2024 Miami Pro Slalom: Final Highlights – Waterski Pro Tour Stop 14
Catch all the action from the finals of the Miami Pro Slalom.
Slalom
Brando Caruso Captures First Pro Win in Thrilling Miami Pro Slalom Finale
NewsBrando Caruso captures first pro win in thrilling Miami Pro Slalom finale
Image: Waterski Pro Tour
By Jack Burden
MIAMI, Fla. — In a sensational end to one of the most fiercely competitive seasons in professional water skiing history, Brando Caruso clinched his maiden pro victory at the Miami Pro Slalom, the final event of the 2024 Waterski Pro Tour. Held at the Greater Miami Ski Club, the Miami Pro Slalom was the highest cash-prize slalom event on the 2024 calendar and marked a dramatic conclusion to a season that saw a record number of unique winners.
Caruso, who became the 10th different winner in men’s slalom this year, emerged victorious against a field filled with world-class talent. “That was unexpected,” Caruso said, reflecting on his win. “I didn’t train as much as I used to, so I wasn’t expecting this, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for the last two, three years. Wow! I’m out of words.”
The 2024 men’s slalom season featured six first-time winners and matched the 2008 record for the most unique winners in a single year, making it the most competitive season in over a decade. Caruso’s victory at Miami placed him in rare company, as more new winners emerged this year than in the previous nine seasons combined.
The season also concluded with William Asher of Great Britain and Jaimee Bull of Canada securing the Waterski Pro Tour season championships for men and women, respectively. Asher’s frequent podium finishes across most of the season’s events cemented his lead, while Bull’s consistent performance saw her clinch her fourth consecutive Tour title. Whitney McClintock Rini added to the excitement by winning the women’s slalom in Miami, topping off an engrossing season for both men and women competitors.
For Caruso, the Miami Pro Slalom marked the peak of a career moment long in the making. The Italian skier had been on the edge of a major breakthrough, and his win stands as a testament to perseverance amid a season defined by close margins and fierce competition.
Watch: Freddie Winter Features in New Docuseries | MUUSH
VideoLife on the edge – One small step (episode 1)
We’re launching a new docuseries called ‘One small step’. The series follows ordinary people who’ve done extraordinary things, and the small steps that got them there. Often we see the results of hard work but rarely do we find out what it took to achieve greatness.
Life on the edge, episode 1, follows Fred, a world champion waterskier. Fred has committed his life to waterskiing, a sport that rarely gets much media coverage. In 2023 he won the waterskiing world championship, his greatest achievement. It was a long road to get there – years of cold days on the lake in the dead of winter, dealing with the pressure of competing, and the innate risk that comes with extreme sports. We meet Fred in the summer of 2024, recovering from a broken femur after a brutal collision with a dock – an accident which almost never happens in the sport. Fred recounts his rise to the world championships in the sport that’s changed his life, how he almost died in the crash, and the positivity he’s feeling around recovery.
Watch: King of Darkness Highlights | Waterski Pro Tour
Video2024 King of Darkness: Final Highlights – Waterski Pro Tour Stop 13
Catch all the action from the finals of the MasterCraft King of Darkness.
King of Darkness Take A Bow: Jump Finale Shows What Water Skiing Can Be
NewsKing of Darkness take A bow: Jump finale shows what water skiing can be
Image: King of Darkness
By Jack Burden
The final stages of the 2024 season have featured a marathon sprint of professional tournaments, all located in Florida, the epicenter of world water skiing. Six tournaments over seven weeks at some of the world’s best sites showcasing incredible performances, with both new and familiar winners and season-long storylines coming to a thrilling resolution. But one thing has been noticeably absent: crowds.
That is, until the recently concluded MasterCraft King of Darkness (KoD), a night jump event with a festival atmosphere that harkens back to the days when water skiing was in the public eye and professional water skiing was a viable career for more than a dominant few.
This isn’t to say there was anything lacking in the events that preceded KoD. The Waterski Pro Tour events at Fluid and Travers featured excellent TWBC broadcasts and captivated waterski fans, especially with two first-time winners in the slalom event. The Travers Grand Prix is a unique and hugely popular event for both pro and amateur participants. Likewise, the WWS Overall Tour finale showcased the highest level of overall skiing our sport has ever seen, and the recap videos, although not widely viewed, have reintroduced a format with potential to engage the casual viewer.
But call me old-fashioned—nothing beats the energy of an in-person crowd. There’s a reason so many skiers name the Moomba Masters as their favorite event, and why the U.S. Masters has such an enduring legacy: the enthusiastic, knowledgeable on-site audience.
Professional water skiing at its core is a show, and KoD exemplified this with perfect choreography. There was no downtime, with adorable juniors, barefooters, show skiers, and even some Joel Poland theatrics keeping the energy high from start to finish.
The level of skiing at KoD will likely be what sticks in water ski fans’ minds: the highest slalom cut of all time, a women’s head-to-head with a 100% success rate at 10.75m (39.5’), and personal bests from Hanna Straltsova, Luca Rauchenwald, and Poland in jump. But to the casual spectator, it’s the competition itself that draws attention.
For perhaps the first time in 2024, women’s jump was a close battle, with Straltsova needing her final jump to surpass a resurgent Brittany Wharton. The men’s jump was equally intense, with Taylor Garcia and Luca Rauchenwald nearly forcing a second runoff of 2024 for their maiden pro wins, before Poland reasserted his dominance. Meanwhile, Freddy Krueger missed the podium for the first time in Waterski Pro Tour history, and even Dorien Llewellyn’s impressive 67m (220’) jump was only enough for fifth under the lights.
Credit is due to the organizers, who put extraordinary effort—and investment—into attracting such a fantastic crowd. Free attractions, a live band, food trucks, and a beer garden enticed the local community, and the event was prominently featured in local media throughout the lead-up. Once again, KoD was well attended.
This stands in stark contrast to the preceding four events, which were attended by few outside the competitors themselves. Live webcasts attracted several hundred more dedicated waterski fans, but it’s hard to imagine these events broadening the fan base like KoD did this weekend. Countless families and young children were exposed to the sport, perhaps inspired to give water skiing a try themselves.
It’s beautiful, suspenseful, uplifting—water skiing at its finest. And the sport needs more of it. King of Darkness, take a bow.
Watch: Oxfordshire ProAm Behind the Scenes | HO Sports
VideoOxford Pro Night Slalom Behind the Scenes // Pro Water Ski Slalom Event VLOG by Rob Hazelwood
The last of the EuroTour Vlogs is HERE! We end with a night slalom and what an event it is! Bumpy conditions mixed with this being many of the teams first time skiing in the Night showed for some fun times and challenging sets! Thank you to everyone for watching and supporting these VLOG’s and we will see you all in the next one!
Waterski Pro Tour Heats Up: Thrilling Finish Ahead After Travers Grand Prix
News2024 Travers Grand Prix | Waterski Pro Tour
Image: Robert Hazelwood
If this season of men’s slalom has had a theme, it has been of multiple winners. After a full four years and ten months of only four male victors in pro slalom, earlier this year the floodgates opened. On the Tour this year we can count seven winners across just nine stops (with a further two victors in external events). There have been many stories to set these wins apart from the rest: the 38 year old seasoned pro finally getting over the line, the return win after 6 years of trying and a win on return from injury. Yesterday at the Travers Grand Prix however, we saw what will almost certainly prove to be the most seismic.
Lucas Cornale is a name very few slalom fans knew as recently at the start of this year. A teenager with a couple of junior championship podiums and an aggressive style was not expected to be one of the stories of the year on the pro scene. And yet here we are. After a debut podium in March at Moomba behind two world champions, he yesterday stunned the pro waterski scene with the youngest pro slalom win in living memory at 19 years old. It won’t be his last – not even close.
And this was not a plucky, toe over the line win. This was dominance. His first two rounds were good but not exceptional, just enough to qualify in the 8th and final spot. Out first in a field made up entirely of past winners – except, of course, himself – he went for it. With barely a hesitation he turned the 3 at 10.25m/ 41off that is so often the difference between good and great in the men’s slalom field, on his way to scoring a huge 4.5. Even with seven of the best left to ski, this performance looked like it might stand up.
After a groundbreaking run, a nervy wait. The webcast cameras frequently caught Lucas’s looking surprisingly calm as each skier failed to beat his score but there must have been some angst underneath the typically laidback demeanor. Jon Travers got the closest with 4, a worthy reward at the tournament he has organized and run since 2018. Corey Vaughn and Dane Mechlers, another pair of debut winners this year, tied for the last podium spot after matching scores in every round.
Ironically, despite his very unusual final placement of 12th, this result actually increases the chances of a Will Asher victory of the 2024 Waterski Pro Tour. The chasing pack on the Leaderboard all needed a win to stay in the fight for the top prize at the end of the year. Nate Smith, not present at Travers and with a handful of entries this year, is the only threat to Asher’s second title – he needs to win both remaining events with best scores in each, while hoping Will stays outside of the top 2. Asher at 42 has the most wins in men’s slalom this year with three. Perhaps the whispers of a changing of the guard are premature. Below him there are just nine points between Corey Vaughn and Smith in tied 2nd (160 points) and Travers in 6th (151 points). Two events left. The podium fight is going to be fast and furious.
Comparatively, the women’s field has been something like business as usual this year, as it was at this event. Not that it wasn’t exciting. Ahead of the rest of the field by a margin, each of Jaimee Bull, Regina Jaquess and Whitney McClintock-Rini traded the lead between them across the three rounds, with not one 10.75m missed – until a run-off for the win. Jaquess’s course record of 2.5 at 10.25 paired with Bull and McClintock Rini each scoring 2 made the second round of qualifying the highest scoring ever. Jaimee and Whitney were once again tied at 2 in the final as Regina managed 1. So a run-off for the win, a repeat of the 2021 Malibu Open. As in that instance, Whitney won but this time more spectacularly, running 10.75m straight off the dock, before another 2 at 10.25m. Jaimee followed and looked great on 10.75 until 4 but an uncharacteristically poor 5 left her stranded in 2nd. Making up for her disappointing MasterCraft Pro last week, Whitney now has two wins in three as she accelerates during this countdown til the end of the season.
Bull has held the lead of the Tour since the opening stop in May. A very strong showing at the mid-season events outside of the USA put strong daylight between her and the rest. This gap has been eaten into over the last three events, however, as her two great competitors have shared the wins. Both McClintock-Rini and Jaquess can take the Tour win with victories at the last two events as they aim to deny Bull a fourth consecutive Tour win. Paired with a huge showdown in men’s jump at King of Darkness at the end of the month, the nighttime event is set to be explosive. See you there.
For event highlights, scores, replays and more visit Waterski Pro Tour.
Watch: Travers Grand Prix Highlights | Waterski Pro Tour
Video2024 Travers Grand Prix: Final Highlights – Waterski Pro Tour Stop 12
Catch all the action from the finals of the Travers Grand Prix.
Nineteen-Year-Old Lucas Cornale Shines with First Pro Victory at Travers Grand Prix
NewsNineteen-year-old Lucas Cornale shines with First pro victory at Travers Grand Prix
Image: @robhazelwoodcreative
By Jack Burden
Just two days after celebrating his 19th birthday, Australian rising star Lucas Cornale has claimed his first-ever professional slalom title at the Travers Grand Prix. Cornale’s victory is not only a personal milestone but a historic moment in the sport of water skiing, as he becomes the youngest male to win a professional slalom tournament this century.
Overwhelmed by his achievement, Cornale expressed his excitement after the win: “I can’t believe it… my hands are numb, I’m getting tingles,” he said. Still processing the magnitude of his accomplishment, he added, “It was my birthday two days ago, this is the best present ever, honestly, I can’t believe it.” The young champion couldn’t hide his joy, declaring, “This is awesome, this is the best thing ever.”
Cornale has been on the radar throughout the 2024 season with consistent finals appearances and standout performances. He earned a podium spot at the Moomba Masters in March, qualified as the top seed for the finals at the Lake 38 ProAm in June, and advanced to the head-to-head finals at the California ProAm in August. With this latest win at Travers, Cornale has solidified himself as one of the sport’s brightest young talents, positioning himself among an elite group of men who have won a pro slalom title while still a teenager, including names like Carl Roberge, Mike Suyderhoud, and the LaPoint brothers.
A Historic Season for Men’s Slalom
The 2024 season has been a landmark year for professional slalom skiing, with a remarkable level of competition that hasn’t been seen in over a decade. Cornale’s victory makes him the ninth different winner in men’s slalom this season, the most diverse group of champions in a single year since 2008 and more than in the previous five years combined.
There are many parallels between the current moment and 2008. This season featured the largest prize purses for slalom and all three-events in the sport since 2008, which was a high point before the global recession took its toll on water skiing. In 2008, a young Will Asher dominated, winning 5 out of 16 events to finish at the top of the Elite Ranking List. Now, in 2024, Asher leads the Waterski Pro Tour and has claimed victory in 4 out of 13 events so far.
Although only two professional slalom events remain in 2024, and Asher has an impressive lead for the Waterski Pro Tour season title, it is still mathematically possible for him to be caught. With such a highly competitive field, this has been the most thrilling men’s slalom season in a generation, and there is still plenty of excitement left to unfold.
Record-Breaking Weekend in Women’s Slalom
While Cornale’s win was the headline on the men’s side, the women’s competition was equally thrilling this weekend. Jaimee Bull, Regina Jaquess, and Whitney McClintock Rini delivered the highest-scoring women’s slalom event of all time. Jaquess, Bull, and McClintock Rini combined to run an astonishing ten 10.75-meter passes (39.5′ off), with McClintock Rini clinching her second title of the season by running four consecutive 10.75s, including a cold start in a runoff for the victory.
Despite the intense competition, Bull has a strong lead on the Waterski Pro Tour, thanks to her four professional wins and ten podium finishes this year. Jaquess has also won four events in 2024, but two of her victories came in non-Pro Tour events at the Moomba Masters and US Masters. As the season wraps up, the battle between Bull, Jaquess, and McClintock Rini will continue to captivate fans as they compete for the Waterski Pro Tour season title.
A Season to Remember
With two more slalom events remaining, the 2024 season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory. Cornale’s impressive breakthrough victory adds yet another layer of excitement to a year defined by exceptional performances across the board. As the youngest men’s slalom champion in nearly two decades, Cornale’s win not only marks the beginning of a promising career but also signals a bright future for the sport of water skiing.
Note: Since the original publication of this article, we have confirmed that Cornale is the youngest man to win a professional slalom title this century, edging out Matteo Ianni, who won the 2005 Cirencester Grand Prix, by two months.
Dane Mechler Clinchs First Career Victory at Mastercraft Pro
News2024 MasterCraft Pro | Waterski Pro Tour
Image: @johnnyhayward_photo
As much as dedication, sacrifice, focus, hard work, success and failure are a part of professional sport, so are injuries. Athletes don’t reach greatness, or indeed a competitive level, without putting themselves close to the edge. And when that edge is crossed, athlete’s bodies are on the line.
Dane Mechler knows this well. A freak finger injury in 2021 took him out for most of the summer and, after a crash at a tournament in May, the same was the case this year. Across the seven tournaments since his serious ankle strain, there have been more different winners in men’s slalom than in the preceding 5 years combined. This included three first time winners. For a man widely considered to be the best current skier never to win a tournament, consistently held off the top by the dominant quartet of Asher, Degasperi, Smith and Winter, this would have hurt. This weekend at the MasterCraft Pro, Mechler exorcized these demons spectacularly on his return, as he took a dominant debut win.
That Mechler was given the stage to do so was surprising enough. Hurricane Helene had spent the week leading up to the event threatening Florida and then tearing up its north. Despite the start of the event being delayed from Friday to Saturday to accommodate, a rain affected opening day contained enough delays to the point that traditional format could not be followed. Extremely unusually, every slalom skier was allowed into each final because of the uncertainty of a second qualifying round when they skied the first. 21 men and 12 women lined up on Sunday morning to take the title.
On a day of substantially better weather, Mechler was out with a handful of skiers still to go, having skied to a level he was not satisfied with in the previous day’s seeding round. As he approached the course at 10.25m/ 41ft off the lead was 2.5 buoys. He attacked from the start, getting all the way to 5 where he fell, equalling his best ever score in a pro tournament. As skier after skier failed to beat him, the broadcast caught his nervous demeanor, as he no doubt internally prayed he had done enough. The last two skiers were two he had so frequently been denied victory by in recent years. Nate Smith got close but not close enough with 3.5 buoys at 10.25m. Will Asher, with the most victories in 2024, made an unusual mistake as he fell at 1. In doing so he handed Mechler a first, and very well deserved, win. The emotion was evident as Dane talked about what it had taken to get there. When his career is over, this will likely be amongst the very sweetest of a number of wins.
With wins spread so evenly across the field in 2024, Asher’s top 2 placements at all but two events this year have him in a commanding lead with 291. However the chasing pack are extremely tight, with positions juggled after this event. 2nd to 8th are separated by 50 points. All to play for with three events left.
In women’s slalom Regina Jaquess took her fourth win at the MasterCraft Pro in its five years. After a first round in which the top three seeds ran 10.75m/ 39.5ft off, she was the only one to clear it in the final. Jaimee Bull, frustrated after a terrible buoy 4 killed a great start, finished 2nd. 3rd was the resurgent Manon Costard, taking her third podium in her last four events. Jaquess, currently 4th on the Waterski Pro Tour Leaderboard after missing every event outside of the USA, has a lot of work to do to make up the deficit to Jaimee Bull in 1st. However with three events left, and a win % higher than any in the field, you wouldn’t bet against her.
As is typical of this neck-and-neck year of the Tour in men’s jump, victory came down to the last flight of the day. Joel Poland, with two wins on the Tour this year, lead with 69.8m/ 229 feet but with Freddy Krueger, undeniably the greatest jumper of all time, on the water, Poland wasn’t counting his prize money. On his final attempt Krueger, at 49 years old, beat the man close to half his age with a 70.7m/ 232ft final jump to take his own second victory of the year. With one event left, 6 points separate Poland and Krueger at the top of the John K Philips Tour Leaderboard. Can Poland maintain the lead that would end Krueger’s four year reign as champion? It all comes down to the King of Darkness.
Women’s jump saw Hanna Straltsova take a fairly typical win from Sasha Danisheuskaya and Brittany Wharton. The latter is also returning from injury this year and has made every podium. Straltsova managed her 2nd best ever jump with 57.6m/ 189 feet. She is looking for more at the next event.
The MasterCraft Pro marked the beginning of a crescendo towards the end of the season. Three events remain between now and early November. The first of these starts this Friday with the Travers Grand Prix, so often the event with the year’s best scores. Jump fans can look forward to the King of Darkness in under four weeks time. Stay tuned.
For event highlights, scores, replays and more visit Waterski Pro Tour.
