By Jack Burden

From professional victory milestones to world records and more, it’s a parade of unbelievable stats for the greatest jumper of all time. With his entry in the US Masters this weekend, Freddy Krueger steps into his 30th consecutive year of professional water ski jumping. Here are 30 career stats to celebrate this remarkable achievement:

He has won a professional jump event for 26 consecutive calendar years. Only in the 1997 season of his 30-year career did he fail to secure at least one victory.

His first professional victory came at the Shreveport, Louisiana stop on the 1995 Bud Pro Tour. Over two-thirds of his competitors on the Waterski Pro Tour last year were not born at that time.

He took 21 out the fronts in his first three seasons as a professional. While we associate Krueger with longevity today, his path to the top was anything but easy.

He set his first world record at the 1999 U.S. Open, taking the record off Bruce Neville and Jaret Llewellyn, the latter of whom had set his mark in the preliminary round of the same tournament.

He has broken the world jump record more times than any skier, male or female. His eight world records surpass Sammy Duvall’s six.

His reign as the world record holder, from 2005 to 2017, is the longest in the jump event. Only Tawn Larsen Hahn (tricks) and Jaret Llewellyn (overall) have held records for a longer duration.

He holds the world Ski Fly record as the first and only man to jump over 300 feet. His mark of 95 meters (312 feet) from 2015 may never be broken as the discipline is no longer practiced.

He has the most professional victories of any skier, male or female, in the 21st century. Krueger has won over 100 professional events since the turn of the century.

He is the oldest skier, male or female, to win a professional water ski event at 48 years, 4 months, 13 days. The next oldest is Thomas Degasperi at 42 years.

He is the only jumper to win a professional event over the age of 40. Ryan Dodd is the next oldest at 39.

He’s tied with Jacinta Carroll and Ryan Dodd for the most world titles in jump, with five. Only Patrice Martin (men’s overall) and Andy Mapple (men’s slalom) have more in a single event.

He now has the most World Championships medals in a single event. His silver in 2023 brought his total to 11 podium finishes in men’s jump, surpassing Andy Mapple’s 10 in men’s slalom.

He’s now tied for the longest span between first and last World Championships medals, winning his first in 1999 and most recently 24 years later in 2023. Jaret Llewellyn’s first and last were also 24 years apart, from 1991 to 2015.

He has a winning record against every single jumper in professional events for the last 20 years. His closest rival in this period, Ryan Dodd, has beaten Krueger at 42 out of 96 events since 2005 for a 44% winning record.

He has not missed the podium at a jump event he has entered since 2017. That’s over 30 consecutive podium finishes.

His first season championship came on the 2000 U.S. Pro Water Ski and Wakeboard Tour. Krueger edged out Jaret Llewellyn despite only winning a single stop to Llewellyn’s three.

His most recent season championship came on the 2023 Waterski Pro Tour, 23 years after his first.

He has been on the professional circuit so long that he now competes against his main rival’s son. Krueger and Jaret Llewellyn were one of our sport’s greatest rivalries through the 2000s; now, however, Krueger regularly competes against Dorien Llewellyn, Jaret’s son.

He was the number one ranked elite men’s jumper for 11 consecutive years from 2004 to 2014. Jimmy Siemers and Ryan Dodd were the only other skiers to claim the top ranking during the 18 years of the list’s existence.

He matched Andy Mapple’s 14 U.S. Masters titles, the most by a man. Liz Allan still has the most of any skier with 24.

He has won more Moomba Masters jump titles than any other man. Krueger has nine victories on the Yarra between 2004 and 2020, before even counting his night jump titles.

He has won over 50% of all jump events on the Waterski Pro Tour. That’s a lot considering he was 45 when the Pro Tour began.

He is the only skier to make the finals on the U.S. Pro Tour in both jump and wakeboard. Krueger was a regular on the professional wakeboard circuit during the 1990s.

He has been a part of five World Championships winning teams for the U.S. In total, he has won nine medals as part of Team USA.

He was a strong three-event skier before specializing in jump in the mid-2000s. Krueger placed 10th in overall at the 2001 World Championships and competed in all three events through to the 2005 Worlds.

He jumped 200 feet for the first time in 1995, making him the 16th member of the 200-foot club. He won two pro tour stops that year, his debut season.

He jumped 70 meters (230 feet) for the first time in 2002, making him the 4th member of the 70m (230’) club. He was preceded only by Jaret Llewellyn, Scot Ellis, and Jimmy Siemers.

Since then, he has jumped 70 meters (230 feet) more times than all other skiers combined. Krueger has scored over 70 meters 139 times.

He holds the World Championship tournament record. His mark of 72.4 meters (238 feet) was set during the 2007 Worlds in Linz, Austria.

He has the record for the longest distance at night, jumping 73.1 meters (240 feet) at the 2011 Louisiana Night Jam.