Turn back the clock three decades: Kyle Eade and Steffen Wild are regulars on the professional jump circuit. Russel and Jane Gay are among the best trickers in the world. Mariana Ramirez and Richard Abelson are promising juniors rising through the ranks. Now, fast forward to today, all of these world-class skiers traveled to Canada for the Under-17 World Championships, but now in very different roles.
11 of the 24 individual medals at the recently completed World Titles were taken home by these four families. Additionally, they set three world championship tournament records and, arguably, secured the team title as well, with four out of the six spots on the victorious U.S. Team filled by just two families.
Other second-generation talents included Fletcher and Daisy Green, both advancing to the trick finals; Marie-Lou Duverger, who finished fourth in girls’ overall; Samson Clunie, who narrowly missed the jump finals; and Cameron Davis, who placed fifth in girls’ overall and was part of the gold medal-winning Team USA.
The on-water action was incredible. The finals started with the Eade brothers, Jaeden and Damien, tying for the gold before having to settle things in a runoff. Training partners since day one, has there ever been a more fitting resolution to a sibling rivalry? Meanwhile, girls’ slalom was a tense battle between two South American contenders, with Peru’s Christiana De Osma narrowly edging out Chile’s Trinidad Espinal in the final.
The girls’ jump final was an incredible battle between Australia’s Kristy Appleton and Denmark’s Maise Jacobsen. Appleton threw everything she had at the ramp in one of the bravest performances of the event, willing herself further on her final attempt, which resulted in a spectacular crash upon landing. It took Jacobsen until her third and final jump and a new personal best, but ultimately, the Dane pulled ahead. Give these two fierce competitors some time to adjust to the faster boat speed and higher ramp height, and they could be the next big thing in professional jumping.
The boys’ jump final was relatively sedate after the crash reel that was the preliminary round, but it was Jake Abelson who stole the show second off the dock with a 53.3-meter (175-foot) jump to cement his overall title and set the mark for the rest of the field to chase. Tim Wild, the top seed and favorite after the withdrawal of the injured Tristan Duplan-Fribourg, tried valiantly but ultimately came up half a meter (two feet) short of Abelson’s mark.
While girls’ trick was somewhat of a foregone conclusion, with young Alexia Abelson head and shoulders above the rest of the field, boys’ tricks was a titanic struggle between the two highest-scoring trick skiers of all time, Matias Gonzalez and Jake Abelson. Both had set Under-17 World Championship records in the preliminary round and knew it would take even more in the final. The defending champion, Gonzalez, showcased his ruthless efficiency to set a score of 12,410 for Abelson to chase. A third gold medal was not to be for the American, who, despite two stand-up passes, narrowly lost his last hand trick to time and finished just behind Gonzalez.
While jump is historically the headline event to close out a World Championships, boys’ tricks was a fitting finish, coming right down to the wire. If the current crop of junior world champions is anything to go by, the future of the sport is very bright indeed.
