12th August 2018
The first day of competition of the 2018 IWWF World Barefoot Water Ski Championships is in the books… but not without some incredible performances on the glass-calm water of Dream Lake under the summer sun in Napanee, Ontario, Canada.
The Junior Girls Tricks Prelims kicked off the day with Team China’s YU Meiling first off the dock. In all, eight young women advanced to finals later in the week including top three competitors: Lexi McCauley USA, Alex Youngblood USA and Elaina McClung AUS.
Then a large group of Senior Men Jumpers took to the water for the preliminary round with eight advancing to the finals including top three Beven Kelly (NZL), Jason Lee (USA) and Brett Sands (AUS).
In Senior Women Wake Slalom, four women advanced including: Rachel Normand (USA) with a pending senior women’s world record of 14.2, followed by Svenja Hempelmann (GER) and Steffi Kirsch (Germany).
In Junior Boys Slalom, eight boys advanced to finals including Jackson Gerard (USA), Tee-Jay Russo (AUS) and Brice Storman (USA).
In Open Womens Slalom, IWWF Female Barefoot Skier of the Year Ashleigh Stebbeings (AUS), Georgia Groen (NZL) and Brook Fitch (NZL) lead a group of nine women to the Semi-Finals.
The day wrapped up with the Open Men batting it out in the jump competition. Only 12 men would make the cut of 24.2 meters for the semi-finals with the top three all coming from Australia including IWWF Male Barefoot Skier of the Year Keenan Derry, Tee-Jay Russo and Ben Franks.
More Results and a Livestream of the IWWF Barefoot Worlds can be seen here
Official Hashtags:
#2018barefootworlds
#iwwf
Social Media & Other Important Links:
IWWF’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iwwfed/
IWWF’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IWWFED
Event Information
Event Schedule, Starting Orders & Results
List of Participants
About the IWWF: The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) is the world governing body for towed watersports and has 91 affiliated Federations worldwide. It was founded in 1946 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sole authority for towed watersports. The IWWF is an affiliate member of the Association of IOC Recognized International Sports Federation (ARISF) and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). The IWWF’s sports disciplines include, amongst others, Tournament Waterskiing (slalom, tricks & jump), Wakeboard, Cable Wakeboard, Cable Waterskiing, Disabled Waterskiing, Show Skiing, Ski Racing and Barefoot Waterskiing