Federico Jaramillo from Colombia won his country’s first ever IWWF World gold medal at the 2018 IWWF World Junior Waterski Championships held at the Sesena Waterski & Wakeboard Complex.  In the boys slalom final, Federico grinded out a historical win with 2.5 buoys on the 10.75 metre line, narrowly edging out Tim Tornquist (SWE) and Garrett Reese (USA) who both skied 2 @ 10.75 metres.

Federico Jaramillo (Columbia)
Photographer: Ismael Herrero Sanchez

Having won the IWWF girls trick title the day before, Neilly Ross (CAN) had her sight set on another medal and posted the highest score of the day, 4.50 @ 11.25 metres, to win her second gold medal of the tournament. Luisa Jaramillo (COL) was a buoy and half short, 3 @ 11.25 metres, of making it a brother-sister gold medal photo moment and had to settle for a silver medal instead, followed by Alexandra Garcia (USA) winning the bronze medal with a score of 2.5 @ 11.25 metres.

In the girls jump final, Australia’s Sade Ferguson narrowly won the gold medal with a 41.4 metre jump, followed by  Sofia Maksimenkova (UKR) 41.3 metres and Prosvetova Stanislava (UKR) 41.1 metres.

Neilly Ross (Canada)

The last event of the day and of a very exciting event was the boys jump final with the top skiers all pumped up to jump far behind the Ski Nautique, IWWF’s Official World Waterski Championships towboat.  With seven skiers posting scores over 50 metres, top-seed Alexander Samoilov (UKR) let rip the longest jump of the tournament, 56 metres, to win the gold medal. The silver medal went to Blake Keller (USA) with a 55.2 metre jump and bronze to William Roberts (USA) 53.9 metres.

With strong and consistent skiing all week long, in perfect skiing conditions at the Sesena Waterski & Wakeboard Complex, Kennedy Hansen (USA) and Alexander Samoilov (UKR) deservedly won their IWWF girls & boys individual overall titles.

The IWWF junior team overall gold medal went to Team USA, consisting of Kristen Baldwin, Kennedy Hansen, William Roberts, Griffin Stange, Blake Keller and Ryan Gay.  France and the Ukraine won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The top slalom skiers from the girls preliminary round hit the water first thing in the morning on the 3rd day of the 2018 IWWF World Junior Waterski Championships at Sesena Waterski & Wakeboard Complex.  Neilly Ross (CAN) 0.5 @ 11.25 m, Kennedy Hansen (USA) 1 @ 11.25 m, Kristen Baldwin (USA) 2 @ 11.25 m and Sade Ferguson (AUS) 4 @ 11.25 m led the field until  Luisa Jaramillo (COL) set the lake on fire with a score of 1 @ 10.75 metres, behind the 2019 Ski Nautique, to advance into Sunday’s girls slalom final as the #1 seed.

Luisa Jaramillo (Columbia)
Photographer: Ismael Herrero Sanchez

Next event of the day was boys preliminary jump.  Alexander Samoilov (UKR) posted the longest jump of the day, 55.7 metres, followed by William Roberts (USA) 54.9 metres and Blake Keller (USA) with a 53.5 metre jump to advance to the boy’s jump final as the top 3 seeds.

In the girls trick final, current IWWF World Open Women’s Trick Champion and Female Athlete of the Year, Neilly Ross (CAN), won her first IWWF Junior Girls trick title with a score of  9750  points followed by Kennedy Hansen (USA) 7750 points and  Daniela Verswyvel (COL) 6120 points.

Neilly Ross (CAN)
Photographer: David Crowder

In the boys trick final, the new IWWF World Junior Trick Record holder Patricio Font (MEX) did not dissappoint and scored 10700 to reclaim his IWWF World Junior Trick title, only 90 points shy of his IWWF World Record set the previous day.  Winning the silver medal was Felipe Franco Belmont (PER) with a score of 9010, followed by Alexander Samoilov (UKR) winning the bronze medal with 8840 points.

Patricio Font (Mexico)
Photographer: Ismael Herrero Sanchez

The 2nd day of 2018 IWWF World Junior Waterski Championships got underway today at Sesena Waterski & Wakeboard Complex in spectacular fashion with the big boys in slalom series 1 taking to the water.  Thirteen skiers posted scores at the 11 metre line length and four skiing into 10.75 metres.   Federico Jaramillo (COL),  Nicolas Rousselot (FRA) and Nicholas Stegmann (RSA) tied for first place with scores of 2 @10.75 metres.  Tim Tornquist (SWE)  was the other 10.75 skier with one buoy on the scoreboard, advancing to Sunday’s boys slalom final which will have 12 talented skiers competing for an IWWF World Junior Boys slalom title.

IWWF World Junior Boys Trick Record Holder, Patricio Font (Mexico)
photo by Thomas Gustafson

Despite a fall at the end of her first pass in the girls trick series 1 preliminary round, current IWWF World Open Women’s Trick Champion and Female Athlete of the Year, Neilly Ross (CAN), showed class and compusure to post the best score of day, 8290 ponts. Kennedy Hansen (USA) placed 2nd with 7490 and Tayla Simmonds 6190 points to advance to the girls trick final with 9 other skiers.

In final event of the day, the boys trick series 1 preliminary round, the stage was set for  defending IWWF World Junior Trick Champion Patricio Font (MEX) to light up the event, setting a new IWWF World Junior Trick Record with a score of 10,790 points behind the 2019 Ski Nautique, IWWF’s Official World Waterski Championships Towboat. Font’s score was a whopping 2,500 points more than the next best skier, Felipe Franco Belmont (FRA) who scored 8,220.   12 skiers from the preliminary round will advance to Saturday’s boys trick finaland with a new IWWF World Record in the bag, Patricio Font will be looking to complete the task at hand and reclaim his IWWF World Junior Boys Trick title.