Austria’s most successful water skier, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, once again brought the international pinnacle of action water sports to Upper Austria in the form of the WWS Salmsee Cup. On July 27 and 28, the best Overall skiers in the World competed in Slalom, Trick, and Jump at the Austrian stop of the World Water Skiers (WWS) Overall Tour in Steyregg. Grebe-Llewellyn and her husband, Jaret Llewellyn, a 9-time World Champion water skier himself, have now organized the event for five years and this year’s event was as exciting as ever. Great Britain’s Joel Poland defended his title from last year against his longtime rival out of Canada, Dorien Llewellyn, who made his return to the WWS Tour after missing all of 2023 due to an ankle injury.

 

 

With ten European Championship titles (in a row), two World Championship titles, and four world records, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn is one of the most successful female water skier of all time. Although the Gmunden native, no longer actively participates in competitions herself, she now shares her experience in athlete management and event organization, which includes putting together the WWS Overall Tour. Having completed the first event in Steyregg, she now sets her sights on the second stop of the tour in Canada, followed by the final two stops in Florida at what many consider to be the two best water ski lakes in the World.

At the WWS Salmsee Cup, the top six Overall skiers in the world battle the conditions and each other to see who was the king in Austria. You see, the special thing about the World Waterski Overall Tour is that the athletes have to prove their skills in the disciplines of slalom, tricks, and jumping, making the battle both one of physical and mental prowess.
The trio of favorites fighting for the title were last year’s tour Champion and World Record holder, Joel Poland, the reigning Overall world champion, Louis Duplon-Fribourg (FRA), and former World Record holder and 2021 World Champion, Dorien Llewellyn (CAN). In addition, Austrian Overall national champion, Alexander Gschiel, from Linz, and vice-national champion, Vincent Ahammer, from Gmunden, faced the international competition as hometown favorites. 

The incredible quality of the high-ranking starter field was evident immediately. Joel Poland led the way, scoring the highest scores in the Slalom and Jump disciplines. Ukrainian, Danylo Filchenko, finished close behind Poland with two personal bests and finished the day with the heights trick score of the day 12,340 in his WWS debut. Rounding out the top 3 was Dorien Llewellyn, who proved that he is inching closer to his best form after his injury break last year. Alexander Gschiel and Vincent Ahammer narrowly missed out on the finals, finishing 7th and 8th respectively, with Gschiel only falling short of Italy’s Edoardo Marenzi by a mere 20 Overall points, which, for example, corresponds to a difference of 0.8m in the jump event. However, both Austrians performed admirably well in the extremely strong field of six of the world’s best riders. 

Finals day started with the slalom competition, which started rainy and windy, but changed into a beautiful day. The men’s final day once again turned into an exciting thriller. Most of the field fought through what seemed like challenging conditions, but Joel Poland

put on a masterclass in slalom, pulling ahead to a commanding lead with 2.5@10.25m, 4.5 buoys ahead of Martin Kolman in second place, and Dorien Llewellyn and Edoardo Marenzi just behind in third. Moving into the trick event, Dorien took the lead with a commanding 11460-point score, which would only be narrowly eclipsed by Poland with a score of 11680, meaning Dorien would have to out-jump Joel by 4.5m to win the event. Louis Duplan-Fribourg would pull into third Overall behind Dorien with 11140 points, leaving Dorien with a 2.5m equivalent lead of Overall points over Louis heading into the jump event. Louis, the first of the three to jump, finished the event with the farthest jump score, namely 62.6m, which was enough to hold the lead in Overall until Dorien’s last jump, which was 61.2m. Finally, after failing to grab the victory from Dorien on his first jump, Poland secured the title with a 60.7m second jump and skied to the dock to the sound of applause from the awestruck audience on the shores of the Salmsee

With a total of 2949.47 points, the current world record holder won the heart-stopping final ahead of Dorien Llewellyn (2846.58) and defended his title from the two previous years. “The conditions were still challenging today due to the wind and everyone skied so well, which made it difficult. But of course, I’m over the moon with my third win here and I just love being here in Austria,” said Poland. In the end, the winner of the 2020 and 2021 Austrian stop, Dorien Llewellyn, was able to move up to second place.  “The competition [for me] was pretty good today, although my performance wasn’t at the same level as before my injury. But I did it cleverly, slalom was good enough, trick was good, but there should be more in there. The same as the jumping, but today I did what I needed. And to beat Joel, you just need super performances. But second place is a great start to the tour,” said, Dorien, delighted with his comeback from injury. Third place went to Frenchman Louis Duplon-Fribourg (2828.16). 

 

Watch The Event Recap Show here!

The first stop of the World Water Skiers Overall Tour burst into action at the WWS Salmsee Cup presented by Gschiel Die-Ausstatter. With a lineup boasting five world champions and two Austrian national champions, the competition for the six spots in the finals was fierce from the start.

World Champion Danylo Filchenko from Ukraine made an impressive debut on the WWS Tour, setting a new personal best of 3@10.75 off the dock, immediately establishing the standard for advancement. Hometown hero Alexander Gschiel followed with a solid 1.5@10.75. Another world champ, Martin Kolman of the Czech Republic, showcased his skill with 2.5@10.75, raising the bar. Edoardo Marenzi from Italy delivered the standout performance of the day with 4@10.75, making a significant mark early on. Canada’s own world champion, Dorien Llewellyn, returning from an ankle injury last year, impressed with a clean 3@10.75. Louis Duplan-Fribourg of France faced a challenging start at 11.25 but managed to pull off 4@11.25, a respectable score to stay in the hunt. Joel Poland of Great Britain, seasoned from numerous pro events this season, topped the scores with a dominant 2.5@10.25.

Danylo continued to impress in the tricks event, achieving a personal best and breaking the 12,000-point mark with 12,340 points. Vinci Ahammer faced setbacks in slalom but rallied in tricks, ultimately falling short with 6,010 points. Alexander maintained consistency with two solid runs but missed crucial tricks, finishing with 8,530 points. Martin showed his dedication to training with 11,520 points, securing second place. Edoardo encountered early challenges but rallied to post 7,030 points. Dorien’s flawless run, though just off his full pace, earned an impressive 11,230 points. Louis recovered from a slow start in slalom and posted a solid 11,280 points. Joel looked solid and clean, like Dorien, not in full gear but still nailing a whopping 11,650 points.

 

In the jump event, the battle intensified between Edoardo and Alexander for the final spot in the finals. Vincent and Alexander started on the 5.6-foot ramp, with Vincent struggling under pressure and landing a disappointing 52.9 meters. Alexander achieved 53.7 meters, leaving the door open for Edoardo. Moving to the 6-foot ramp, Danylo continued to dominate with a 61.8-meter jump. Welcome Danylo to the WWS Tour! Martin followed with a solid 59 meters. Edoardo pushed hard and managed 57.6 meters, enough to edge out Alexander by just 104 points overall, securing the last spot in the finals. Dorien and Louis showcased their jumping prowess with 59.9 meters and 59.8 meters respectively. With the boat struggling to give the power that these jumpers are accustomed to Joel capitalized on his aggressive style with the day’s highest jump score of 62.6 meters.

 

With these six exceptional athletes advancing to the finals, anticipation for the main event soared as they prepared to deliver a memorable performance.

U21 European Men’s Trick Final Results Are In!

Pol Duplan- Fribourg from France takes out the win with a new personal best of 10130.  Teammate Clarens Lavau takes out second place by a narrow margin over Dominic Kuhn of Austria. Both lost a trick each so it came right down to the wire.

 

Presently France is dominating both the men’s and women’s Overall positions – Pol Duplan- Fribourg and teammate Ines Anguenot are in comfortable positions with solid scores and in all 3 finals where they could improve upon their protected scores. There is a tight race for all remains spots so it will be interesting who is standing on the podium tomorrow.

Women Overall Prelims

Men Overall Prelims

Tomorrow the rest of the finals will take place with the women’s slalom finals starting at 9 am.

Please check the schedule tab for a list of all events.

 

Europeans U21 and Disabled

The Europeans are finally here! We want to welcome all participants and spectators to our event. This is a 3 Event tournament featuring the best european skiers under 21 and the best disabled skiers in all age categories. Starting on Wednesday the prelims will be held according to the IWWF schedule and the judges decision according to the weather. Finals will approximately start on thursday with the disabled competions finals in trick. The remaining finals will follow on friday and saturday. For further information please feel free to contact us on site or explore our worldwaterskiers website here.

 

Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, a native of Gmunden, organizes World Waterski Open

With the World Waterski Open, Gmunden native and Austria’s most successful water skier, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, is bringing the international elite of action-packed water sports to Austria for the third time. On August 20 and 21, the best water skiers in the World will compete at Planaseein Fischlham.

FISCHLHAM, GMUNDEN. For the third time, 56-year-old American by choice and native of Gmunden, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, is bringing international top athletes to Austria for a top-class water ski event with the Austria Cup as part of the World Waterski Tour. The event, scheduled for August 20 and 21, is the third stop on a World Tour, whose first stop was in France in early July and the second stop just recently in Canada. In previous years, the crème de la crème of water skiers already showed how exciting and action-packed this type of competition is.

This year, the Austrian stop will once again take place at Planasee in Fischlham. The special thing about this tour? The athletes have to compete in slalom, trick and jumping, and only the combination of these three water skiing disciplines is scored. The top women and men in the world rankings (eight men and four women) will be at the start, the best and most versatile water ski athletes in the world.

Among them the “local matador” and Austria winner of the previous years, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn’s son Dorien Llewellyn, who wants to defend his title. His chances of winning the overall Tour also remain good, as the Austrian-Canadian was able to catch up with an excellent second place at the last stop in Calgary.

“The Austria stop of our Tour is of course the highlight of the year for me. To organize such an event, and then in front of a home crowd and on the great Planasee, where I trained my whole water skiing career and won the European Championships. This lake is just perfect for a competition like this and I am sure we will see again incredible performances of the top 8 water ski athletes in the world there”, organizer Britta Grebe-Llewellyn is looking forward to the Austrian edition of the World Waterski Open.

Spectators and fans will have the opportunity to experience the water action live on site. The competitions will take place on both days from 1 to 6 p.m. with free admission and free beer.

Program: Saturday, August 20 – 1 p.m. slalom, approx. 2:45 p.m. trick, 4:15 p.m. jumping Sunday, August 21. – 2 p.m. slalom, 3 p.m. trick, 4 p.m. jumping, followed by the award ceremony.

 

 

The WWS Austrian Open Did Not Disappoint!

With the World Waterski Open, Austria’s most successful water skier, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, once again brought the international elite of the action-packed water sport to Upper Austria. On August 7 and 8, some of the best of their guild competed in Fischlham in the disciplines slalom, trick and jump. The event was organized for the second time by Britta Grebe and her husband, the multiple world champion and world record holder Jaret Llewellyn. Their son Dorien took part again, who is currently the world’s number two in the Overall. He also showed the strongest nerves and reclaimed the WWS Austrian Open title back to back. In the women’s event, the defending champion from 2020, Giannina Bonnemann, also took the victory.

 

With her ten European Championship titles (in a row) two World Championship titles and four world records, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn was one of the most successful water skiers in the world. Although the native of Gmunden, who has now lived in Florida for 36 years, no longer actively participates in competitions herself, she now shares her experience in athlete management and event organization.

 

The athletes had to prove their skills in the disciplines slalom, trick, and jump. The winner of these three water ski disciplines combined is considered the absolute “King/Queen” of waterskiing. Besides Britta Grebe’s son, the 26-year-old Dorien Llewellyn (skis for Canada), Carlo Basic from Austria, Robert Hazelwood from Great Britain, Pol Duplan-Fribourg from France, as well as the German sisters Giannina and Carlotta Bonnemann and the Italian Alice Bagnoli fought for prize money and the podium.

 

Right from the start, the high quality of the small, but fine starting field was evident. Already on the first day of
competition both the women and men showed world-class form and delivered top performances, although the jump competition could not be held on Saturday due to the strong winds. Dorien Llewellyn came out showing he was not here to play, scoring the highest points of all in both trick and slalom. In tough conditions, the big upset was Robert going down on the 11.25m line. This is Robert’s strongest event of the three, so he would have to regroup for Sunday’s finals. In the trick discipline, Dorien was able to live up to his role in being the favorite, posting a 10500 ahead of Robert’s 9090,  Pol’s 8080, and Carlo’s 6800.

In womens’ slalom the older of the Bonnemann sisters, Giannina, had the better start ahead of the Italian Alice Bagnoli and Carlotta Bonnemann and took this momentum into Sunday.

With cooler temperatures on Sunday, the athletes had to give it their all on the final day. Alice came out in the finals in slalom and prevented Giannina from potentially claiming a clean sweep. Alice posts a 3.5 at 11.25, half a buoy better than Giannina score of 3. Traditionally, the jump event is the last event of the day, but warnings of rain later threaten the jump, so the organizers decided to flip the events because of safety for the athletes. Giannina dominated the jump event with 52m, but a real race for second and third was building. Alice (1,710.98) ahead of Charlotta (1,642.18).  Charlotta stood up both her runs putting pressure on Alice. Alice proved on Saturday that she has a big hand run in her bag, but shocked the crowd when she went down on a flip during the final pass, costing her the second podium spot. Giannina ranked second in the World in Overall was overjoyed about her victory in Fischlham: “The competition was just great again, to have an overall event with all three disciplines is what we train for. For me it went extremely well, I was able to dial up my performances from yesterday. In the trick event, I was able to go one better and set a new course trick record of 10,180 points, which really made it perfect.” Giannina took the Overall Crown with 2978.26 points, Carlotta claimed silver with 2160.85, ahead of Alice’s 2092.12.

 

 

 

In the men’s finals, tables turned on Dorien right out of the gates in the slalom event. Robert Hazelwood posted a huge slalom score of 1 @ 41off, a full pass more than Dorien’s top score from the primary round. This is Robert’s strongest of the 3 disciplines and Dorien’s weaker of the three. Dorien said, “my game plan was to stay as close to Robert’s slalom score as possible.”  Dorien, unfortunately, went down earlier than expected and trailed Robert by 8.5 buoys (4.5@11.25m). Robert claimed the 1000pts for the tops score and Dorien was awarded 845.45. Pol was only 2.5 buoys (2@11.25)  behind Dorien and was awarded 800pts, with Carlo is 4 buoys (4@12m) off Pol with a score of 727.27.

 

Onto the Jump, with the weather conditions holding favorable. Pol posted a 56.1m, next up Carlo with a 59.9m, and Robert tops that with a 60.0m jump. Dorien last out knew he had to gain ground back on Robert after trailing in slalom. Dorien unleashed 65.1 on his final jump and the Two-way battle is underway with Robert 1,872.82 and Dorien 1,845.45 neck and neck, as well as Carlo 1,597.59 and Pol 1,575.56 battling for 3^rd and 4^thspot. Finally, in tricks Carlo stood up his two passes, scoring 7,100 a new personal best. Pol’s prelim run was 8080 so enough to pull farther ahead of Carlo, but unfortunately, Pol went down on his opening trick which ended all hopes of staying ahead of Carlo. Robert stomped his two passes claiming a score of 9880pt putting enormous pressure on Dorien to score a minimum of 10200. Dorien answered back with 11060, just short of the course record he set last year at the Austrian Nationals 11160pt.  “I am so happy with my victory here at Lake Plana. Especially because I really spent a large part of my “water skiing childhood” here and I have such fond memories of this lake. I am very happy with my performance, it was so exciting and then I had to put all my eggs in one basket,” says Grebe’s son, delighted with the successful title defense in his second home.

 

 

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Additional Background- Family business of water skiing

The Llewellyn family is considered to be the most successful family in water skiing because, in addition to Britta, it is also her husband Jaret and their son Dorien who rule the absolute top of the world. Jaret can call himself nine times world champion (in the disciplines combination, trick, and jumping). He also set eleven world records in jumping. He has won 117 pro events in his career (numerous World Cups, PanAm Games, and many more). Thus, Jaret is without a doubt the best water skier in the world so far and was the number one in the Overall for 16 years.

 

In the youth/junior class, 25-year-old Dorien is a European champion (in the overall, slalom and jump). In the U21 class, Dorien moved from Austria to Canada to compete with his famous father on the team at the World Championships, where he also won the silver medal in the U21 Overall, catapulting himself to first place in the world rankings. For three years now, the waterski talent has dominated the general class of the Overall at the PanAm Games (held every four years), and he is number two in the trick, slalom, and jumping disciplines. At the PanAm Championships (held every year and comparable to the European Championships) he is the undisputed dominator Overall. Recently Dorien is also allowed to call himself “King of Tricks”, for winning the King of Darkness, a pro night competition in Orlando.

The dominance of the water ski family was especially evident in 2012 and 2013, as in both years Jaret and Dorien were both number 1 in the World in the Open Division and Juniors, something that has never been seen before in any other sport.