Who Will Step Up to Break the Cycle?

When considering an Overall event, let alone an Overall tour, you are bound to experience a rollercoaster of emotions. There is rarely a day when all 3 disciplines end up exactly how you wanted or expected, thus, mental strength is of the utmost importance. For these reasons, Joel Poland’s dominance over the past year and a half has been remarkable. His skiing ability is known throughout the world, allowing him to compete at the very pinnacle of waterskiing in all 4 events. So the question must be asked, who will be the one to challenge Joel’s reign on tour and at the WWS Canada Cup? Who will find a way to rip the tour title from his hands, which seem to be firmly reaching at the possibility of another repeat title?

Will it be a local young gun? Both Lucas Pinette and Thomas Daigle (CAN) put on a great show at the WWS Canada Cup, finding multiple personal best or near-best scores in order to find their way into their first pro finals, knocking out the man who finished 3rd on tour in 2023, Italian Edoardo Merenzi. Both of the Canadian skiers would then move on to post even better final scores, Lucas skiing a personal best in slalom with 4@11m and Thomas just behind at 3. Alas, these two would not yet have the firepower to take down Joel, both looking for more in the jump event with scores of 58.7m for Lucas and 57.6m for Thomas. In the end, Lucas and Thomas earned valuable tour points, finishing 5th and 6th respectively, while also gaining invaluable tournament experience, which they will need to capitalize on right away as they will get another crack at the field at the Travers Cup in two weeks.

Thus, looking past local talent, let us move on to the tour veterans, to the World Champions, to the continuous threat that has been chasing Joel for the past years. Are Louis Duplan-Fribuorg (FRA) or Martin Kolman (CZE) the in-form skiers to take down Joel? Both skiers have put up some amazing scores this year and continued to do so at the Canada Cup. Despite difficult preliminary round conditions, both skiers eased their way into finals, proving they are dominant contenders on tour. Then in the finals, Louis would improve his Overall score but unfortunately missed the 11m pass, putting himself at a deficit right from the get-go. He would recover well in trick with a score of 11360 and a solid jump of 63.9m. Yet with the top 3 skiers left on the dock, Louis was visibly reserved as to his chances at his first title of 2024.

 

On the other hand, the 2019 Overall World Champ, Martin Kolman continued his recent resurgence to not only his top form, but past his former best, improving his prelim slalom score to 2@10.75m, only 2 buoys off the lead in slalom, and following with a tournament-leading 11520 points, putting himself in the lead in Overall heading into the Jump event. Finally, he finished with a jump score of 61.7m, which would have put him in the Jump finals had he posted the score in the prelims. Martin showed his commitment to improve in the jump event and also sent a clear signal to the rest of the field that he too, no longer has a weak event. He would take the lead with only Dorien Llewellyn and Joel Poland left to go.

 

Speaking of Dorien Llewellyn-CAN, he has emerged as somewhat of a dark horse on this year’s tour, despite being a former tour winner and fighting for wins at every tour stop only 2 years ago. After a strong 2nd place finish at the WWS Salmsee Cup in Austria, Dorien showed he still has the skills to be back on top of the podium, despite his injury and absence from the 2023 tour. However, his skiing seems somewhat restrained and wanting for another gear. In the challenging weather conditions of Saskatoon, Dorien stayed within one buoy of the lead in slalom with 3@10.75m. Known for his consistency in tricks, Dorien looked to capitalize on the conditions with two solid passes to pressure the field. Yet, an unusual slip at the very end of his second-hand pass cost him his last two tricks, leaving him with 10,780 points and trailing Kolman heading into the jump event. Needing a jump of 63.3m to take the lead, and with frustration building, Dorien couldn’t quite find his signature air form, landing just shy of the lead with a jump of 62.7m. This placed him ahead of Louis but behind Martin, with only Joel left to compete.

 

So here we are yet again, looking out on the lake at the current World Record Holder, at the man who has won the last 5 tour stops, at Joel Poland. As is his nature, Joel looked strong in the slalom event, taking the lead straight out of the gate with a score of 4@10.75m. Then, tricks is where the fireworks began to shine, as Joel fumbled through the middle of his first run in toes, losing balance, but recovering time and time again. Until his body hit the water, rope still attached to his foot, dragging for mere moments that seemed to stretch on for eternity, his pinner not letting go until he knew that even Joel couldn’t pull out another miraculous save. Thus, Joel sat in the water, only just past halfway through his toe run, knowing he would need every single point he had in his hand run. Despite doing exactly that and nailing his hand run, many didn’t think that he would have enough points to pull out his 6th win in a row, given Martin Kolman’s commanding lead at 11520. Yet, his 10120-point score was just enough to keep himself in the game, but needing a big jump in the finals. Joel would have to surpass Kolman’s jump score by roughly 4m to win. 

 

Joel took to the water with a clear mind, knowing he would need the best jump of the tournament to win Overall. After failing to take the lead on his first two attempts and only bringing himself onto the podium in 3rd behind Dorien and Martin, Joel turned for the ramp on his final jump, the crowd’s clapping growing increasingly faster and louder as he neared the red surface of the ramp, and to their delight he soared off the top of the ramp. Everyone knew they had seen a big jump, possibly the biggest of the event, but was it enough? Had Joel done enough to retain his grasp on the crown? The scoreboard flashed his distance as the crowd roared out and Martin Kolman threw his hand up in the air, but not in celebration, rather, in defeat, in disbelief that his incredible skiing didn’t get him the title. Joel Poland had done it, he had taken the Canada Cup crown and a commanding lead in the 2024 WWS Overall tour standings.

 

So the question must be asked again. Who will stand up to Joel’s reign? Will it be an up-and-coming skier like Lucas Pinette? Will it be seasoned World Champion veterans like Louis Duplon-Fribourg and Martin Kolman? Will Dorien Llewellyn turn his words from his final interview in Canada into reality? Will he in fact “finally be ready to go for the win at the Travers Cup”? Will a new name step up to the plate and take down the current king? Or will Joel continue his dominance? In the end, only time will tell and these questions will be answered in 2 weeks time with the tour comes to Groveland, Florida for the Travers Cup, Sept 20-21. 

Considered one of the best all-around waterski lakes on the planet, not only will the competition heat up, but also the performances themselves are set to skyrocket. With the potential for World Records to be set written all over this event, the WWS Travers Cup will be a competition no one will want to miss. 

 

In the end, the Saskatoon Water Ski Club put on a truly world-class event in their first year, despite challenging weather conditions. The atmosphere was electric, largely thanks to DJ Steve Kushman and tour announcer Curtis Williams, who energized the crowd and kept the athletes pumped up throughout the entire event. Furthermore, WWS would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Michelle & Jim Clunie, Norm Lucas, and all the incredible volunteers for their leadership and to the local sponsors for their tremendous support. With such a fantastic debut, we can’t wait to see what next year’s WWS Canada Cup brings!

 

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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). 

 

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