By Jack Burden

Another season of the Waterski Pro Tour has drawn to a close, delivering a whirlwind of action across 14 events, spanning five countries and boasting a staggering $400,000 in prize money. The Pro Tour, with its mission to weave a captivating season-long narrative by uniting various standalone professional events under a single ‘tour,’ has generally been a resounding success. Much akin to the glory days of the U.S. professional water ski tour (i.e., Coors/Bud Water Ski Tour), the aspiration here is to elevate securing the top spot in the standings to one of the most prestigious titles in the realm of water skiing. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that not all tournaments have chosen to be part of this evolving movement.

For the second consecutive year, our sport’s two longest-running and highest-prize-purse events, the U.S. and Moomba Masters, have decided to stand apart from the Waterski Pro Tour. Likewise, the Botaski Pro Am, which serves as a U.S. Masters qualifier and was a part of the Pro Tour in 2022, made a similar choice this year. Other smaller tournaments, such as the Fungliss Pro Am and the California Ski Ranch Cash Prize Open, have also opted out.

Despite the overwhelming inclusion of professional events in the Pro Tour, we were curious to explore how the leaderboard might have appeared had all events been encompassed, similar to the old IWWF Elite Ranking List. Employing the same rules and methodology as the Pro Tour, we proudly present our Unofficial Professional Water Ski Rankings for 2023, offering an arguably more complete picture of the competitive landscape heading into the World Championships.

Slalom

As expected, we’re witnessing minimal changes in the slalom leaderboards, given the extensive pool of events already factored in. However, the addition of the U.S. Masters, the highest-prize-money event of 2023, has provided Jaquess with the edge she needed to surpass Bull. Besides this noteworthy shift, the top five positions in both men’s and women’s slalom remain unaltered. This reaffirms the Waterski Pro Tour’s status as an accurate reflection of the world’s premier slalom skiers, particularly due to its emphasis on slalom-only tournaments.

Tricks

This is where the inclusion of non-Pro Tour events proves most insightful, as only one event, the inaugural Swiss Pro Tricks, was featured in the Waterski Pro Tour for 2023. By incorporating the three highest prize purses from the trick event, we gain a much clearer perspective on the athletes’ performance throughout the year. Notable shifts are observed with Font emerging as the biggest mover, ascending to the top of the rankings thanks to his triumphs at the U.S. Masters and Botaski Pro Am. Additionally, Bonnemann Mechler secures a spot in the top five, bolstered by her runner-up finishes at those same two events.

Jump

Out of the seven professional jump tournaments held in 2023, five were featured in the Waterski Pro Tour, while the legacy events, the U.S. and Moomba Masters, opted out. Our rankings typically align with the Pro Tour, the only significant mover in this category is Ryan Dodd, whose decision to only participate in Nautique-sponsored events for the year limited his competition to just three tournaments. Notably, he emerged victorious in all three, yet only one of these events was part of the Pro Tour. Including these events propels him to fourth place in the rankings. Otherwise, any changes were essentially a reshuffling of podium placements.

Overall

Finally overall skiing, which is oddly not officially recognized as an event by the Waterski Pro Tour. The last two seasons have heralded in a resurgence for the discipline, with competition across four professional events on the WWS Overall Tour. These rankings, although using a different methodology, line up exactly with the final standings of the WWS Tour. It’s worth noting that while a modest cash bonus was allocated for men’s overall at the Malibu Open, it didn’t meet the threshold for inclusion in our point calculations.