Freddy wins Rocketman Jump
At the SplashEye Rocketman Record at Fluid Ski & Sports in Central Florida, the seemingly impossible happened!
As part of the record competition, the skiers were entitled to a 4th jump to see how far they could go on a single cut with some serious money on the line to break nearly 52m or 170ft. The current Ski Fly Single Cut Record stood at 164ft set by Kyle Eade at the 2008 competition. After the first round even this record seemed like it wouldn’t be broken with the top jump being 161ft by Freddy Krueger, Damien Sharman was in second and Eade 3rd.
As the day went on, the head wind picked up but still no one even went close… until the current World Champion and World Record Holder took to the water in the second round. Krueger took his first 3 practice jumps and fell short by over 7ft but when the pressure came on for that 4th and final counting jump, somehow he got up on top of the wind and launched 170ft on a single cut for the money, the title and a new Ski Fly Single Cut Record!
See Freddy’s winning leap! Here
Canada’s Jenna Mielzynski had the longest women’s single cut of 129ft, while in the regular competition Jason Seels had the longest mark of 229ft followed by Team Fluid skier Scot Ellis and Brian Kinney tied at 219ft. Curtis Rabe, Matt Young and Taryn Grant took home the cash in the “Handicap” competition and the most improved honors all adding several feet to their longest jumps.
Thank you to all the tournament sponsors
Krueger & Berdnikova take gold in China
This was the 28th Stop of the Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup series of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF). It was staged for the first time in this South West Monsoon region of China – a major car manufacturing and tourist area. This was no ordinary experience. Few World Cup Stops have ever been provided with such an array of high quality features. There were even two wedding ceremonies on two XStar MasterCrafts – our World Cup boat sponsors ! The site sound-system was as good as its gets, generous food was provided throughout in a riverside restaurant for all involved, TV, Photography and Press coverage was outstanding.
Two Press Conferences attracted up to 48 journalists from as far away as Beijing, Watersports Administration of China, the Chinese Waterski Association, Liuzhou Sports Council and Liuzhou Municipal Government, all did an outstanding job – and always in a friendly and helpful manner. The World Cup Prize Podium was easily the best designed to date. The Opening Ceremony with its gigantic Water Fountain display and enormous Fireworks show were enough to take your breath away. Just take a look at the Prize Plaques awarded below – the best we have ever seen. The main sponsors, SGMW motor manufacturers are major players in China’s auto industry. Even the official Nan Jiang Hotel was of high quality with very helpful staff at all times. All of this was a very special experience.
For a first time location, Liuzhou and our generous hosts could not have done more. As the Liu River site is downtown, which gave us access to 500,000 spectators at the Opening Ceremony, backwash from the river sides did pose a test and all involved will see how to address this in the future. As Freddy Krueger stated at the Press Conference, those Skiers who adapted best, would win on the day – as the results clearly show. While the jump distances were lower than usual, the level of real competition was as high as ever and both our hosts and audience were thrilled by the experience. We made many new friends and fans for our sport this weekend !
In 32C temperatures and sunny blue skies, the Womens Jump event attracted athletes from five countries. Right from the start, Iryna Turets from Belarus set the pace in the Semi-Finals with a jump distance of 37.0m. Nobody could beat this. On entering the Finals, she actually looked set to take the World Cup Jump title. In the end it was a very close battle between Turets, Denmark’s June Fladborg and Natalia Berdnikova – also from Belarus. This time Berdnikova set the pace with a distance of 36.2m. Fladborg had to settle for 35.6m – and the best Turets could do was 36.0m. Natalia Berdnikova took this World Cup title by a margin of just 0.2m.
In Men’s Jump the two hot favorites were Jaret Llewellyn CAN and World Champion and World Record Holder Freddy Krueger USA. Llewellyn failed to get out of the Semi-Finals leaving the door wide open for Krueger in the Finals. Russia’s Igor Morozov set the pace from the start with a distance of 50.7m. Only Jason Seels GBR could beat this with 51.3m. Krueger was last out, knew what he had to do and got a standing ovation with a distance of 57.5m to take the Liuzhou City World Jump Cup title.
JUMP WINNERS – Women
1.Natalia Berdnikova (BLR)
2.Iryna Turets (BLR)
3.June Fladborg (DEN)
JUMP WINNERS – Men
1.Freddy Krueger (USA)
2.Jason Seels (GBR)
3.Igor Morozov (RUS)