The list of skiers include Manon Costard (FRA) and Joel Howley (AUS) the current IWWF World Slalom Champions, Anna Gay (USA & defending Moomba Masters Champion) and Patricio Font current IWWF Trick Champions, and Jacinta Carrol (AUS) current IWWF World World Women’s Jump Champion. Current IWWF World Waterski Champions and World Record Holders will hit the Yarra River this morning at the  60th Moomba Masters in downtown Melbourne, Australia.

Also joining the field of slalom skiers are former World Slalom Champions Thomas Degasperi (ITA / defending Moomba Masters Champion), Will Asher (GBR), Nate Smith (USA / current IWWF World Record Holder) and Frederick Winter (GBR).

Current Women’s World Trick Record Holder Erika Lang (USA) and current World Men’s Overall Champion  Martin Kolman (CZE & defending Moomba Masters Trick & Overall Champion) will join the field of trick skiers.

2019 ANOC World Beach Games Women’s Jump Champion Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya (BLR), former World Overall Champion Felipe Miranda (CHI) and former World Jump Champion and Record Holder Freddy Krueger (USA & defending Moomba Masters Champion) will compete in the jump event.

Ski Nautique, IWWF’s Official World Waterski Championships towboat, will be used to tow all 3 waterski disciplines – slalom, trick and jump.

The event will be live-streamed all Saturday to Monday.

Another Moomba has come and gone. The 2019 Moomba Masters International Invitational was filled with outstanding skiing, shocking upsets and the same magical flair we have come to expect from the Yarra.

  Let’s begin with slalom. On the women’s side of the action, there was very little doubt surrounding the superb form of Whitney McClintock-Rini (CAN) and her potential to win the event. Whitney showed a cool head to go along with her red-hot skiing, comfortably slaloming her way to the Moomba title, finishing with the three largest scores of the weekend. Manon Costard (FRA) skied consistently and claimed second in all 3 rounds, while Siani Oliver (AUS) finished 3rd as somewhat of an underdog. She started out a little slow but brought the heat when it counted, peaking in the finals and securing the bronze in front of the home crowd.

  The men’s action seemed to be heading in a very familiar direction as well, with Nate Smith (USA) coming off the dock top seed in the finals. Thomas Degasperi (ITA) posted an impressive 2 at 10.25 meters. Nate was unable to beat the score outright, but rather tied Thomas and sent the finals to a runoff. T-Gas was the first skier on the water and after watching the other competitors fail to eclipse his finals score half an hour, he found the conditions too difficult to run 10.75 cold off the dock. He finished with a score of 1.5 at 10.75 and seemed to leave no doubt that Nate would simply round 2 at 10.75 to claim an easy victory. Yet, to the major surprise of the crow, Nate fell around 1 ball and Degasperi was once again a Moomba champion. All so close was hometown hero Joel Howley (AUS), posting a 1.5 at 10.25 to take 3rd. The Men’s action proved to be extremely close, with the river once again showing all the skiers who is really in charge on the Yarra. 

  In tricks, Anna Gay (USA) and Neilly Ross (CAN) continued their back and forth rivalry which has persisted for the last couple of years. Anna claimed the first round, with Neilly turning in the first score above 10,000 points of the event to take round two. But it was Anna who would have the last laugh in this one, peaking little by little each round to finish with a score of 10,040 in the finals. World Record Holder Erika Lang (USA) would round out the top 3 with impressive scores, but off her normal pace just enough to give the two prodigies the edge. Erika had an impressive 2nd place finish in the wakeboard event, undoubtedly an extremely hard situation, switching between events during the course of a season, let alone in the same competition, but Erika handled it superbly. 

  In the men’s event, Martin Kolman (CZE) and Patricio Font (MEX) shared a similar back and forth nature each round. Kolman narrowly took round one, while Pato showed great consistency with back to back 11,200 point scores and was the leader heading into the finals, with Dorien Llewellyn (CAN) maintaining a hold on the third and final podium spot each round. In the finals, Llewellyn and Kolman each crushed their respective runs, tricking 10,090 and 10940 respectively. With the potential to win so close, yet so far, Pato began to feel the unrelenting presence of the Yarra and described his toe pass as “rolling down a hill, getting faster and faster as I went on”. He sucked an edge on a Toe 5 front, knocking himself out of the title race and earning an invite the US Maters. In the end, Kolman, Dorien, and Russell Gay (USA) were the three to receive trophies on the Moomba podium. Jaret Llewellyn (CAN) made his return to the river after a 9 years absence from the Yarra.  He seemed to be back, healthy and very comfortable, placing 4th with a 9100, setting history with a father and son in the same professional final. Time will tell if the sporting world will ever see a father and son, or mother and daughter standing on a podium together. 

 

 

  Once again, the little powerhouse from Australia, Jacinta Carroll, aka – Rabbit, took home the women’s Moomba jump crown with a 56m jump. This should not be taken so lightly, as it is Jacinta’s 6th Moomba title in a row and she continues her winning streak on the professional circuit. Jacinta is continuing to prove that when the dust settles, she very well could go down as one of the top phenoms in all of professional sports. Lauren Morgan (USA) and Giannina Bonnemann (GER) blatted for the second spot. Giannina set the pace with an impressive 50.4m jump, but Lauren answered back on her last attempt with a 51.9m to take 2nd. 

  No one can be confident when it comes to the Yarra, but if anyone looked at ease it was Freddy Krueger (USA) in men’s jump. With the absence of defending champ Ryan Dodd (CAN), patiently awaiting the birth of his first child at home in Orlando, Florida, nobody was able to unthrone Freddy. Coming out in the 1st round, Freddy soared with a smooth 67m jump. The battle for second was fierce and the pace-maker in the finals was Rodrigo Miranda (CHI), who qualified in the 11th spot. Rodrigo nailed a 65.7m on his 1st attempt, but could not find the same timing on his final two attempts. Young gun Taylor Garcia (USA) looked rather impressive, not only taking home the Sunday Night Jump heat win over Freddy but by finishing with a 65.1m jump in the finals. Igor Morozov (RUS) consistency landed just shy of Rodrigo with a 65.3m, seemingly missing just a touch of kick-off of the ramp on each jump. Knowing what he needed to do, Freddy picked a consistent line towards the ramp and demonstrated his amazing spring ability, comfortable flying to a 66.3m opening jump.

  With the sun setting, the top 6-night jumpers came back out to for one more chance at Moomba Glory. The jumpers battled to make the 1st cut, with 3 jumpers left standing. Igor, Freddy, and Taylor all posted jumps bigger than 62.7m and earned the privilege for yet another round on the river. With 2 jumps in the 2nd round, Igor leads off with a 62.6m jump. Having to watch patiently from the dock, Igor exclaimed, “It’s not as big a jump as I wanted, but you never know what could happen here on the Yarra, it might just be enough”. Garcia stepped up and claimed the first finals spot with a huge 64.5m, showing poise beyond his years. With Igor still hoping for a chance at the title, Freddy extinguished all hope with a 65.6m jump, once again finishing top seed. The final round would be determined by a one jump, head to head jump off. Taylor, knowing he would have to find something special to take down Freddy “the Nightmare” Krueger, nailed a 62.3m jump. While the jump was by no means his farthest, the distance was far enough for any jumper to realized that they need to bring forth their very best with only one chance at glory. But, once again, Freddy was dialed in and unleashed a 65.7m jump, the longest of the night, to wrap up this story.

 

The preliminary round… Some believe it to be a free round, yet all feel the nerves of the first round of the Moomba Masters. After spending most of the year on pristine lakes with optimal conditions, the first set back on the Yarra can be a rude awakening to many and unfortunately can leave the long trip over with a great sense of disappointment.

As always, the Yarra river has awakened to claim its first few victims. Among the most notable upsets, Jonathan Travers, Whitney McClintock-Rini, and Aliaksei “Ace” Zharnasek. The river decided to once again remind the ski world why Moomba is an impossible tournament to master. Jon seemed to be in fine shape heading into 3 ball at 11.25 meters, when the river reached up to drive his fin out of the water. Whitney showed her usual dominant self in slalom, finishing top seed in the first round, but surprisingly failed to qualify in tricks, landing heavy on her half-twist to blind and taking a hard fall. Ace, on the other hand, experienced a one in a million accident, with his back binding ripping off the tail of his ski on his first two flips, causing him to loose control mid trick on his second flip. All three of their performances will be missed, but the show goes on.

There were many notable performances on the first two days of competition this year. Robert “Pig” Pigozzi surprised many by tying the course record of 3 at 10.25 meters on his very first set on the Yarra river, a feat never previously accomplished by any first timer. Pigozzi’s new equal course record did not last long though, as Will Asher of Great Britain took to the water only a few skiers later and smashed the record with an incredible score of 5 at 10.25 meters. Pato Font and Martin Kolman put on a clinic in Men’s tricks, both tricking above 11,000 points, with Pato sitting only 200 points behind the leading Kolman. Freddy Krueger sent a message to the rest of the field that Ryan Dodd’s Moomba title is his for the taking, but as always, nothing can be taken for granted on the river.

On the women’s side of things, hometown hero Jacinta Carroll is looking to break Deena Mapple’s consecutive professional event wins record of 39, closing in with 35 jump titles in a row. She once again, looked to be in a league of her own when the jump event begins. Neilly Ross and Anna Gay made their return to the river, finishing 1st and 2nd respectively after the first round, Neilly taking the lead with 10,220 points. As mentioned, Whitney McClintock-Rini heads into the semi-finals day ahead of Manon Costard and the rest of the women’s slalom field as the defending champion.

As is customary, the junior awards were given out after the preliminary round of Open. Many juniors skied exceptionally well, but Sade Ferguson showed why she is a potential Overall super star in the making. She posted great scores in each event, taking home the junior title in Slalom, Jump, and Overall. Pato Font, not only tricked a course record on the river with 11,200 points, but also set a new junior world record with said score, which he immediately broke in the Open division with 11,240 points.

The professional water ski season is set to kick off with the Moomba Masters this weekend. The world’s best skiers are all making the journey to one of water skiing’s most sacred grounds. The Yarra River means so many things to everyone who has either competed or had the privilege to watch this water sports spectacle. Located right in the middle of downtown Melbourne, the Moomba Masters is part of the larger parent event, the Moomba Festival, drawing hundreds of thousands of people down into the heart of the city.

As always, the conditions at Moomba are tricky. Not only does the timing of the event cause many skiers to feel underprepared, many areas still experiencing the harsh cold of winter slowly turning to spring, but the river itself holds many surprises for rookies and veterans alike. It has often been said that the moment any skier believes to have figured out how to ski at Moomba is precisely when the river, in all her glory, transforms, to ensure no skier ever has domain over her. The winner at Moomba is the skier who is able to perform in unison with the river, or perhaps it is the river itself that chooses the winner.

On the men’s side of the action, Nate Smith is the only defending champion to return to the Yarra in 2019, hoping to once again fend off the talents of Freddie Winter, Benjamin Stadlbauer, last year’s second place finisher, and many more. Nevertheless, the field is as talented as ever. In the trick event, world record holder Aliaksei Zharnasek looking to reclaim his title after a disappointing final last year and world number 1, Martin Kolman, hoping to make his mark on the Moomba Masters. Pato Font, coming off a win at the PanAm championships in November, is gunning for his first professional title and has been in stellar form as of late. Notable veterans making their return to the river are Russel Gay and Jaret Llewellyn, hoping to show the crowd some old school magic. The Jump event will feature the American counterpart to the ever increasingly two-man rivalry of Freddy Krueger and Ryan Dodd, with Ryan remaining in Florida in expectation of the arrival of his first child. Things will still be challenging for Freddy, as the likes of Igor Morozov, Taylor Garcia, and the Miranda clan will all be vying for reign of the river at Moomba.

When it comes to the women’s events at Moomba, eyes will always be on Australian, Jacinta Caroll, as she continues to dominate the world of women’s jump and will also, once again, compete against the men in the night jump semifinals, a can’t miss event. Trick champion Erika Lang will have her hands full this year as the prodigies Anna Gay and Neilly Ross make their return to the river after a one year hiatus, with Giannina Bonneman, Whitney McClintock, and Paige Rini rounding out what will make for an extremely exciting trick event. Finally, after a strong showing in 2018, winning multiple professional events such as the Masters, Mannon Costard will certainly give Whitney McClintock, who has been continually dominant on the Yarra for years, a serious run for the Moomba crown.

With all this and so much more on display over the course of the long weekend, you won’t want to miss any of the action.

The event started out with women tricks and Erika Lang was first off the dock. With two solid standup passes, Lang set the pace. With the mounting pressure, many skiers tried to perform their hard trick runs, causing some to fall early, such Whitney McClintock and Natalia Cuglievan. Natalia Berdnikava and Giannina Bonnemann both impressive the crowd with stand up runs but Erika held onto the win with 9,240.

Men’s tricks Jimmy Siemers had a stellar performance, rocking two passes but just falling short on his last flip of his hand pass. With 9920 Jimmy left the door open for the next trickers. Siemers was followed by big upsets on early falls from both Pato Font and Franck Desboyaux. Yet, the biggest shock came from World Record Holder Aliaksei Zharnasek, who stumbled early on his 1st pass. Ace was forced to ditch a couple of tricks mid sequence and tried to recover points by adding bigger tricks to the end of his run. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off and even the World Record Holder ended up in the water early. Dorien Llewellyn displayed his consistency with two rock solid runs, only losing one big trick (TWLBB=480pt) and ending up with 9740, just short of Siemers. The final was completed when Aliaksei score came through with 9660, giving him 3rd place. Other notable skiing also came from Martin Labra. The 11-year-old tricked in 6 rounds, standing up every round and improving his score all the way to the end.

In women slalom there seemed to be a traffic jam each round at 2@11. With Karen Truelove,
Manon Costard, Vennesa Vieke all getting a piece of 3 in prelims and semi-rounds, leaving the
question of who would be the one to put the pressure on Whitney McClintock-Rini. In the
finals, Manon stepped up to the plate and posted a score of 2.5 at 11-meters to put some
pressure on Whitney. Whitney had to make sure she would have to get a good start at 11, if she
was going to take out the win. She had been rock solid every round, showing that confidence is
the only way to dominate the Yarra river. Whitney got a good start, but needed to pull all the
way to 3 ball resulting in taking a massive hit to get the full 3 buoy score. This marks Whitney’s
7th Moomba Master Slalom Title, a pretty impressive feat for such a young skier.

After two days of low scoring rounds, the Men’s slalom final was primed for a strong showing on Moomba Monday. Stephen Neveu came out of the gate swinging (both literally and metaphorically). He set the tone with a huge 2 buoys at 10.25 meters, the highest score of the tournament and only one buoy shy of the course record. Young guns Thomas Loft and Joel Poland showed glimpses of excellence during their final sets on the river, but had to settle for scores at 11.25 after unfortunate falls. As the event progressed, the strong tail current on each skier’s first pass was accompanied by an increasing tail wind. Despite valiant efforts from Will Asher, Benjamin Stadlbaur, and defending champion Thomas Degasperi, Neveu held firm to the lead as both Asher and Degasperi came flying by 2 ball at 10.25. The combined speed from the wind and current was simply too much for them to reach the buoy in time. In impressive fashion, Nate Smith’s nerves of steel made him unbeatable once again. Smith looked at ease as he ran 10.75 and strong coming back with a 3 at 10.25. In the end, Benny’s semi-final high score broke the tie with Asher and Degasperi for 3rd, Neveu finished in 2nd, and Smith took home another 1st place victory.

The jump event was a chess games for every competitor in the finals. A strong head wind and head current were accompanied by a high frequency of wind gusts. Experienced skiing was on order and Natalia Berdnikava and Marion Mathieu-Ellis were up to the challenge. Each were able to find their timing for a good jump, with Marion flying 171 ft. and Nati landing 2 feet father with a 173 ft. jump. Jacinta Carroll also struggled with the gusty winds but her brute strength from power lifting paid off with a huge leap of 187feet.

The conditions continued to change sporadically as the men took to the water. With the timing for the turn to the ramp already being difficult on the Yarra, many jumpers only were able to get one good jump on the board. Felipe Miranda even elected to pass on his final two jumps, his first jump of 213 ft. being his only score. Yet that is the beauty of the jump event, you only need everything to fall into place once!

The rivalry of Freddy Krueger and Ryan Dodd continued to intensify every day. Freddy’s normal fashion would be to knock one out of the park on his 1st jump but he failed to find his rhythm on his first two jumps of the finals. Still missing some speed but getting his legs on his 3rd, Freddy left the door open for Dodd. Still, 217 ft. is respectable jump. Ryan tried to ease into his jump set for a smooth controlled win, but he came up short twice, realizing that it was not so easy out on the water. With everything on the line and one jump, Ryan came into the bottom of the ramp with tons of speed and booted a 225 ft. jump for one incredible final.

But wait, it’s not over, night jump is on. Top 6, Claudio Kostenberger, Scott Ellis, Rodrigo and Felipe Miranda, and of course Freddy and Ryan all begin with 3 jumps in the dark off a 5.6 ft ramp. Felipe, Ryan and Freddy all posted solid scores and were able to move onto the next two jump round. Ryan and Freddy would get one more chance to challenge each other as they proved to be the last two left standing for the one jump, head to head finals. Freddy was on the water first and nailed a 216 for redemption from day jump. Ryan dug deep and once again had crazy speed into the bottom of the ramp, but couldn’t find his legs and came up short with 204.

The Moomba Masters never leaves the crowd disappointed. This event is like no other in the world. With skyscrapers in the background and crowds in excesses of 15,000 sitting on the banks of the Yarra River each day, skiers from around the world consider it one of the best, if not the best, events every year. Crowds are memorized by the breath-taking performance from the greatest skiers and wakeboarders on the planet. If you are a water sports enthusiast, Moomba is one event you must put on you bucket list. Melbourne is one incredible city and the Australians are some of the friendliest people on the planet. So plan now to join us next year at the 2019 Moomba Masters!

For more results, stories and profiles of your favorite athletes, go to www.worldwaterskiers.com

Plenty of action was on the menu this Sunday for the Semi-finals day of the Moomba International presented by Nautique. Big names went down in Slalom, new faces made big statements, and jumpers posted both big scores and scary moments.

In Women’s tricks, Yarra newcomer Giannina Bonnemann laid down two stand up passes, finishing with a score of 8980 to take the lead into the final day of competition. On upset alert was former world record holder Erika Lang, who fell only four flips into her hands run. In an unusual turn of events for her, Lang had to rely on her toe pass to make it through to the finals. She was able to stand up her second pass and grab the final spot heading into Moomba Monday.

In the Men’s event, Ace once again was unstoppable. Even while missing a couple tricks in his run, he is in the lead heading into the finals. The big story of Men’s tricks was the emergence of young 11-year- old Martin Labra, who may have just become the youngest finalist of all time at a Moomba Masters (no source was used in this statement). The eight men making it through to the final all could make a good run at the title, but in the end, its Ace’s day to lose.

Men’s jump featured the classic jumping giants against each other. Ryan Dodd and Freddy Krueger are only adding fuel to their ever growing rivalry. Their back and forth
competition is leaving the spectators on their seats at every jump. Joshua Wallent proved himself very well in the semi-finals, posting a new personal best of 62.3 meters to finish 7 th andqualifying for the finals tomorrow.

In the Night Jump event, Claudio Kostenberger made up for his mistakes in the day jump, not making it through the semis, by securing one of six spots in the final Monday night. Yet once again, the event turned into Canada vs. the USA, Dodd vs. Krueger. The two were joined by Igor Morozoff in the second round of the heat, but in the end, the final one jump round was down to the two rivals. Dodd jumped first, posting a score of 66.5 meters. Despite soaring for the longest jump of the entire event only moments before in the second round of the heat jump off with a 68.6 meter jump, Freddy did not get a hold of his one jump, ending with a distance of 61.9. Dodd took this round, but come tomorrow, everything will begin again for the two. Be sure not to miss it!

The final day of competition will run all of Monday.

Just when you think the upsets have already happened, the Yarra river reminds you who’s boss. The Men’s semi-final action has just ended and a couple of the biggest names in the sport have fallen out of competition. Corey Vaughn, Nick Adams, Joel Howley, and Felipe Miranda all fell early and have failed to advance to the final round. Howley will be especially disappointed after such a strong showing last night at the night slalom, where he tied Nate Smith for the win.

Yarra Rookie sensation Joel Poland was first on the water and smashed his way into the finals with a score of 2 at the 10.75-meter line, a quality score on the river for even the best in the world. Several skiers came and went before Benjamin Stadlbaur finally took the reins from Poland with 3 at the 10.75 and held the lead all the way through the event. Thomas Loft of Denmark also showed poise on the water, improving by a quarter buoy to 4 ¼ at 11.25.

The final results saw Stadlbaur, Poland, and Loft joined by Nate Smith, Will Asher, Jon Travers, defending Moomba champ Thomas Degasperi, and Stephen Neveu. The finals will be held at 2:30 AEST and is sure to hold much excitement as well, so don’t miss a moment!

When things go wrong on the Yarra, there is a special saying the Pros like to use to explain what happened. It’s a very short and simple phrase, yet it inspires a shake of the head and a smile every time it is uttered.

“Welcome to Moomba.”

Although many of the veteran skiers were able to control the variables and the ever-changing conditions of the Yarra River, others fell to its traps. The most notable upset of the day was the “Bear”, Freddie Winter. Winter unfortunately had an equipment malfunction, causing him to eject from his binding at the first buoy at the 11-meter line length. He finished one spot out from the finals. Right behind him were two Moomba rookies, Dorien Llewellyn and Mario Mustafa, who both were a bit shell shocked by the difficult conditions. Mustafa seemed surprised, saying, “last night [for night slalom] I felt really good, but when I got out there today it was a completely different feeling”. Yet standout performances came from two of the youngest competitors of the day, namely Joel Poland and Jack Christie. Poland, another rookie on the river, was able to run 1 ½ buoys at the 11-meter line length, finishing just in front of Freddie Winter, and Christie, only 17 years of age, impressed many with 3 at 11-meters.

The trick preliminaries also proved difficult, with scores coming in lower than some skiers would have expected. Yet the dominance of Aliaksei Zharnasek continued, as “Ace” finished as the top seed heading into the semi-finals. Pato Font, who just won Jr. Moomba two days ago, also continued his own pattern of consistency, throwing down a huge score of 10,610 points to grab the second spot behind Ace.

The Women’s semi-finals in slalom was a fight for one of 6 spots for the final. Whitney McClintock-Rini showed her confidence on the river, posting the same score from the preliminary round with 4 at 11. Alexandra Garcia made a big statement with a score of 1 at 11 meters. Not only a Jr. skier, but also a rookie on the river, she showed maturity beyond her years, grabbing the 6th spot into the finals on Monday.

The hometown hero, Joel Howley, brought the crowd to their feet during the night slalom event, tying for the lead with the ever-present Nate Smith. Both Howley and Smith tapped out the maximum of 4 allotted passes, running 6 buoys at the 10.75-meter rope length. Facing off in a head to head tie breaker, both men had the chance to break the course record at 10.25-meters. Once again Smith and Howley tied with 2.5 buoys and the event ended with two victors.

The final event was the second heat of the Men’s Night Jump. Proving their positions on the rankings, the top 3 seeded skiers, Dorien Llewellyn, Emille Ritter, and Rodrigo Miranda, all moved into the second round. Dorien jumped first, posting a score of 194 ft, which he didn’t think was enough to make the final round. Yet on his second jump, Ritter unfortunately crashed, leaving Miranda and Llewellyn in the one jump final round. Once again, Dorien was first on the water and going for broke, landed a 197 ft. jump. Miranda also took a big cut at the ramp, but wasn’t able to hold direction. Slipping off the top of the ramp, Miranda landed short and Dorien lifted his ski up in triumph. A big win for this first time Moomba Night Jump competitor.   

Big action today, with the semi-finals in Men’s slalom, Women & Men Tricks, and Women & Men Jump. Tonight the big names hit the ramp, vying for a spot into Moomba Night Jump finals.

Check out all the Live webcast @

The Yarra claims it’s victims once again at this year’s Moomba Masters in Melbourne Australia. The weather was ideal and the river was as good as it could possibly be. Still some incredible skiing from the best skiers in the world in competing for the prestigious Moomba Masters title.

Whitney McClintock showed her confidence on the river and took out the top spot for the women’s slalom. Australia’s Jacinta Carroll is still on fire setting a new course record which was previously hers at 56.7m. She sets the new course record at 57.5m which she will be gunning for in each and every round to take out the crown.

On Freddy Krueger’s first attempt, he went straight out the front with the incredible role to save himself – almost landing in skiing position. Incredibly Freddy follows up with a 68.5m to take away the top position over Canada’s Ryan Dodd. After Freddy crashing in front of Ryan, Ryan takes it easy to feel out the river giving it the respect it deserves. The next round should be an all out battle.

The first round of night jump was an incredible spectacle. In total darkness and with fireworks going on during some of the event, Jacinta Carroll skiing against the men takes out the win for the night.

 

Check out Tournament Page with all the results a link to the live webcast and check out all the photos on our Facebook page.

We are one day away from the start of one of the biggest tournaments of the year, the Moomba Masters. Skiers from all over the world rave about Moomba, describing it as one of the greatest events ever in our sport. The event will take place during the Moomba Festival in downtown Melbourne, Australia, which only serves to multiply the crowd on shore. Every year thousands of people come to watch the skiing, with predictions shooting into over two hundred thousand spectators over the course of the week.

Moomba not only features the best professional skiers on the planet, but also some of the greatest junior talent as well. The beauty of the event comes from these young skiers being able to compete in the same environment as their idols, only igniting their passions even more. The junior events begin tomorrow, Wednesday, March 7 and will finish on Friday, March 9. Junior Moomba will have skiers vying for titles in Slalom, Trick, Jump, and the prestigious Overall crown.

The professional skiers will begin their tournament on the final day of the junior competition. The first day will be filled with the lower seeds in slalom along with all of the Men and Women Jumpers. The day finishes off with series 3 of Night Jump, which all viewers should be excited for as Australia’s own Jacinta Carroll will be competing for a place in the finals alongside the men. Knowing Jacinta, her odds are pretty good.

The second day focuses on the Men and Women trick skiers, along with some higher seeded slalom skiers as well. Once again the day finished with Night Jump, this time being series 2, and also Men’s night slalom.

Sunday, March 11, is highlighted by all of the semi finals for each event. The night events for Sunday are the top seeded jumpers and a wakeboard night competition. The series 1 night jump will pit World Champion Ryan Dodd against 6 of the best jumpers from around the world.

Finals day will be Monday, March 12, which the skiers have come to know as “Moomba Monday”. The day begins with the Trick Finals at 11:20 AEST, then moving to Slalom at roughly 1:25 AEST, before the Jump finals at 3:30 AEST. The day will wind down with the Wakeboard finals, followed by the Night Jump Finals, which will begin at 8 AEST.

Moomba will be broadcasted on a live webcast every day and live scoring will be down on World Water Skiers. The WWS also holds important information, such as the entire event schedule and the scores from each event, Junior and Open alike. With so much excitement right around the corner, be sure to keep yourself updated so that you don’t miss out on a single moment!

#WorldWaterskiers

#moombaMasters

MOOMBA MASTERS DRAMA AS RECORDS EXCEEDED SIX TIMES AND THOUSANDS ENJOY THE THRILLING DOWNTOWN SPECTACLE ON MELBOURNE’S YARRA RIVER.

Every Labour Day holiday weekend, always the second one of March, the Moomba Festival in Melbourne Australia attracts over one million visitors during the four day programme. The highlight for many is the Moomba Masters Waterski and Wakeboard competition. Held on the Yarra River against the backdrop of towering skyscrapers and manicured parklands, this was a vintage year with Course Records exceeded a total of six times !

The programme included Slalom, Tricks, Jump and Wakeboard. Competitors took part from Belarus, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Peru, Russia and USA. Nautique provided all the competition boats and support staff and the City of Melbourne ensured that the facilities were just perfect !

Taking first place in Women’s Slalom, the defending Moomba Masters champion, Canadian Whitney McClintock, equalled the Course Record of 2 buoys on the 10.75m line in Round 1. She also set a new Course Record in the Semi Finals of 5 buoys on this line. Taking second place, Manon Costard FRA was also superb. She equalled the old Course Record twice. Canada’s Breanne Dodd took third place with one buoy on the 11.25m line.

 

The Men’s Slalom Finals were drama loaded ! Three past and present World Champions took part. Five international stars dominated throughout – Corey Vaughn USA, Freddy Winter GBR, Thomas Degasperi ITA, Will Asher GBR and Nate Smith USA. Freddy Winter topped Round 1. World Champion and World Record holder Nate Smith topped the Semi Finals. Nobody anticipated the drama of the Finals ! Winter and Degasperi set the pace with 5 buoys on the 10.75m line. Third last off the dock, Will Asher brought a roar from the huge crowd with 1 buoy on the shorter 10.25m line – just two short of the Course Record. Vaughn came next but unfortunately missed his opening gates on the 10.75m line. That left Nate Smith to take the title but in just equalling Asher’s score, a Run-Off was called by Chief Judge Jeff Smith USA. Asher was then first out. He quickly scored 4.5 buoys on the 10.75m line. Smith rose to the occasion. He gave a gold medal victory wave to the cheering Melbourne spectators as he passed Asher’s limit. At this stage, a very disappointed Will Asher was already leaving the area but he then heard the commentators announce that on video review, Nate Smith had actually missed his opening gates. The 2016 Moomba Masters Slalom title was to be his after all. What a dramatic conclusion to a fantastic event with Asher, Smith and Degasperi taking the podium places.

 
In Women’s Tricks, the 9,470 points Course Record was exceeded no less than four times by the three youngest competitors. In Round 1, Erika Lang USA scored 9,570 points but 16 year-old World Champion Anna Gay USA pushed that further to 9,700 points. In the Semi-Finals, Gay did even better with 9,920 points and equalled that yet again in the Finals to take the title. Fourteen year-old Neilly Ross clocked up 9,290 points in Round 1 and took the bronze medal in the Finals behind Gay and Lang.

 

 

 

In Men’s Tricks, four athletes exceeded 10,000 points. One exceeded 11,000. Although the Course Record holder Alaiksei Zharnasek BLR did not beat his own Course Record of 11,870, his score of 11,570 was close and good enough to take the title. Having watched his 16 year-old daughter Anna take the Women’s Tricks title, Russell Gay took the silver medal with a solid score of 10,890 ahead of Franck Desboyaux with 10,780 points. This was just 40 points ahead of Australia’s U21 Tricks Champion Joshua Briant.

 

At 15.45hrs, Women’s Jump event began with the thousands of spectators waiting to see if their own World Champion, Jacinta Carroll, could take the Moomba title against very tough international competition. The Course Record was 53.8m. It was exceed twice on the Nautique Jump Ramp this time around. Lauren Morgan USA was the first to break the 50m distance with a great 50.1m score – enough for a bronze medal. Alex Lauretano USA responded with 51.7m to take the silver medal. To the crowd’s delight, Jacinta Carroll was in a league of her own with a distance of 54.2m to take the title, having already set a new Course Record in Round 1 of 54.3m.

 

In Men’s Jump, all eyes were on the newly crowned World Jump Champion, Ryan Dodd CAN. Adam Sedlmajer was first on the water. His 62.2m was a great start. Rodrigo Miranda CHI raised this to 65.3m before Igor Morozov RUS pushed it further to 66.3m. The last three on the water included past Moomba champion Damien Sharman GBR, Bojan Schipner GER and Ryan Dodd CAN. Sharman immediately took the lead with 66.6m. Schipner brought a roar from the huge crowd with 70.2m – and that added almost a meter to Course Record. Now it was all down to the World Champion Ryan Dodd to respond. He had a very impressive set with 64.5m, 66.9m and 67.5m but Schipner had just taken the biggest title of his career to date. Dodd took Silver and Sharman Bronze.

 

Before the enormous Fireworks Display, the Waterski Overall Champions were announced and the star studded Wakeboard finals again brought the best to the top. In Waterski Overall, Adam Sedlmajer CZE and Clementine Lucine FRA took Gold, Josh Briant AUS and Whitney McClintock CAN took Silver and Luke Outram GBR and Abbi Gratwohl USA took Bronze. In Wakeboard, it was the Big Three who did the business. Mike Dowdy landed a solid Double Back-Roll, Cory Teunissen landed a 1080, but as ever it was Harley Clifford who came out on top throwing down almost a perfect run. Harley Clifford AUS took Gold, Cory Teunissen AUS Silver and Mike Dowdy USA Bronze.

 

MOOMBA MASTERS RESULTS : http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/16AUS326

MOOMBA MASTERS WEBSITE : http://www.moombamasters.com.au/index.html

NAUTIQUE WEBSITE : http://www.nautique.com

#MoombaMasters
#Nautique
#Moomba Festival

IWWF CONTACT : Des Burke-Kennedy, Media Chairman, International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation

SCORCHING SUNSHINE FOR MELBOURNE’S MOOMBA MASTERS NEXT WEEK AS ATHLETES FROM 14 COUNTRIES HEAD FOR THE DOWNTOWN YARRA RIVER ONCE AGAIN.

With temperatures exceeding 30C / 86Fh, this is going to be a real scorcher ! The earlier high quality Entry List is virtually intact, the NAUTIQUE Jump Ramp is in the water, the tented village is well under way – and next week huge crowds will certainly pack this stunning city centre arena for Moomba Masters 2016.

In Waterski, the latest news is that superstars Freddy Krueger and Karen Truelove will not be able to join us this time around and we will miss their very special talents. However, with close to 120 Men and Women Skiers from 14 countries plus some of the best Wakeboard Riders in the world, the Official Timetable is packed from dawn till very late night every day. You can see all the ENTRIES and details here : http://www.moombamasters.com

Make sure you pass this Link to all your friends – and If you can’t join us here in Melbourne for the 2016 Moomba Masters, you can still enjoy every moment of the fun LIVE on ProSkiers.com or on USTREAM – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/AWMBE9BmtZh

Darren Robertson, Fran Hynes, Wayne Briant and all the team are working flat out right now on the finishing touches. David Kidd may be on crutches but that never stopped him from doing what has to be done on the water. In the commentary box we will have Jarrod Faoro, Des Burke-Kennedy, Rob Wing, Dave Ryan and more to keep Moomba alive all day ! Good luck to all the Skiers, Riders, Officials and Organisers – and the City of Melbourne !

By – Des Burke-Kennedy

Not only is the annual Moomba Masters the first major Waterski & Wakeboard international event of the year, it is also by far the biggest spectacle. One year ago, an estimated 200,000 spectators enjoyed the Waterski and Wakeboard programme. Dating back to 1955, the entire Moomba Festival set a record of 1.7 million in attendance in 1996. By any standards, this is a very special event for all involved. With sunny 28C / 82Fh conditions forecasted, this promises to be a vintage year for Australia’s Labor Day celebrations.

The competitors from 16 countries will include no less than six newly crowned World Champions. Clearly, each will be under enormous pressure to prove themselves on the Yarra River in the shadow of the Rod Laver Arena in downtown Melbourne. The river itself is an enormous challenge for the athletes with varying currents, tidal impact and occasional debris. With it’s 242kms length it is surprisingly clean for a city waterway and is reputed to now have 15 species of native fish – a great credit to the City of Melbourne.

Nate Smith USA, World Waterski Slalom champion and World Record holder, is also the defending Moomba Masters champion. He is more than likely to score again on the very short 10.25m line as he did here last year, making him the hot favorite. In Men’s Jump, drama is guaranteed. Canadian Ryan Dodd’s dream came true in Chapala, Mexico, last November when he was crowned World Champion for the first time. However, the defending Moomba champion, Freddy Krueger, with seven World Record’s already in the bag, will push Dodd to the absolute limit. Women’s Jump will also get the 200,000 spectators on their feet as Jacinta Carroll AUS, two time World Jump champion, will also be defending her Moomba Masters title. She may well exceed a distance of 55m if her recent arm injury is not a factor. In Tricks, everybody will want to see for themselves the talent of young Anna Gay USA. At just 15 years old, she stunned all last November by taking the World Champion Tricks title with a personal best score of 10,010 points. Her 14 year-old friend and World Championships silver medalist Neilly Ross CAN will join defending Moomba champion Natallia Berdnikava BLR in this Tricks battle. One to watch closely also is Adam Sedlmajer CZE. Crowned World Overall champion last November, he will take on Felipe Miranda CHI and Joel Wing AUS in his attempt to add the title of Moomba Masters 2016 Overall champion to his collection.

In Wakeboard, with recently crowned World Champion Massi Piffaretti ITA not attending, there will be a thrilling duel between the super stars Harley Clifford AUS, Phil Soven USA and World Cup Mandurah champion Cory Teunissen AUS. All are at the peak of their skills right now. However, Shota Tezuka JPN and Tony Iacconi AUS who could create surprises. In Women’s Wakeboard, World Champion Meagan Ethell USA, as with all the other recently crowned World Champions, will have high hopes of adding Moomba Masters 2016 titles to her achievements.

Just weeks ago, Correct Craft signed a major global agreement with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation to provide Nautique competition boats for the next ten years for the range of Waterski World Championships events. By special arrangement with the Victorian Waterski Association, Correct Craft will also provide Nautique boats and support services for the upcoming 2016 Moomba Masters.

Moomba Masters 2016 Website : http://www.moombamasters.com
Moomba Masters 2016 Results : www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/16AUS326
Moomba 2016 Webcast : ProSkiers.com or on USTREAM – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/AWMBE9BmtZh

By – Des Burke-Kennedy