McCormick wins first professional title: By the numbers
Image: @johnnyhayward_photo
By Jack Burden
With his victory this weekend at the Masters Water Ski and Wakeboard Tournament, Cole McCormick clinched his first-ever professional title and etched his name onto one of the most prestigious trophies in the sport. Here’s a look at McCormick’s achievement by the numbers.
1
Number of Canadians to win the Masters men’s slalom title. McCormick is the first male skier representing Canada to win the title and only the fifth Canadian man behind George Athans, Kreg Llewellyn, Jaret Llewellyn, and Ryan Dodd to win the tournament in any event.
19
Total Masters titles in the McCormick household. Cole’s 2024 slalom victory adds to his mother Susi Graham McCormick’s 5 slalom titles and his father Ricky McCormick’s 13 titles across trick, jump, and overall. Cole is the first-ever second-generation Masters champion.
45
Months since any man other than Nate Smith, Freddie Winter, Will Asher, or Thomas Degasperi has won a professional slalom title. The last before McCormick was Daniel Odvarko at the 2020 Ski Stillwaters Pro Team Challenge.
3
Different winners in men’s slalom across the first three professional events of 2024. McCormick joins Asher (Swiss Pro Slalom) and Winter (Moomba Masters) in the winner’s circle this year.
15
Top five finishes for McCormick across 25 professional events over the past four years before finishing on top of the podium. McCormick has finished inside the top 10 on the year end standings in every season of the Waterski Pro Tour.
28
The youngest male winner of a professional slalom tournament since Stephen Neveu at the Botaski ProAm in 2019 (25 years, 9 months).
Great win and some interesting statistics. I’m surprised by 28 yrs old being the youngest pro slalom tournament winner in so long.
I’ve always been curious about so many great skiers from Canada living seemingly full time in Florida, some being born in the US but ski for the maple leaf. Cole and Dorien’s parents have different nationalities. Could Cole be a US skier or Dorien an Austrian skier? What’s the financial incentive to be a Canadian skier?
This topic might stir the pot a little but would be an interesting article…
I’m not sure there’s any controversy. Cole, Dorien, Neilly, and Paige all have Canadian parents, in fact all were members of world championship winning Canadian teams, and are eligible to ski for Canada because of that. Cole is also eligible to ski for the US and won several US national championships before switching to ski for Canada. Likewise, Dorien skied for Austria as a junior. Financial incentives probably play some part, although I’m sure many would say they would ski for Canada regardless. The top 4 Canadian elite athletes are “carded”, which entitles them to a a modest salary and… Read more »
Interesting discussion guys! I’ve heard the Italian government also offer significant financial support for elite athletes including waterskiing. In football (soccer) you often see players that choose to play for a national team in major tournaments based on, say their grandparents heritage. Mainly I believe, to give them them a greater chance of being picked/chosen. And playing for your country helps increase your transfer and commercial value.
I doubt the likes of Neilly or Dorien however would have a problem being chosen for any country they wished..