By Jack Burden

A world trick record has not been set during a professional tournament since 2001.

Twenty-five years later, Jake Abelson may have ended that drought.

Abelson delivered a staggering 13,040-point performance to win last weekend’s Royal Nautique Pro in Morocco, eclipsing the current world record of 13,020 points that he established in 2025. While the score remains pending ratification by the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation, it stands as one of the greatest trick runs ever performed in tournament competition.

The achievement was made all the more remarkable by the venue.

Unlike the glass-calm conditions of a purpose-built ski lake, the Royal Nautique Pro is contested on the tidal Bou Regreg River, where current, wind and rebound from the riverbanks create constantly changing conditions. Those factors make trick skiing—and especially world-record-level trick skiing—exceptionally difficult.

Abelson had little choice but to attack.

After former world record holder Patricio Font posted an enormous 12,690 points, Abelson needed a near-perfect run to secure victory. Rather than skiing conservatively, he upgraded the sequence from the routine that earned him last year’s world record, replacing a 130-point toe sideslide with a more time consuming 150-point toe wake front. The additional 20 points proved decisive, lifting him to a pending world record and the tournament title.

The performance continues what has become an extraordinary progression in men’s tricks.

Ratification of world records has become increasingly challenging as margins shrink and video analysis becomes ever more detailed. Earlier this season, both Abelson and Matias Gonzalez posted pending world records that were ultimately denied following IWWF review, illustrating just how difficult it is for a record to survive the ratification process.

Regardless of whether the 13,040 points are ultimately approved, Abelson’s score reflects the unprecedented standard now required to win professional events.

The first four major professional tournaments of 2026 have produced winning scores of:

• Moomba Masters — Matias Gonzalez: 12,860
• Swiss Pro Tricks — Matias Gonzalez: 12,860
• U.S. Masters — Jake Abelson: 12,820
• Royal Nautique Pro — Jake Abelson: 13,040 (pending world record)

Every one of those winning scores would have been a world record at the beginning of the 2025 season.

After opening the year with runner-up finishes to Gonzalez at both the Moomba Masters and Swiss Pro, Abelson has found his rhythm, claiming back-to-back victories at the U.S. Masters and Royal Nautique Pro.

More broadly, the men’s trick event is operating at a level never before seen. Abelson, Gonzalez, Font and Martin Labra continue to push one another to new heights, forcing world-record-calibre performances to become the expectation rather than the exception.

Whether Abelson’s latest mark is ultimately ratified or not, one thing is already clear: in 2026, winning the biggest professional tournaments increasingly requires skiing at what, only a year ago, would have been considered world-record pace.