The Jump Off: A Passing of the Torch or a Glitch in the System?

Two jumpers remain. As they watch the coin fall they already know what they will choose if they win the toss. Go out first to put pressure on their singular opponent? Or go out knowing the score needed to win the inaugural Canada Cup in front of thousands of cheering fans, eagerly awaiting the jump-off to crown a champion. As the coin fell only one could win, only one would take home the glory of one of the best jump finals in recent times.

As the skiers landed on the shores of the Saskatoon Water Ski Club for practice before the WWS Canada Cup, the wind conditions were less than cooperative, both the men’s and women’s jumpers found it challenging to simply go over the ramp, battling upwards of 40-60kph (25-35mph) wind gusts. Yet as the event window started, glimmers of hope continued to appear through the proceeding days, requiring both skiers and event organizers to be on their toes at all times, ready to jump into action as soon as nature allowed for ramping.

 

The first round of competition saw the top women jumpers in the world take to the water first. Hanna Straltsova continues her domination, having just come off a win at the California ProAm only days before, with a 54.3m (178ft) jump. Following her were the girls who have been fighting it out all year, namely Aliaksandra “Sasha” Danisheuskaya, Brittany “Britt” Greenwood, and Lauren Morgan, all roughly 2m apart, with Sasha leading the hunt for second with a 49.1m (161ft) jump. Rounding out the finalists was Valentina Gonzalez, who is making her return from injury late last year and continues to improve each round, edging closer and closer to the leading girls with each jump on her comeback.

On the men’s side of the field, Freddy “The Nightmare” Kreuger, also fresh off a Cali ProAm win, only needed one jump to secure the top seed, namely a 65.5m (215ft) jump. Kreuger was followed closely by red-hot Joel Poland and up-and-coming superstar Luca Rauchenwald. Rounding out the top 8 for the men were many of the tour veterans and names we have come to expect, such as Jack Critchley, Igor Morozov, and Taylor Garcia.

 

Moving into the finals, the women were faced with a tough mental challenge as the wind conditions picked up throughout the day as the event moved towards the 5 pm start time. Despite some nervous looks, the women braved the wind in front of a huge crowd of Canadians, who were being guided through cheers both from announcer Curtis Williams and DJ Steve Kushman. Once again, Hanna proved her might, winning on her second jump with a strong 52.6m (173ft) jump and even going back out to give the electrifying crowd a victory lap 3rd jump, which should be noted, was also far enough to take the title. Once again the fighting trio behind Hanna had a shake-up from the preliminary scores, with Britt leap-frogging Sasha to seal second place on a 49.7m (163ft) leap, which only slightly edge out both Sasha and Lauren, both finishing the event with 49.1m (161ft) scores.

As the crowd became more accustomed to the adrenaline of the jump finals, the men took to the water, starting with the Overall event jumpers. To the crowd’s delight, Canadian local heroes Thomas Daigle and Lucas Pinette kicked off the show, both nearing the 60m mark with each jump. Then the fireworks really began as Luca Rauchenwald set the lake on notice with a huge 66.1m (217ft) jump, the farthest of the tournament thus far. Then as the event moved into its final two jumpers, it didn’t appear as though Joel Poland would be able to best his Austria friend, coming into his last jump well short of the score, but, amid a building Viking clap from the fans, Joel found those precious centimeters to edge out Luca as the 66.3m (218ft) score appeared on the screen. Finally, Freddy Kreuger took to the water. Having been in fine form this year, many were surprised that Freddy was lagging behind both Joel and Luca coming in for his final attempt at the ramp, yet he too seemed to come away from his 3rd jump with the lead, only to throw his hands up in the air as 66.3m once again appeared on the scoreboard. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, we had a jump-off.

The 2 jump head-to-head jump-off would start off with Freddy choosing to go first, having won the coin toss. Once again turning in for the ramp with the Viking clap building as Freddy blasted into the bottom of the ramp, many cheered in admiration as the scoreboard read 66.6m (219ft), the furthest jump off the event once again. Then, as the sun continued to set, Joel returned to his arena, slipping on his first jump and leaving everything to one final cut, one final kick, and one final flight. The crowd cheered and clapped as Joel came flying into the bottom right-hand corner of the jump, soaring into the air, the jump was huge, everyone was thinking, but one man knew it. One man knew it so well that in the midst of his jump, Joel began to pump his fist into the air before he even landed. Screams filled the lake as both the crowd and Joel felt they had witnessed something special, regardless of who won. Yet, most everyone still eagerly awaited the score, not being as convinced as Joel that it was enough until the numbers hit the board, 6… 6… 9. Joel had jumped 66.9m (219ft) and had claimed the first-ever WWS Canada Cup crown.

 

As the champagne flowed from all directions on the podium, the crowd looked on in admiration, eagerly awaiting any announcement of the return of the WWS Canada Cup the next year. To their delight, event organizer and Canadian jumping legend, Jimmy Clunie, declared there would be a rematch between all these great skiers next year. Thus, as the sun went down and the skiers packed their bags, many were reminiscing, but many were also already mentally preparing for the next stop of the tour, namely the Mastercraft Pro at Ski Fluid on September 26-28. With the battles we have seen so far this year, every tour stop will be must must-watch action that you will certainly not want to miss.

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The 2023 ski season is set to begin at Fluid with our first record competition of the year…the Ski Fluid Classic this coming weekend, April 28-30.

There are some big names on the starting list including:

• numerous time Jump World Champion and Record Holder, Freddy Krueger,
• current World Trick Record Holder, Pato Font,
• former World Trick Champion, Neilly Ross.
• current U17 World Overall and Jump Champion, Martin Labra.

Along with a ton of other top National competitors.

We are hoping to get the year off to a great start with some amazing performances. The action begins on Friday at 7:45am with Tricks and continues with all 3 events through Sunday afternoon.

The current schedule and running order has now been posted to the tournament page or can be found at this link:

https://worldwaterskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-Ski-Fluid-Classic-Running-Order-1.pdf

See you at Fluid!

 

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.