The Fluid Cup: A Thrilling Finale to the 2024 World Water Skiers Overall Tour

The 2024 World Water Skiers Overall Tour concluded with a dramatic finish at the iconic Ski Fluid in Polk County, Florida. Managed by legendary New Zealander Kyle Eade, this world-class venue, renowned for hosting more world records than any other site, set the stage to crown the year’s champions. Despite facing significant challenges, the event delivered unforgettable performances that captivated the audience.

Overcoming the Odds

The road to the Fluid Cup was far from smooth. Just a week before the event, Hurricane Milton swept through Central Florida, leaving torrential rains, flooding, and widespread damage. Ski Fluid’s dedicated team worked tirelessly to repair docks, courses, and backwash systems, ensuring the venue was ready for competition. Their resilience embodied the indomitable spirit of the sport.

Compounding the challenges, the forecast predicted winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph. With no option to reschedule, organizers and athletes braced for unpredictable conditions, demonstrating their resilience.

The Competition Unfolds

Originally scheduled with Friday preliminaries and Saturday finals, the competition faced disruptions due to the weather. Gusty winds forced organizers to cancel the trick and jump events on Friday, following the slalom preliminaries. The decision was made to move all qualified athletes directly into the overall finals on Sunday morning, taking advantage of the calmer conditions expected.

 

 

 

Jump: A Soaring Start

The finals began with the Jump event, capitalizing on the milder morning winds, which ranged from 5 to 10 mph. Martin Labra set the pace with a personal best of 63.9 meters, followed closely by Ukraine’s Danylo Filchenko at 63.8 meters. Canada’s Thomas Daigle and Italy’s Edoardo Marenzi approached the 200-foot mark, but fell short. Martin Kolman surged ahead with a 64.7-meter jump, only to be overtaken by Louis Duplan-Fribourg’s impressive 68.1-meter leap. Dorien Llewellyn responded with 65.7 meters, but Louis remained in the lead. Finally, Joel Poland shocked the crowd with a massive 70.6-meter jump on his final attempt, claiming the top spot and leaving spectators in awe.

 

Slalom: Navigating the Gusts

By the time the Slalom event began, the winds had increased to 10 mph, with gusts reaching 15 mph. Jake Abelson, recovering from illness, managed 3 buoys at 11.25 meters, a performance equaled by Martin Labra. Edoardo Marenzi and Martin Kolman ran the 11-meter line downwind but couldn’t surpass the leaders.

Louis Duplan-Fribourg ran the 11-meter line into a headwind, scoring 2 buoys at 10.75 meters. Dorien Llewellyn adjusted his strategy after his first run, opting for the 12-meter line. Gambling on running the 11-meter pass downwind, Dorien aimed to get deep into 10.75 meters or even run it completely. Unfortunately, the strong headwind at ball 3 prevented a proper turn to reach ball 4. Joel also tackled the 11-meter line downwind, but a narrow start at 10.75 meters resulted in a finish at 2 buoys. Dorien’s performance closed the gap in points with Joel and Louis, setting the stage for a dramatic final showdown in Tricks.

Tricks: Deciding the Champion

As the Trick event unfolded, winds now steady at 12 mph+, demanded total focus from the athletes. Jake and Martin Labra, the young guns who have consistently posted 12,000+ points throughout the season, faced challenges. Jake, unfortunately fell early on his toe tricks, scoring 8,050 points. Martin also fell midway through his hand pass, finishing with 6,740 points. The tough conditions prevented Thomas and Edoardo from closing the gap to move up in the standings.

Rain began falling even harder during Martin Kolman’s turn, causing him to lose control on his toe pass. Though he salvaged his run, the interruption cost him valuable time, leaving him with 9,370 points. Louis, undeterred by the downpour, posted a strong 11,350 but fell on his final trick (TWL5B) while attempting to push past the 12,000 mark, leaving the door open for Dorien and Joel.

As the rain intensified, Dorien started strong but stumbled on a T5F grab, costing him valuable time and a key trick at the end of his pass. As Dorien switched his toe ski for a hand ski, the rain began to subside. His hand pass was solid, but he bailed on a SL5B, finishing with 10,350 points. With all the scores in, Joel needed 10,700 points to secure the Fluid Cup win. The rain stopped completely, and with everything going his way, Joel stuck to a steady game plan. The toe pass went smoothly, but the big question remained: Would he play it safe, or go big with his signature Mobius 5? Joel, known for never holding back, opted for the daring Mobius 5, executing it flawlessly to score 11,630 points, clinching the Fluid Cup victory.

A Season to Remember

The 2024 WWS Overall Tour concluded with Joel Poland finishing atop the rankings with 300 points. Louis and Dorien tied after 4 events, but Louis edged out Dorien for second place by just 10 points, benefiting from WWS rules that only count the top three stops for each skier. Martin, a consistent performer throughout the season, secured fourth, just 20 points behind Dorien—a photo finish!

This season showcased incredible dedication, resilience, and sportsmanship from the athletes. Relive the action with all five highlight storyline episodes on the WWS Overall Tour page. Special thanks to Huston GMC Motors, Dehilnger Insurance, and Polk County for their local support, as well as the WWS Tour sponsors who made this tour possible.

Mark your calendars for next year to witness and meet the world’s best water skiers in action. Until then, explore all the stops on the WWS Tour page, browse incredible unseen photo albums, and share news stories with friends and family. Make sure you follow WWS on social media so you don’t miss a moment. Let this inspire you to get out on the water and experience the thrill for yourself!

Full Photo Gallery 

To watch the Highlights Show click the Fluid Cup Tournament Page!

The WWS Travers Cup: Home of the World Record

The WWS Travers Cup 2024 Wrap-up

Performing better than anyone in the history of sport is typically a rarity, something that so few have the privilege to achieve, yet when waterskiing comes to Jack Travers Sunset Lakes, the chances of witnessing a World Record increase dramatically. Looking back to the 2021 World Championships at Sunset Lakes, Joel Poland, and Dorien Llewellyn were both pushing the boundaries of the Overall World Record during the preliminary round, with Joel taking over the top seed and setting a new World Record in the process. Fast forward 3 years and throughout the WWS Travers Cup, 3 World Records were broken again here at Sunset Lakes, yet this time both in the Open and U17 category within the Pro event.

With the most competitive Overall field to date, the WWS Travers Cup preliminary round was immediately action-packed. The slalom round started off the fireworks with 3 skiers, namely Joel Poland (GBR), Edoardo “Edo” Marenzi (ITA), and Dorien Llewellyn (CAN), running through the 10.75m line length and many personal bests, all the competitors knew that they would need to bring their top form to make it through to the next round. Moving into the trick event, there were many top scores, with Joel, Dorien, Louis Duplan-Fribourg (FRA), and Martin Kolman (CZE), skiing strong enough scores to separate themselves from the rest of the field, but the battle for the last 2 spots in the final would be hotly contested between young guns Jake Abelson (USA), Martin Labra (CHI), and Edo. With Martin and Edo having a lower-than-expected trick score, they knew their jump scores would need to far surpass Jake’s, as the current World Trick Record holder put out a superb score of 12220. In the end, Jake would miss out on the spots in the finals, but jumping at a slower speed and lower ramp height typically designated for the U17 division, he instead set a new Pending U17 Overall World Record. In addition, Joel would join Jake in the World Record endeavor, as he set another Pending Open Overall World record as well.

As the skiers reset for final day, many of the skiers had aspirations of undoing Joel’s current dominance on the Overall crown, seeing the perfect conditions of Sunset Lakes as a chance to put their own mark in the history of waterskiing. Beginning once again with the slalom event, many of the previous days’ personal best were seemingly hard to come by. Among the biggest upsets of the final round of slalom were Dorien Llewellyn falling at the first buoy at 10.75m, which would prove a massive hole to climb out of for the Canadian, Louis Duplan-Fribourg missing the 11.25m line length, and Martin Kolman finishing with a score of 3@10.75m. With Edo Merenzi midway through the 10.75m line length and Martin Labra missing his 11m line length pass, the field was understandably frustrated with their slalom performances, knowing the monster that was about to come. Joel Poland smelt blood in the water and powered his way through 10.75m, as he often does, to give himself a commanding lead straight out of the gate, finishing with 2@10.25m. Now it was up to the field to catch up through tricks.

Overall is often considered to “live or die” by the trick event, with the potential swing of scores anywhere from 0 to over 12000 points. One mistake can completely upend an overall round. Thus, standing up both trick passes was critical for all the finalists, which almost every skier was able to do. Outside of a frustrating fall for Marenzi, all of the finalists finished with a trick score between 11520 and 12030, which created a dramatic podium race with only one problem, Joel’s score was the 12030-point lead. On another World Record pace, Joel would have to make a large mistake in the jump event to relinquish his hold on the Travers Cup title, yet, the battle between Dorien, Louis, and Martin was increasingly tightening and would come down to whoever won in jump, with Dorien and Martin virtually deadlocked and Louis just behind, needing to make up about 2m in distance to surpass them for 2nd place.

Once again, Sunset Lakes proved to be one of the premier jump sites on the planet, with beautiful conditions allowing the skiers to push themselves to the limit. Young superstar Martin Labra found the stronger wind challenging, looking frustrated with a personal best 207ft jump, knowing there was much more to be found on such a great jump lake. Martin would finish 5th off the podium, but for a 2024 debut from the 18-year-old, it was certainly a mighty strong showing for the future to come along with Jake Abelson. Martin Kolman would be the first to take the water of the podium hopefuls, looking his strongest on tour and finishing with another personal best of 213ft, signaling to the rest of the field that he would not go down without a fight. Next, Dorien Llewellyn, who has struggled to find his form in jump so far this year, showed a glimpse of his old self on jump number 1, flying 219ft through the air a given a small fist bump, which looked to be equal to parts of relief that he had finally found a rhythm or the excitement that he landed himself ahead of Martin Kolman.

Coming down to our final 2 competitors, everything would still be on the line for Louis Duplan-Fribourg. Thriving in strong headwind conditions due to his physical strength, Louis rounded the 600ft buoy and charged into the ramp with ample speed, letting the strong boat pull him to another personal best score of 227ft, a new French National Record and also the lead ahead of Dorien. Finally, it was Joel’s event to lose. Coming into his turn a bit slower than Louis, Joel turned extremely patiently for the ramp, making his approach to the ramp increasingly later with each passing millisecond until the boat roared him through the top of the ramp and a solid opening jump of 222ft. The win was his, but he would need to find a little bit more for a second consecutive Overall Record. With Dorien Llewellyn as the only person to ever break an Overall Record twice in the same tournament, Joel pushed himself to the limit on each jump to join Dorien on that list. Building speed and float on each jump, Joel would finish jumps 2 and 3 with scores of 225ft and 228ft, giving him his second World Record of the weekend and capping a run of sheer dominance this year with only one WWS Overall Tour Stop left to go.

With his 3rd consecutive WWS Overall Tour title secured, Joel’s dominance in the sport continues. But the battle for the remaining podium spots is far from over, as Dorien, Louis, and Martin are all in contention for year-end bonus money and bragging rights, with only 20 points separating them.

All water ski fans are invited to be part of this electric atmosphere at the next stop—WWS Fluid on October 18-19. Get ready to witness more world-class performances and record-breaking moments! Check the WWS Fluid Event page for all the details and come out to support these incredible athletes as they push the sport to new heights.

A special thanks goes out to the incredible team that made this event possible! Huge shoutout to the Travers Crew: Lelani, Jack, Chris, Jon & Nati Travers, Mary & Ron Koenig, Shannon & Branden Waters, Becky Lathrop, Martin Bartalsky, Dan Abrascia & Deb Gradick, Kerry & Mike Morgan, Emily Dammeyer, Christina Delka Rocca, Cole McCormick, Kyle Eade, Cyndi Benzel, Jaimee Bull, Rob Hazelwood, Lauren Morgan, Jenna Morgan, Giannina & Dane Mechler, Felipe & Rodrigo Miranda, and Stevie Collins—what a team!

Also, a big thank you to our WWS team: Tom & David Grey, Alastair Byrd, Steven Farley, Johnny Hayward, Curtis William, Britta & Jaret, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to build a platform that strengthens the foundation of the sport we all love!

 

WATCH THE LIVE-STREAM AGAIN and HIGHLIGHT SHOW

CLICK EVENT PAGE!

Rising Stars and World Champions Collide at the WWS Travers Cup


Travers Cup -3rd Stop on WWS Overall Tour 

Presented By Girl Loves A Sunset

The stage is set, the athletes are primed, and the world’s top waterskiers are heading to Groveland, Florida for the third stop of the WWS Overall Tour—the Travers Cup! Held at the legendary Jack Travers’ Sunset Lakes on September 21-22, this is your chance to witness the most thrilling waterski competition of 2024.

Why should you be there?

Sunset Lakes is universally hailed as one of the best waterski venues in the world, and for good reason. With limit-pushing performances and top athletes competing at their peaks, this event is set to be an all-out battle for the title. Joel Poland GBR, fresh off a Pending Overall World Record and a dominating season, is looking look to further cement his grasp on the tour title with another victory. But, the Travers Cup will also play host to the highest quality of challengers seen this year, with Dorien Llewellyn CAN, Martin Kolman CZE, and Louis Duplan-Fribourg FRA, all looking stronger than ever in practice this week. Even further, young superstars Martin “Tincho” Labra CHI, and Jake Abelson USA, will make their 2024 tour debuts on Sunset Lakes and are ready to shake things up. Joel may be in peak form, but with the strength of his challengers turned up to the max, this event looks to be anyones for the taking!

But the WWS Travers Cup is more than just an elite competition. It’s a family-friendly event that gives you the chance to meet your favorite skiers, enjoy the beautiful lakeside atmosphere, and dive into the world of waterskiing. Come experience the energy, meet the athletes, and get in on the action both in person and online. Not in Florida? No problem! Catch all the heart-stopping action live on the webcast on September 22 for the finals. You won’t want to miss a second of it.

So mark your calendars for September 21-22, head out to Sunset Lakes, and be part of the action. This is waterskiing at its finest—where legends are made, and records are broken.

For all the details, visit the WWS Travers Cup event page

or find all the stops of the tour at WorldWaterskiers.com/tours.