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.

At the Austria Stop of the World Waterski Open the international elite of water skiing will compete in the disciplines slalom, trick and jumping. Organized by the most successful Austrian water skier Britta Grebe-Llewellyn, the water sports event will take place on August 20 and 21 from 1 – 6 p.m. with free admission at Lake Plana in Fischlham. A must for every water sports enthusiast.

 

“Women throwdown all the way to the end”

“Can The Story Get Better?”

While the men’s overall battles over the last two years have been highly anticipated and tightly contested, the Women at the WWS Calgary Cup this last weekend showed that there should be just as much excitement around them as well. Brooke Baldwin, Aliaksandra “Sasha” Danisheuskaya, and Kennedy Hansen sent out a signal to their male overall counterparts, telling them to get ready to share the spotlight. Just as with the men, the women’s overall battle raged up to the very final jump of the event, with the results being determined by only a few feet.

To begin the day, Brooke, having fallen early in the prelims and being the first on the water, continued her fine form of slalom, yet was visibly disappointed with her final score of 3.5@11.25. Given her recent string of scores at 10.75, Sasha and Kennedy knew this was a golden opportunity to strike. Kennedy, the next in the water, took the lead, narrowly eclipsing Brooke with a strategic 4@11.25 final score. Finally, Sasha, knowing her strength would come through in the trick event but even more so in Jump, finished with a solid opening event and a score of 2@11.25. Given their strengths in each event, Sasha was considered to have gained the upper hand coming out of slalom.

Yet, the story of overall can take many twists and turns throughout the course of a single day. Brooke decided to take some risk and performed her hard-hands tricks run, starting with the Mobe Back to Backs. Nimbly flowing through each 20-second pass, she finished with a score of 7470. Next up, Kennedy, a rookie on the tour and skiing in her first WWS event, unfortunately falling early in her first run, but still managing 6020 points. Finally, Sasha, knowing that Brooke was putting pressure on her to perform in front of the large Canadian crowd, skied well, but missed a couple crucial tricks to both judges’ decisions, time, and a fall in toes, causing her score to fall from 8030 points in the first round, to 6790 in the second. While the scales were beginning to tip in Brooke’s favor, the jump event still would decide everything.

First on the water due to jumping at the 5’ ramp height, Kennedy looked strong with a score of 42.4m. But her deficit after Trick would be difficult to surmount, as Brooke soared to 46.7m on just a 3/4 cut. Finally, Sasha, knowing she would need a score in excess of 49m, put forth a valiant effort on all three jumps, pushing the battle just to the limit, but ultimately falling just short with a score of 48.2m. 

With her maiden win on the WWS tour, Brooke will take over from Paige Rini as the new tour rankings leader heading into the third stop in Fischlham, Austria. Brooke, Kennedy, and all the other girls will be looking to secure their placements on the tour leaderboard, with Brooke able to clinch the tour title with a win in Austria. Yet, the overall crown is never won until the final jump is done, so be sure to catch all the action on August 20 and 21! Things are about to get even more interesting!

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 Standing 

Full Photo Gallary Of the WWS Calgary Cup – Johnny Hayward

THE MEN OVERALL RECAP STORY

“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