IWWF U17 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2022 IWWF World Under 17 Waterski Championships, held at Lago Los Morros on January 5-8, 2023, was an exhilarating event. It showcased the incredible talent and skill of young waterski athletes from around the globe. Organized by the IWWF, this prestigious championship brought together aspiring young athletes, demonstrating their prowess in slalom, trick, and jump disciplines. With Lago Los Morros as the picturesque backdrop, the competition offered a memorable experience for both participants and spectators alike. The site was already dialed in after hosting the Pan Am Championships a month before.

Just because these athletes are young, does not mean they’re not already in shape to accomplish great things. There were some well-known skiers participating, which added pressure to delivering a performance, making this event even more enjoyable to watch.

Talk about great battles, Nelly Allard (CAN) got the jump title with a jump 10cm further than Kristy Appleton (AUS). The same scenario occurred in slalom, where Daniela Kretschmer (CHI) got the extra buoy (2@11m-38off) to take the win in front of her home crowd over Alana Jones (USA). There was another solid fight between trickers Hannah Stopnicki (CAN) and Alexia Abelson (USA), who scored 6, 680 points and 6,500 points, respectively. The Overall Champion was Megan Pelkey (CAN).

Drama alert in the men’s competition!

Slalom - tied with 3@10,75m (39off) Nicolas Nelson (MEX) and Lucas Cornale (AUS) required two runoffs to determine a winner. The first out was Nicholas, who scored 3@10,75m (39off). Lucas then fell around 2 ball at 11m (38off). Nicholas was seemingly the Champion, surrounded by the crowd. But Lucas lodged a protest because Nicholas was still in the lake when Lucas was skiing. The judge’s panel agreed and gave him another shot in this runoff. This time, he got just inside 4@10,75m (39off), requiring a second runoff. And this time, there was no tie. Nicholas knew that 3@11,25m (38off) would make him the winner, as Lucas had fallen around 3 ball. Nicolas gave all his remaining energy to get that title in the best way possible.

Jump - Martin Labra (CHI) showed the world his dominance in Jump and Overall as neither Damir Filaretov (UKR) nor Tristan Duplan-Fribourg (FRA) could catch him.

Trick - The other Chilean sensation, Matias “Mati” Gonzalez, defeated his teammate Martin Labra (him again) in the trick finals with 11,450 points (vs. 11,030 points for Martin). Even Jake Abelson (USA), the silver medalist at Open Worlds, could not catch those two.

Reflex is known for its bindings and release system, which might be the safest on the market. In their journey to develop new technologies on the ski, they created a hardshell binding system with direct contact to the ski. The plate is now gone, leaving the binding locked between the release system and a carbon block in the front.

For those who are about to try it: don’t be as stupid as I was; make sure that you follow the instructions when you mount it on your ski! You can easily find the instructional video on YouTube, where Neilly Ross explains how to mount the Reflex Direct Contact.