AKITA – The Preliminary Rounds of Men’s Slalom and Men’s & Women’s Tricks at the 2016 FISU World University Waterski Championships took place on Thursday 8th September. Local spectators including school students lined the shores of Lake Hachiro to watch the first day of competition.
Some of the best skiers in the world, combining studies and high performance sport, are here in Akita with their high tech ski equipment and university assignments.
Best performance in the Men’s Slalom preliminary round came from US Masters & World Junior Slalom Champion Robert Pigozzi from the Dominican Republic who scored 4 buoys on the 10.75 metre rope length, half a buoy ahead of both Dane Mechler (USA) and Benjamin Stadlbaur (BEL) who tied for 2nd place with 3.5 buoys on the 10.75 metre rope length.
Women trick skiers had to brave the rain but still posted respectable scores in particular Giannina Bonnemann from Germany, Silver Medallist at the recent European Championships, who scored 8,800 points which put her in the lead going into the final, with Camille Poulain-Ferarios (France) in 2nd place with a score of 6,400 points and Carolina Chapoy (Mexico) in 3rd place with a score of 5,340 points.
Only the first twelve competitors managed to compete in the preliminary round of Men’s Trick before Chief Judge, Marie Anne Persoons (BEL), decided to postpone the remaining twelve skiers’ preliminary competition to Friday due to heavy rain. Japan’s Ryota Funo, the 2016 Japanese National Collegiate Slalom, Trick and Overall Champion from Meiji Gakuin University, posted the best score of 4,030 points to put himself into the lead. The Men’s Trick preliminary round will resume this Saturday with the top ranked skiers still to take to the water.
(Source: WUC Waterski 2016 OC/IWWF)
LIVE SCORES
You can find the live scores here.
Related News
