By Jack Burden

AUBURNDALE, FLA. — Tristan Duplan-Fribourg has returned to competitive water skiing in style after a life-threatening crash last season. The 17-year-old Frenchman delivered a career-best 12,090 points at the Masters Qualifying Series 1 in Auburndale, Florida, securing his spot at the 2025 Junior Masters and entering the exclusive 12,000-point club — a threshold only 13 skiers before him have crossed.

Eleven months ago, Duplan-Fribourg lay in a medically induced coma with a fractured eye socket, torn hip bone, and severe head trauma after two devastating jump crashes at the 2024 Junior Masters. Today, he is back on top of the water ski world, and more determined than ever.

“The skis, which seemed so far away a few months ago, are now under my feet. It’s an indescribable feeling — rediscovering speed, freedom, adrenaline,” Tristan shared on social media last month. “No matter how serious the fall, what always matters is the strength to get back up.”

Post-injury, he has opted to specialize in tricks and jump, no longer competing in slalom or overall — a move he describes as “full of doubts, sacrifices, and self-questioning” but one that is clearly paying dividends.

Older brother Louis, the reigning world overall champion, also impressed in Auburndale. A 69.8-meter jump (229 feet) — a personal best and new French record — punched his ticket in jump, while tricking over 12,000 points locked in qualification there as well.

The past year has tested the Duplan-Fribourg brothers. Louis rebounded from shoulder surgery to finish runner-up to Joel Poland on the WWS Overall Tour, while Pol — who recently captured the 2025 University World overall title — had his 2024 season derailed by a fractured ankle and herniated disc.

Across the weekend, several other skiers also booked their tickets to the 2025 Masters. Thomas Degasperi, Vennesa Vieke, and Paige Rini Pigozzi advanced in slalom; Patricio Font, Rini Pigozzi, and Giannina Bonnemann Mechler in tricks; and Jack Critchley, Aliaksandra Danishuesksaya, and Regina Jaquess in jump.

But it is Tristan’s comeback that lingers.

Eleven months ago, his world was hospital rooms and hard questions. This weekend, it was measured in rotations and records — and in the quiet certainty of someone who never stopped believing.