Stop 1 WWS Salmsee Cup Kicks Off This Weekend
Stop 1 WWS Salmsee Cup
Steyregg, Austria
July 27-28
At the Austrian stop of the World Water Skiers Tour, the international elite of water skiing will compete in the disciplines of Slalom, Trick, and Jump. Organized by Austria’s most successful water skier, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, the action-packed water sports event will take place on 27-28 July from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission at Salmsee in Steyregg, Upper Austria.
For the fifth time in a row, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn is bringing top international athletes to Austria with the Salmsee Cup as part of the World Water Skiers Tour. The first stop of the international series will take place on July 27 and 28 at the Salmsee in Steyregg. The last few years have shown how exciting and action-packed this event can be when the best water skiers in the world come together.
The special thing about this tour is that the athletes have to compete in all 3 events, slalom, trick, and jump, and only the combination of these three water skiing disciplines is judged. The top 10 men in the world rankings will be competing, the best and most versatile water ski athletes in the world. The “local hero” and two-time Austria winner of previous years, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn’s son Dorien Llewellyn will be back on the dock after his injury-related time off last year and he has of course prepared himself well for the competition. “I’m looking forward to the competition at Salmsee, it’s a beautiful site. After my injury break last year, I can hardly wait to take part in the WWS Overall Tour again. The ten best men are at the starting dock and everyone is looking forward to competing in Austria. Winning this competition, or rather this tour, is the most difficult title for a water skier to win, It will be a great show, everyone should come and watch it live,” says the 28-year-old, looking forward to the Austrian edition in his second home country.
The Canadian, with Austrian roots, is the third in an unusual trio leading the water skiing scene. The exciting battle between the Brit and defending champion Joel Poland, who also recently broke the world record in the Overall, and the reigning World Champion Louis Duplon-Fribourg (FRA), will once again come to a head to head.
From an Austrian perspective, 20-year-old homeboy Alexander Gschiel from Linz and Vincent Ahammer from Gmunden, will be flying the flag at the home event.
Schedule
Saturday 27.7. – 1 – 4 pm Slalom, Trick and Jump
Sunday 28.7. – 1 – 4 pm Slalom, Trick and Jump, Prize giving Ceremony
See Event Page for full details
Where It All Started
Salmsee Cup on July 14th and 15th in Steyregg – Waterskiing Elite Rocks Salmsee under Britta Grebe-Llewellyn
At the Austria stop of the World Waterski Overall Tour, the international elite of waterskiing will compete in the disciplines of slalom, trick, and jumping. Organized by Austria’s most successful waterskier, Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, this action-packed water sports event will take place on July 14th and 15th from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Salmsee in Steyregg, Upper Austria, with free admission.
For the fourth time, 58-year-old American citizen Britta Grebe-Llewellyn brings international top athletes to her home country for a world-class waterskiing event, the Salmsee Cup, as part of the World Waterski Overall Tour. The event scheduled for July 14th and 15th is the second stop of a world tour, with the first stop taking place in France last weekend. In previous years, the crème de la crème of waterskiers demonstrated how exciting and action-packed this type of competition is. This year, the Austrian stop returns to Salmsee in Steyregg after two editions at Planasee.
International elite competes at Salmsee The special feature of this tour is that the athletes must compete in slalom, trick, and jumping, and only the combination of these three waterskiing disciplines is evaluated. Therefore, the best and most versatile waterski athletes in the world, including the top-ranked men and women (seven men and six women), will be participating. Dorien Llewellyn, the “local hero” and two-time Austrian champion from previous years and Britta Grebe-Llewellyn’s son, will be present as a commentator this year due to an injury. The exciting battle for the British athlete and defending champion in Austria, Joel Poland, who also won the first stop in France, and the second-place finisher in France, Louis Duplon-Fribourg, will intensify once again. From an Austrian perspective, Luca Rauchenwald from Pörtschach and Alexander Gschiel from Linz will represent the home team. The women’s competition could also be thrilling because, after the German Bonnemann sisters were unable to participate last year due to injuries, especially the older sister, Giannanina, left her competitors far behind in France. In addition to her sister Charlotte Bonnemann, the third-place finisher from the first stop Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya (USA), unfortunately, Kennedy Hansen from the United States has suffered an injury from the first stop and will be unable to compete. However, this opens the door for the two top female athletes from Austria, Lili Steiner from Carinthia, who finished third in last year’s competition, and Leona Berner from Upper Austria, who will also participate in the Salmsee Cup.
“The Austria stop of our tour is naturally the year’s highlight for me. Organizing such an event and then being able to perform in front of a home audience at the magnificent Salmsee. This lake is perfect for a competition like this. I am confident that we will witness incredible performances from the world’s top waterski athletes there,” says organizer Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, looking forward to the Austrian edition of the World Waterski Overall Tour.
This event holds special significance as it is where the World Waterski Overall Tour was born back in 2000. The Salmsee Cup serves as a test event to assess the platform that World Water Skiers has built to support the sport of waterskiing. Jaret Llewellyn, one of the founders of WWS, states, “We have come a long way in four years of building the platform, and we keep adding features that clubs want, which helps them streamline putting on events. It’s like Facebook but sport-specific, with results, profiles of athletes, and clubs. The more the sport engages, the better we will appear to those looking in from the outside.”
Water action for the whole family Spectators and fans have the opportunity to experience the water action live on-site. The competitions will take place on both days from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, with free admission and the availability of food trucks, free beer, coffee, and cake.
Program: Friday, July 14th – 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM: Slalom, followed by Trick and Jumping Saturday, July 15th – 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM: Slalom, followed by Trick and Jumping, followed by the awards ceremony.
Records Fall & Champions Crowned
Records Fall & Champions Crowned At WWS Flordia Cup
Here it is; 4 countries, 4 stops, 7 winners, 16 records, 2 Tour Champions, and 1 unbelievable year. The Florida Cup was the perfect cap to an unreal year. After an action-packed tour season, the Overall skiers pulled up to the record-setting shores of Ski Fluid, where most recently Jacinta Carroll became the first woman to jump 200ft, and Joel Poland and Dorien Llewellyn traded World Overall Records in 2021. Needless to say, expectations were high and the event did not disappoint.
Boasting the largest and most competitive female field a WWS event has seen, the Florida Cup was a staple as to how amazing the women’s event can be with the likes of Regina Jaquess, Anna Gay, Hanna Stratslova, and Valentina Gonzalez making their debuts. After having three different event winners this year, namely Paige Rini, Brooke Baldwin, and Kennedy Hansen, the question was if one of these three girls could become the first to win 2 titles in the same year. Unfortunately, Brooke, the tour leader heading into the event, sustained a back injury at the 3rd stop in Austria and was unable to compete. Nevertheless, the women put on a fierce battle from the onset of the preliminary round, with Regina breaking the WWS slalom record, finishing with a score of 1@10.25m, and Hanna breaking the WWS jump record, with a distance of 55.1m. Their performances were so strong in fact, that Kennedy would be knocked out of the event in the first round, thus, securing the Tour points lead and the WWS Overall Tour Title for Brooke Baldwin.
Heading into the women’s final were, in descending order of placement, Hanna, Regina, Paige, and Anna. Beginning with trick, Paige and Anna were considered to be the strongest competitors, but due to a couple miscues, Paige fell early in her toe pass, leaving her in a sizable hole right out of the gate. Anna, on the other hand, showed her World Champion stature, setting a new WWS trick record with a score of 10350 points. Moving into slalom, with Hanna sitting on 8410 and Regina back a bit more at 7130 they both need to step up going into there strong events. Regina, largely considered one of, if not the best slalom skiers of all time, once again put on a clinic in the course, tying her record from the first round with 1@10.25m. Vaulting her into 1st place of the Overall race. Still, the fight raged on, as Hanna powered her way to a personal best in slalom of 0.5@10.75, knowing her strongest event was yet to come.
Thus, moving into jump, Regina led, Hanna was close behind, and Anna rounded out the podium. All four women jumped exceptionally well, with Paige Rini putting on a spirited performance in an attempt to retake a podium place, and Regina’s grit was on display with her solid jumping having only recently begun to truly recover from her ACL tear last year. But, it was Hanna who would not be denied, setting yet another WWS jump record, soaring 56.5m through the air, and thereby breaking Giannina Bonneman’s 2 year withstanding Overall record. With all the action this year and the return of Giannina next year, the stage has been set for what could be the most exciting season of Overall skiing in history.
On the Men’s side of the action, Dorien Llewellyn and Joel Poland once again looked to square off in their seemingly never-ending, heavyweight slugfest. With each of the Men having been to three stops, all 5 were guaranteed to make the finals, allowing for Dorien and Joel to push for high scores in the first round, which they absolutely did. Dorien, being ranked an equal 2nd with Louie Duplan-Fribourg heading into the event, was the first of the two to complete a WWS Overall record-breaking round of 5@10.75m, 11060 points, and a 67.8m jump, which also happened to be a new WWS Jump record. Only 1 minute later, Joel would improve upon Dorien’s score by a mere 5 overall points, with 5.5@10.75m, 11200 points, and a 67.1m jump! Thus, Joel would be the top seed in the finals, followed by Dorien, Martin Kolman, Edoardo Marenzi, and Tanguy Dialland, in that order.
Also beginning with the trick event, Martin Kolman reminded everyone why he is the 2019 Overall World Champion with a blistering trick score of 11730. Still, Dorien kept himself well within striking distance with his own score of 11360 with Joel still to trick. After a slightly early fall in toes, the expectation was that Joel would fire back with his impressive flip sequence, but shockingly, Joel fell after his second flip, potentially eliminating him from the title race. Additionally, Edo proved himself to be a future title contender with a personal best of 10790. Then in the slalom event, Martin, who had been seemingly struggling to find his form all year, picked the perfect moment to regain his winning ways, swerving to a solid score of 4@10.75m. Knowing that he was now the favorite to win the event, Dorien showed some nerves on his early passes but pulled himself together at the right time to power through the 10.75m line length, only to frustratingly fall at the final buoy. Yet, his score of 5.5@10.75m put him just 6 Overall points behind Martin and with his strength in jump, was a clear advantage to the Canadian.
That being said, Martin would not go down without a fight. Despite only performing a 3/4 cut, Martin finished with the second-highest jump score of the round, an impressive 206ft jump, which Dorien would not beat after a 205ft first jump. Still, confident in his jumping, Dorien brought his cut later down the lake and boosted 219 and 220ft jumps to secure himself his first win of the 2022 season, finally able to stand atop the podium to spray the champagne. With these results, Dorien took sole ownership of the runner-up position in the tour standings and Martin found himself rounding out the podium in 3rd place, with Joel Poland’s year-long success leading to his first WWS Overall Tour Title and the golden champions bib for the 2023 season.
“I can’t believe they can do that on skis!”
“That was awesome,
I never saw skiing like that!”
That is what we kept hearing from fans leaving the site!
WOW
This heavyweight overall battles just keep getting better! The WWS Overall Pro Tour is now two stops into the season and the results continue to keep everyone on the edge of their seats for what is next to come. Following the incredible finish at Lacanau, which saw Louis Duplan-Friburg claim the tour ranking lead heading into the WWS Calgary Cup, Joel Poland, and Dorien Llewellyn lit the lakes of Predator Bay on fire with what can only be described as their World Champion Battle 2.0. Beginning with the slalom event, the men all improved upon their first-round scores, with Conley Pinette, first off the dock, running 4.5@11.25m, followed by Poland, who put the rest of the field on notice with a stellar 2@10.25m. Moving into the top three seeded skiers, Martin Kolman put down a solid 3.25@10.75m, with Louis ending up with a bit of ground to make up with his 3@11.25m, and Dorien rounding out the event in dramatic fashion with a seemingly solid full 10.75m pass, only to wind up late out of 5 ball and with too much slack to handle out of the gates, resulting in his final score of 6@10.75m with no continuation to 10.25m. Point – Poland.
The men then moved into the trick event with stronger winds starting to set in. Conley sparked the Canadian fan base with the first two stand-up passes of the day, clearly excited to be on his way to a great overall score in his home country. Following Conley, Joel looked to take another step towards securing the WWS Calgary Cup, standing up two solid, but slightly altered runs, still finishing with a great score of 11190.
Louis, looking to make up for his deficit in slalom, did just that by smoothly moving through both of his trick runs, only losing his final trick, TWL5B (600 pt trick), to a judge’s decision, giving him a score of 11420 points. Finally, Dorien saw his chance to respond to Joel and looked locked in as he nailed both of his runs, securing himself the top score in trick with a 11610 point total. Point – Llewellyn, tie game.
Heading into jump, the Overall race could not have been any simpler for Dorien and Joel, the name of the game was win Jump, win Overall. Their scores being almost exactly the same after slalom and trick, whoever managed to outjump the other would beat the other in Overall. As the headwind continued to increase in strength, the jumpers struggled to keep up their speed before the turn for the ramp. Conley, who was impressed with a 64m jump in the prelims, couldn’t find his timing in the wind and finished with a 60.7m score. Joel, who has been in fine form in jump this year, adapted from his mistakes in Lacanau to secure a tournament-high 65.2m distance on jump two.
Dorien, the hometown favorite, left the dock as the final skier to strong applause from the Calgary crowd, knowing if he jumped 65.3m, he would win the title. After solid opening jumps of 62.6 and 62.7m, Dorien knew he had to push the limits on jump 3 and launched a visibly bigger jump on the final jump of the tournament. As the crowd quieted to wait for the score, Dorien sunk into the water and Joel raised his arms in triumph. Point – Poland, game, set, match. Dorien finished with a distance of 64.2m, just a meter shy of Joel.
Already being talked about around the world as having the greatest Overall battle of all time, Dorien and Joel found a way to create an even more exciting show at the Calgary Cup. Furthermore, Louis showed that even on a less than perfect day, he cemented his place in the ever-growing 3-way overall battle that will continue to rage this year and into the future. Finally, Martin Kolman continues to prove his consistency and will always be ready to strike at any mistakes made by the top 3 tour-ranking leaders. With the WWS Austrian Cup on tap next, there is no telling what is in store next, so make sure you don’t miss any of the action!
For all the fans that came out and were stunned by what these amazing athletes can do on the water, mark your calendars for next year, the WWS Tour, WILL be back! We look forward to seeing you down at the most beautiful site in the world, The Lakes Of Cast And Stone!
Full WWS Tour Points Standings
Full Photo Gallary Of the WWS Calgary Cup – Johnny Hayward
THE WOMENS’ OVERALL RECAP STORY
2022 Malibu Open In The Books!
Lacanau Always delivers Insane Scores!
As the sun set on the pristine beaches of Lacanau last Sunday, the lakes of (Lacanau Ski Club) finally settled from the excitement of the Lacanau Overall Cup and the Malibu Open. Both of these professional events brought about incredible skiing and hard-fought victories, with the Malibu Open representing some of, if not the highest scores ever seen in a professional slalom event. In order to move on to the finals on the men’s side of the competition, skiers had to finish with a score of 3@10.25m or higher. Continuing on the high-scoring trend, the finals displayed a three-way tie for the lead between Dane Mechler, Jon Travers, and Brando Caruso at 4@10.25m with only one skier remaining on the dock, namely top-seeded skier Nate Smith. Nate, who has been in incredible form this entire year, turned the first 3 buoys expertly at 10.25m and did not hesitate to turn the 4th buoy, seemingly never considering the possibility of skiing for a tie, and comfortably swinging out around the 5th and 6th buoys to run through yet another 10.25m pass.
In the women’s slalom event of the Malibu Open, there was a tough three-way North American battle between Canadian Paige Rini and Brooke Baldwin and Ali Garcia from the United States. Sandra Bottas was the only skier from another
continent to qualify for the four women final. Despite skiing quite well, Sandra wasn’t able to overtake the other three, who had each finished with a score on the 10.75m in at least one round. With the requirement to start at 13m, leading to a tailwind 11m pass, both Ali and Sandra were unable to clear the rope length, finishing with a score of 3.5 and 2 buoys respectively. Next up, Brooke Baldwin, who had been increasing her scores at 10.75 each round of the competition, styled her way through the 11m tailwind pass and finished with 3@10.75m, the highest score of any woman in the event. Coming off the dock as the top seed, Paige Rini handle the pressure well and also made fine work of the 11m line length. Yet, the prospect of needing 3 buoys proved challenging, as Paige turned the 1st buoy too hard for her to be able to hold the angle through the wakes, leaving Paige short inside 2 ball and on the second step of the podium.
As the skiers move on to the next stop of the European circuit, the skiers look back on their time in Lacanau and reminisce on a truly unforgettable experience. The site, the people, the city, the beach, all in all, the memories will last a lifetime and we are already looking forward to next year. If you have not been to Lacanau this city and ski club need to be on your bucket list, they are truly one of the best on the planet. Lacanau is not just an incredible ski site, but with private villas available for rent, a pool, and an incredible restaurant right at the dock with the friendliest staff you can imagine, it is truly a special place. If you want to get a moment outside of the resort the ocean is 10 minutes away with endless restaurant options right on the beach where you can watch some of the best sunsets imaginable. But as the sun sets on Lacanau, WWS is off to Calgary, Canada, for the second stop of the WWS Overall Tour. On July 29-31 the battle continues to see who will take out the Overall Tour Title.
See full WWS Lacanau Cup Overall Story
A Special thank you for all the long hours it takes to put on an event of this level. Hats off to Geraldine, Christophe, the Jamin family, the staff, judges, volunteers, and especially to the sponsors, which are special friends of the water ski community that wants to give back. So please check out the names at the bottom or on the Event Page and drop a personal thank you for their support, it is what builds a stronger foundation for our sport!
Thanks to Eudes M-Tivier for the great shots all weekend –
This club is the real deal, not just world-class coaching – a full pro shop, marine sale and repair, Villa Rental, and dockside Restaurant (Lèau à la bouche), and a world-class beach 10 mins away.
Malibu Open Kicks Off This Weekend
This coming weekend, the Lacanau Ski Club will bring together the world’s best slalom and overall skiers. Slalom superstars such as World Champion and World Record Holder Nate Smith, Dane Mechler, Jon Travers, and Moomba Master’s Champion Vennessa Vieke. On the Overall end, the event will feature current World Champion and World Overall Record Holder Joel Poland, the Former World Record Holder and World trick Champion Dorien Llewellyn, as well as Brooke Baldwin and Paige Rini, who will both be looking to make their mark in the Overall World Tour over the weekend. The Lacanau ski club, one of the premier sites in the world, has put on countless international events, and the site claims the 1st 230-foot jump by Jaret Llewellyn (CAN), 1st run over 12,000pt by Nicolas Le Forestier (FR), and 1st full 10.25m by Jamie Beauchesne (USA) performed in a pro event.
The Lacanau Ski club is a world-renowned ski school run by European superstars, Geraldine Jamin and Christoff Duverger. The club facilities include a full pro shop, on-site villas for rentals, and a high-end restaurant with fresh food and ingredients provided daily. In fact, you may never want to leave this oasis of a ski club. Yet, if you want to venture outside of the ski compound, the beach is 10 minutes away and the town of Lacanau has bursting nightlife energy. In the water ski world, this is a bucket list item that will leave you wanting to come back time and time again!
The Lacanau Cup is the launch of the 2022 season for the overall skiers. WorldWaterSkiers (WWS) is proud to have partnered with the Lacanau Water Ski Club and the professional slalom event being held in conjunction with the first Overall Tour Stop. Combining the two events will be one of the biggest payouts the sport has seen in a decade, Totaling $62,500 – with $37,000,- for Slalom on the PRO-AM side + $25,500 going to the Overall skiers, plus points towards the tour rankings and Year-End TOUR BONUSES. Lacanau Ski Club partnered with World Water Skiers to utilize the EMS hub built by WWS, giving clubs and federations novel technology to promote better the sport we all love. The unity on display over the course of the weekend will be a beacon of the potential for the sport to reach larger fan bases together. Moreover, the prospects of the congregation between the world’s best slalom skiers, along with the reintroduction of the Overall World Tour is something that no water ski enthusiast is going to want to miss. So be sure to check the schedule to see when each round is and what the cut is, who makes the finals and when it goes live.
Lacanau Cup Kicks Off This Weekend!
This coming weekend, the Lacanau Ski Club will bring together the world’s best slalom and overall skiers. Slalom superstars such as World Champion and World Record Holder Nate Smith, Dane Mechler, Jon Travers, and Moomba Master’s Champion Vennessa Vieke. On the Overall end, the event will feature current World Champion and World Overall Record Holder Joel Poland, the Former World Record Holder and World trick Champion Dorien Llewellyn, as well as Brooke Baldwin and Paige Rini, who will both be looking to make their mark in the Overall World Tour over the weekend. The Lacanau ski club, one of the premier sites in the world, has put on countless international events, and the site claims the 1st 230-foot jump by Jaret Llewellyn (CAN), 1st run over 12,000pt by Nicolas Le Forestier (FR), and 1st full 10.25m by Jamie Beauchesne (USA) performed in a pro event.
The Lacanau Ski club is a world-renowned ski school run by European superstars, Geraldine Jamin and Christoff Duverger. The club facilities include a full pro shop, on-site villas for rentals, and a high-end restaurant with fresh food and ingredients provided daily. In fact, you may never want to leave this oasis of a ski club. Yet, if you want to venture outside of the ski compound, the beach is 10 minutes away and the town of Lacanau has bursting nightlife energy. In the water ski world, this is a bucket list item that will leave you wanting to come back time and time again!
The Lacanau Cup is the launch of the 2022 season for the overall skiers. WorldWaterSkiers (WWS) is proud to have partnered with the Lacanau Water Ski Club and the professional slalom event being held in conjunction with the first Overall Tour Stop. Combining the two events will be one of the biggest payouts the sport has seen in a decade, Totaling $62,500 – with $37,000,- for Slalom on the PRO-AM side + $25,500 going to the Overall skiers, plus points towards the tour rankings and Year-End TOUR BONUSES. Lacanau Ski Club partnered with World Water Skiers to utilize the EMS hub built by WWS, giving clubs and federations novel technology to promote better the sport we all love. The unity on display over the course of the weekend will be a beacon of the potential for the sport to reach larger fan bases together. Moreover, the prospects of the congregation between the world’s best slalom skiers, along with the reintroduction of the Overall World Tour is something that no water ski enthusiast is going to want to miss. So be sure to check the schedule on the Lacanau Cup event page for all the details like Live streaming or scores.
2021 WWS American Open Recap
As the 2021 Overall professional season comes to an end, the final battle did not disappoint. 5 of the Best Men’s Overall skiers in the world faced off in what proved to be a challenging weekend. While the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches at Okeeheelee Park is typically known as one of the premier sites in the world, having hosted multiple World Championships of different levels, heavy rain on Friday for official practice, followed by extreme wind conditions throughout the tournament made for a difficult weekend of skiing. Nevertheless, Joel Poland, Dorien Llewellyn, Rob Hazelwood, Edoardo Marenzi, and Martin Kolman put forth their best to take home the American Open Crown.
In the end, Great Britain’s Joel Poland completed the Overall sweep, placing 1st in all three individual events en-route taking home the grand prize of Overall Champion. Close on his heels was Canada’s Dorien Llewellyn, who narrowly finished second in each individual event, coming up just short to claim 2nd in Overall. Also from Great Britain, Rob Hazelwood rounded out the podium as the 3rd place finisher in Overall, having exhibited an uncharacteristic fall in slalom, finishing 3rd, while also taking the 3rd place in Trick, and finishing 5th in Jump. Italy’s Edoardo Marenzi, an event dark horse, finished 4th in Overall and finally in 5th was Martin Kolman from the Czech Republic, who had an early fall in tricks and was never able to recover after.
The one-round final began Sunday with the trick event in strong winds between 15 and 20mph. Each tricker was forced to play strategy in terms of which run, to begin with, toes in the stiff headwind surprisingly being the preferred option for every skier but Hazelwood. When asked why he started with toes, Dorien Llewellyn said, “I would typically only do toes in a tailwind, but I was worried the wind chop would make flips really difficult. Also, I saw that the headwind made ski lines really draining for Rob at the end of his run, so I decided the tailwind for hands was more important.” In the end, Joel’s high-powered runs were enough to take the lead coming out of tricks, finishing with a score of 11220 points. Dorien was just behind with a score of 11010, followed by Rob’s 9310, Edoardo’s 7830, and Kolamn’s 6450.
After a set of recap interviews following the Trick event, the Slalom event started with improving conditions, but deceptively strong winds were still in effect once each skier began to round the buoys. Edoardo looked to be running 11.25, until biting off a little too much at 5 and finishing with 4.5@11.25. Kolman decided to take a risk and position himself for an 11.25 tailwind, knowing he had much ground to cover after tricks. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off, as he ended up inside 5 and finished with 4@11.25. Joel Poland finished his set and stated, “It looks pretty nice from here and the lake still skis well, but man the wind did not make things easy. When I pulled out for my gate at 39 the wind just kept pushing me.” All the skiers shared Poland’s sentiments, only realizing just how difficult the conditions were when skiing through their first passes. Joel took the lead in the event with 2@10.75m, with Hazelwood and Dorien still left to ski. Knowing slalom was his strongest event, Rob was prepared to take the risk of running 11.25 in the tailwind, masterfully powering through the pass to set up at 10.75 in the headwind, which no other skier had been able to do. Unfortunately, Rob’s fin skipped out of the water at the first buoy, and he finished with a score of 0.5@10.75. Finally, Dorien decided to play the long game in Overall and match Joel’s 11.25 headwind pass. Having run 11.25, Dorien ran 1@10.75 in the tailwind, visibly disappointed that he had just let a great opportunity to gain points back on Joel on the table, but knowing he was still very much within striking distance for jump.
Finally, the Jump event experienced high-performance weather, with a beautiful headwind rolling down the lake just as the sun began setting. Despite the great wind, long distances were difficult to come by at Okeeheelee. Edoardo began the final discipline with an impressive 59.5m jump, followed by Martin Kolman’s 60.7. Joel took to the water next and began his set with two underwhelming jumps, slipping on both, leaving all the pressure on his third and final attempt. Seemingly pulling off a great jump, Joel looked disappointed with his 62.7m score, having become accustomed to seeing higher scores on the leaderboard. As the sun began to set behind the West Palm Beach trees, Rob Hazelwood could not find his footing on the ramp, slightly slipping on all three jumps to finish with a 58.1m leap. Then, with the sun almost completely out of view, Dorien Llewellyn took to the water with high hopes of capturing the American Open title with a 64m jump. Joel Poland looked on as Dorien opened his set with a 61.7m score, looking poised for more. But it was not to be, as Dorien followed up with back-to-back 62.2m jumps, and the Overall title was signed, sealed, and delivered to Great Britain’s Joel Poland.
That wraps up the 2021 Overall Season! We would like to extend a BIG thank you to our sponsors and donors, we truly appreciate your passion to step up and back our vision in order to help the sport as a whole. Even though it is the off-season, there will be no resting. Bigger and Better is just around the corner for 2022. WorldWaterSkiers is excited to expand the “World Of Overall” to more events and open the door to new locations, which will be announced soon. So, stay tuned and be ready for more nail-biting action with the kickoff the WWS World Overall Tour.
The Heavy Weight Overall Battle Continues
The Heavy Weight Overall Battle Continues
The 2021 Overall World Championship title fight has been dubbed by many as one of, if not The Best Overall competition of all time. With Joel Poland and Dorien Llewellyn maintaining World Record paces throughout the event and Joel setting the new pending World Record in the preliminary round, viewers were completely captivated by the nonstop action. While Joel took home the Overall World Champion crown, the 2021 fight has not yet concluded, as the final Professional 3 Event tournament of the year looms, the American Open. The American Open will be held at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, Fl, on November 6-7, 2021.
Heading into the American Open, Joel Poland, GB, who showed his incredible form at the World Championships two weeks ago, will feel confident that he can take the inaugural title. His CAN counterpart, Dorien Llewellyn, will be looking to get some semblance of revenge from the Worlds outcome, although he will be coming off the Collegiate Nationals and will need to quickly revert to standard settings. Speaking of Collegiate Nationals, Dorien’s teammate at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, Edoardo Marenzi, ITA will be making his WWS tournament debut as a potential spoiler to the title favorites. Marenzi will look to impress with his trick skiing, his flips being some of the best in the game. Moving along to other potential dark horses, Rob Hazelwood has certainly proven that he has the ability to take the title with his incredible slalom skiing, rock solid tricking and the potential to unleash a jump over 210ft. Finally, the two former World Champions, Adam “Sledge” Sedlemajer and Martin Kolman, both CZE, will look to show the young guns the importance of experience and tactics. Sledge has exhibited a resurgence in the last month, skiing nearly to his 2019 World Record pace just before the Worlds and Martin skiing amazing coming off a US Open win earlier this year.
With all the potential firepower on display, the American Open will be a testing ground to repackage the sport we love. Big plans will be executed to make this event the best for the Worlds’ best skiers, at one of the most amazing sites in the World, The Ski Club Of the Palm Beaches. The new trick judging format “EyeTrick” will revolutionize the way the trick event will be looked at. This partnership will bring the progression of tricking to the forefront of the sport and with jump as the last event the crowd will be on its feet through the entire event. Will the youngsters keep the fire going, or will the former World Champions reclaim their throne? Come down to the shores of Okeeheelee Park to see who comes out on top and to meet these incredible athletes, or catch the finals live on Nov 7th from 2 pm on the WWS webcast.