eight men making it through to the final all could make a good run at the title, but in the end, its Ace’s day to lose.

Men’s jump featured the classic jumping giants against each other. Ryan Dodd and Freddy Krueger are only adding fuel to their ever growing rivalry. Their back and forth
competition is leaving the spectators on their seats at every jump. Joshua Wallent proved himself very well in the semi-finals, posting a new personal best of 62.3 meters to finish 7 th andqualifying for the finals tomorrow.

In the Night Jump event, Claudio Kostenberger made up for his mistakes in the day jump, not making it through the semis, by securing one of six spots in the final Monday night. Yet once again, the event turned into Canada vs. the USA, Dodd vs. Krueger. The two were joined by Igor Morozoff in the second round of the heat, but in the end, the final one jump round was down to the two rivals. Dodd jumped first, posting a score of 66.5 meters. Despite soaring for the longest jump of the entire event only moments before in the second round of the heat jump off with a 68.6 meter jump, Freddy did not get a hold of his one jump, ending with a distance of 61.9. Dodd took this round, but come tomorrow, everything will begin again for the two. Be sure not to miss it!

The final day of competition will run all of Monday.

Just when you think the upsets have already happened, the Yarra river reminds you who’s boss. The Men’s semi-final action has just ended and a couple of the biggest names in the sport have fallen out of competition. Corey Vaughn, Nick Adams, Joel Howley, and Felipe Miranda all fell early and have failed to advance to the final round. Howley will be especially disappointed after such a strong showing last night at the night slalom, where he tied Nate Smith for the win.

Yarra Rookie sensation Joel Poland was first on the water and smashed his way into the finals with a score of 2 at the 10.75-meter line, a quality score on the river for even the best in the world. Several skiers came and went before Benjamin Stadlbaur finally took the reins from Poland with 3 at the 10.75 and held the lead all the way through the event. Thomas Loft of Denmark also showed poise on the water, improving by a quarter buoy to 4 ¼ at 11.25.

The final results saw Stadlbaur, Poland, and Loft joined by Nate Smith, Will Asher, Jon Travers, defending Moomba champ Thomas Degasperi, and Stephen Neveu. The finals will be held at 2:30 AEST and is sure to hold much excitement as well, so don’t miss a moment!

When things go wrong on the Yarra, there is a special saying the Pros like to use to explain what happened. It’s a very short and simple phrase, yet it inspires a shake of the head and a smile every time it is uttered.

“Welcome to Moomba.”

Although many of the veteran skiers were able to control the variables and the ever-changing conditions of the Yarra River, others fell to its traps. The most notable upset of the day was the “Bear”, Freddie Winter. Winter unfortunately had an equipment malfunction, causing him to eject from his binding at the first buoy at the 11-meter line length. He finished one spot out from the finals. Right behind him were two Moomba rookies, Dorien Llewellyn and Mario Mustafa, who both were a bit shell shocked by the difficult conditions. Mustafa seemed surprised, saying, “last night [for night slalom] I felt really good, but when I got out there today it was a completely different feeling”. Yet standout performances came from two of the youngest competitors of the day, namely Joel Poland and Jack Christie. Poland, another rookie on the river, was able to run 1 ½ buoys at the 11-meter line length, finishing just in front of Freddie Winter, and Christie, only 17 years of age, impressed many with 3 at 11-meters.

The trick preliminaries also proved difficult, with scores coming in lower than some skiers would have expected. Yet the dominance of Aliaksei Zharnasek continued, as “Ace” finished as the top seed heading into the semi-finals. Pato Font, who just won Jr. Moomba two days ago, also continued his own pattern of consistency, throwing down a huge score of 10,610 points to grab the second spot behind Ace.

The Women’s semi-finals in slalom was a fight for one of 6 spots for the final. Whitney McClintock-Rini showed her confidence on the river, posting the same score from the preliminary round with 4 at 11. Alexandra Garcia made a big statement with a score of 1 at 11 meters. Not only a Jr. skier, but also a rookie on the river, she showed maturity beyond her years, grabbing the 6th spot into the finals on Monday.

The hometown hero, Joel Howley, brought the crowd to their feet during the night slalom event, tying for the lead with the ever-present Nate Smith. Both Howley and Smith tapped out the maximum of 4 allotted passes, running 6 buoys at the 10.75-meter rope length. Facing off in a head to head tie breaker, both men had the chance to break the course record at 10.25-meters. Once again Smith and Howley tied with 2.5 buoys and the event ended with two victors.

The final event was the second heat of the Men’s Night Jump. Proving their positions on the rankings, the top 3 seeded skiers, Dorien Llewellyn, Emille Ritter, and Rodrigo Miranda, all moved into the second round. Dorien jumped first, posting a score of 194 ft, which he didn’t think was enough to make the final round. Yet on his second jump, Ritter unfortunately crashed, leaving Miranda and Llewellyn in the one jump final round. Once again, Dorien was first on the water and going for broke, landed a 197 ft. jump. Miranda also took a big cut at the ramp, but wasn’t able to hold direction. Slipping off the top of the ramp, Miranda landed short and Dorien lifted his ski up in triumph. A big win for this first time Moomba Night Jump competitor.   

Big action today, with the semi-finals in Men’s slalom, Women & Men Tricks, and Women & Men Jump. Tonight the big names hit the ramp, vying for a spot into Moomba Night Jump finals.

Check out all the Live webcast @

The Yarra claims it’s victims once again at this year’s Moomba Masters in Melbourne Australia. The weather was ideal and the river was as good as it could possibly be. Still some incredible skiing from the best skiers in the world in competing for the prestigious Moomba Masters title.

Whitney McClintock showed her confidence on the river and took out the top spot for the women’s slalom. Australia’s Jacinta Carroll is still on fire setting a new course record which was previously hers at 56.7m. She sets the new course record at 57.5m which she will be gunning for in each and every round to take out the crown.

On Freddy Krueger’s first attempt, he went straight out the front with the incredible role to save himself – almost landing in skiing position. Incredibly Freddy follows up with a 68.5m to take away the top position over Canada’s Ryan Dodd. After Freddy crashing in front of Ryan, Ryan takes it easy to feel out the river giving it the respect it deserves. The next round should be an all out battle.

The first round of night jump was an incredible spectacle. In total darkness and with fireworks going on during some of the event, Jacinta Carroll skiing against the men takes out the win for the night.

 

Check out Tournament Page with all the results a link to the live webcast and check out all the photos on our Facebook page.

We are one day away from the start of one of the biggest tournaments of the year, the Moomba Masters. Skiers from all over the world rave about Moomba, describing it as one of the greatest events ever in our sport. The event will take place during the Moomba Festival in downtown Melbourne, Australia, which only serves to multiply the crowd on shore. Every year thousands of people come to watch the skiing, with predictions shooting into over two hundred thousand spectators over the course of the week.

Moomba not only features the best professional skiers on the planet, but also some of the greatest junior talent as well. The beauty of the event comes from these young skiers being able to compete in the same environment as their idols, only igniting their passions even more. The junior events begin tomorrow, Wednesday, March 7 and will finish on Friday, March 9. Junior Moomba will have skiers vying for titles in Slalom, Trick, Jump, and the prestigious Overall crown.

The professional skiers will begin their tournament on the final day of the junior competition. The first day will be filled with the lower seeds in slalom along with all of the Men and Women Jumpers. The day finishes off with series 3 of Night Jump, which all viewers should be excited for as Australia’s own Jacinta Carroll will be competing for a place in the finals alongside the men. Knowing Jacinta, her odds are pretty good.

The second day focuses on the Men and Women trick skiers, along with some higher seeded slalom skiers as well. Once again the day finished with Night Jump, this time being series 2, and also Men’s night slalom.

Sunday, March 11, is highlighted by all of the semi finals for each event. The night events for Sunday are the top seeded jumpers and a wakeboard night competition. The series 1 night jump will pit World Champion Ryan Dodd against 6 of the best jumpers from around the world.

Finals day will be Monday, March 12, which the skiers have come to know as “Moomba Monday”. The day begins with the Trick Finals at 11:20 AEST, then moving to Slalom at roughly 1:25 AEST, before the Jump finals at 3:30 AEST. The day will wind down with the Wakeboard finals, followed by the Night Jump Finals, which will begin at 8 AEST.

Moomba will be broadcasted on a live webcast every day and live scoring will be down on World Water Skiers. The WWS also holds important information, such as the entire event schedule and the scores from each event, Junior and Open alike. With so much excitement right around the corner, be sure to keep yourself updated so that you don’t miss out on a single moment!

#WorldWaterskiers

#moombaMasters

Just like that, the first event of the 2018 season has come to an end. The final day of competition brought great weather and solid skiing. Men’s slalom was filled with excitement, with a couple big crashes and multiple skiers running deep into the 10.25-meter line.

Freddie Winter started off the trend with 3.5 buoys at 10.25. Winter was only the second skier on the water, giving the rest of the field a big challenge to surpass his score. Will Asher was first, finessing his way through 10.25 before barely missing 6 ball, leaving him in the lead. Asher would hold the lead despite valiant efforts from the rest of the field, including a 2 at 10.25 from Nick Adams and Stephen Neveu’s score of 3 at 10.25. In the end, Nate Smith, last off the dock, displayed nerves of steel running 5 ½ buoys at 10.25.

Women’s Overall took a dramatic turn during the trick event. While all three women put up quality slalom scores, Giannina Bonneman had an early fall in her second trick pass, her hands pass. Giannina fell on third 540, the handle just slipping through her hands as she completed the spin. Jacinta Carroll took full advantage of the opportunity, moving up into 2nd place. Meanwhile, Natalia Berdnikava held firm to her position as Overall favorite, winning the event on her first jump.

On the contrary, the two-man race for the Men’s Overall title came down to the wire. Despite taking an early lead with wins in both Slalom and Trick, Dorien Llewellyn left the door open open for Joel Poland to make a comeback in Jump. Llewellyn looked solid, yet unsatisfied with his 58.7-meter jump and had to watch Poland chase down a score of 61.9 meters in order to take the title. Poland put up a new personal best of 59.7 the day before and looked to be capable of taking the title. After his second jump of 58.4 meters, the whole event came down to the last jump. The crowd fell silent as Poland came off the top of the ramp, waiting to see whether his jump would be enough. As the score came through, Dorien threw his hands up in triumph and breathed a sigh of relief, he had won the Latrobe City International Overall.

The skiers will take some time off to recuperate before getting back on the water in preparation for the Moomba Masters starting Friday, March 9 through Monday, March 12. Moomba has always been a favorite for skiers all around the world. Be sure to follow all the action here on World Water Skiers and on the web cast.

Trevor Pratt gives a video History Of Latrobe Valley Water Ski Club.

The first day of the 2018 season has been completed. The Pro Slalom Skiers showed some difficulty with the 10.75-meter line. Only Stephen Neveu and Nate Smith were able to complete a full 6 buoys, both running 2 at the 10.25-meter line. Next in the results for Day 1 was a big pile up of skiers with 4 at 10.75 meters. Nine skiers advance to the finals on Day 2.

The Overall event produced some big scores, with Joel Poland of Great Britain accounting for a large percentage of them. Poland tied his personal best in slalom with 4 at the 10.75-meter line, while breaking his best scores in tricks and jump with scores of 10320 and 59.7 meters respectively. His trick score proved to be an unofficial British national record. He finished the day as the leader heading into the finals with Dorien Llewellyn not too far behind in second. With such a great race shaping up it was unfortunately Felipe Miranda did not make it due to visa issues and we hope to see him at Moomba.

In women’s Overall, Natalia Berdnikava put up solid scores in all three events, rounding out the day with the lead. Giannina Bonneman currently sits in second while Jacinta Carroll is in third heading into the final day of competition. With all three girls skiing so strong we will see this race be fierce in the finals.

The day finished off with a three pass slalom challenge, with each competitor only being able to ski three passes regardless if they ran all three. Strategy came into play and saw Benjamin Stadlebauer and Will Asher begin with 12 metes, then opting up to 10.75, before running 3 at 10.25 meters for the win.

The final day of competition is set to begin at 9:15 AEST with Slalom, followed once again by Tricks and finishing the day off with Jump.

For results, tomorrow schedule and link to live webcast – https://worldwaterskiers.com/tournament/18aus316/

The stage is set for the beginning of the 2018 pro Waterski season at the Latrobe Valley Waterski Club on Lake Narracan in Yallourn, Australia. The first event of the year will showcase the top Slalom and Overall skiers from all over the world. In addition to the pros, Australian youth skiers will be competing in a last chance qualifier for an invitation to the prestigious Moomba Masters next weekend in Melbourne, Australia.

Not all of the top skiers were able to arrive for the event. Among them was Felipe Miranda. The reigning World Champion in Overall could only secure a flight to New Zealand before being stopped due to problems with his VISA. The situation should be easily resolved by Moomba, yet his presence will be missed at Latrobe.

Many of the pro skiers have arrived over the last three days and have been getting accustomed to the site. Both veterans and rookies alike have commented on the quality of the lake, which offers a soft feel to the water. Yet, there are some challenges as well. While great scenery, the high rock walls on the end of the lake produce some backwash waves, which are noticed the most in Jump. The pros were not phased in the slightest by any potential challenges as the local club has been instrumental in planning everything down to the optimal boat paths to ensure the best conditions possible. After finishing up on the water, Dorien Llewellyn was tired from jet lag, but in good spirits for the weekend. “I’m just so pumped to be in Australia for the first time,” he said, “I can’t wait to see how everyone is skiing and get back to competing against the best in the World.”

The event begins at 9:15 AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) with Slalom, followed by Tricks, and finishing the day with Jump and a 3 pass slalom challenge.