The IWWF is pleased to announce the 2024 IWWF Male & Female Skiers & Riders of the Year, selected by their respective sports disciplines’ councils.
Images: Camaro/Johnny Hayward
2024 IWWF Female Water Skier of the Year: Hanna Straltsova
Jump is her best event, but she is also an excellent Overall skier and has been very consistent throughout the season. In 2024 she has won every Jump event she has entered.
World Ranking Details:
Slalom: 17th Place
Tricks: 7th Place
Jump: 1st Place
Overall: 1st Place
Waterski Pro Tour Leaderboard Jump: 1st Place
Images: BWSW/Johnny Hayward
2023 IWWF Male Water Skier of the Year: Joel Poland (Great Britain)
World and European Overall Record Holder: Record set three times during the 2024 season.
World Ranking Details:
Slalom: 12th Place
Tricks: 6th Place
Jump: 2nd Place
Overall: 1st Place
Waterski Pro Tour Leaderboard:
Slalom: 13th Place
Tricks: 6th Place
Jump: 1st Place
Europe Ranking Details:
Slalom: 5th Place
Tricks: 2nd Place
Jump: 1st Place
Overall: 1st Place
2024 IWWF Skiers & Riders of the Year
Discipline
Female
Male
Barefoot
Ashleigh Groen – Australia
Ben Groen – New Zealand
Disabled Ski
Elisha Nelson – USA
Craig Timm – USA
Cable Ski
Alina Bühl – Austria
Erwin Zawadzki – Poland
Cable Wakeboard
Julia Rick – Germany
Max Milde – Germany
Racing
No Nomination
No Nomination
Show Ski
Grace Petzold – USA
Charlie Newlands – Canada
Wakeboard Boat
Eugenia De Armas – Argentina
Nic Rapa – Australia
Wakesurf
Dawnee Kanjanapas – Hong Kong
Jett Lambert – USA
Waterski
Hanna Straltsova
Joel Poland – Great Britain
Please click here to learn more about them. Congratulations!
From this list of outstanding skiers & riders, the 2024 IWWF Male & Female Athletes of the Year, selected by the IWWF Executive Board, will be announced in a week’s time.
What drives the world’s top skiers to greatness? Join MasterCraft ProStar athletes Freddy Krueger and Joel Poland as they share their unique journeys in competitive waterskiing, from their first breakthroughs to their philosophies on pushing boundaries and giving back to the sport they love.
Freddy reflects on the early challenges that shaped his relentless pursuit of success, while Joel shares his passion for fostering the future of waterskiing. Together, they discuss the importance of enjoying the ride, embracing high-pressure moments, and going all-in.
Great Britain’s waterski superstar, Joel Poland, has done it again. His 6th Open Overall World Record has just been approved.
Joel Poland has now broken the Overall World Record more times than any other skier – male or female. Before his latest record was officially ratified, he had done it 5 times – more than any man and the same number as Natalia Berdnikava. Now he has surpassed them all with record number 6.
It’s his second record of 2024, both of them coming at Ski Fluid near Orlando in Florida, which is also where he set his very first record back in April 2021.
The latest official record was broken at the appropriately-named Fluid Fall Record tournament on 8 September. In round 2, Joel scored 6 at 10.75 metres in slalom, 12,160 points in tricks and jumped 69.8 metres. That amounts to 2686.34 points.
Joel went on to break the world record again just a couple of weeks later at the Travers Cup but that is still being reviewed by the IWWF, so watch this space.
Few would bet against Joel breaking the record again – and again. He has higher slalom and jump scores than those achieved for his 6th record and he has put in consistently strong performances across all three events throughout the season. At the weekend he was crowned Champion of the 2024 World Water Skiers (WWS) Overall Tour, having won all four stops.
And Joel is still only 25 years old!
Congratulations Joel. We can’t wait to see what you can do in 2025, which just happens to be a World Championships year.
Joel Poland isn’t just having a good run of form; he’s redefining what is possible in the sport of water skiing. The 25-year-old Englishman had as close to a flawless weekend of water skiing as perhaps anyone in the sport has ever had, breaking the overall world record in both the preliminary and final rounds, taking home yet another professional victory and the season championship on the WWS Overall Tour to cap things off.
Last year, during the final stop of the WWS Overall Tour, Poland broke the world overall record, his first in two years, and the first time a world record had been broken in a professional tournament since 2005. Since that fateful day, it’s been as if a floodgate has opened. He broke the record again two weeks later at the Malibu Open, again in the spring at Fluid, and then, in one of the most remarkable runs ever in the sport, he exceeded the current record over three consecutive rounds—including in both the preliminary and final rounds of the WWS Travers Cup last weekend.
To be clear, not all of these performances will be recorded as official records. Poland’s scores from the Fluid Fall Record are marginally higher than his two pending records from Sunset Lakes, which will only be considered if the first performance is denied upon review. But all three exceed the current world record, set by Poland back in April.
Spare a thought for his competitors. While Louis Duplan-Fribourg, Dorien Llewellyn, and Martin Kolman have all been in incredible form this season, they are tasked with competing against a guy who is breaking world records at a consistency and pace unheard of in the history of the sport.
To put it in context, the entire podium from the finals of the WWS Travers Cup—Joel, Louis, and Dorien—recorded scores higher than Jaret Llewellyn’s “unbreakable” overall record, which stood from 2002 to 2017. Even Martin Kolman, who finished in fourth place, wasn’t far off the pace. The former World Champion recorded a personal best in jump and one of his best-ever overall scores, yet still couldn’t make the podium.
The level of skiing was off the charts all weekend. Highlights included a pending under-17 world record from Jake Abelson, a new French national jump record from Duplan-Fribourg, and countless personal and season bests.
But none of it was enough to threaten Poland, who managed scores midway through 10.25m (41 off), over 12,000 points in tricks, and jumps in the high 60s (220s) across both rounds of the tournament—truly world-class performances in all three events.
We are witnessing something very special indeed. Don’t look away for a minute.
Joel Poland has been on an incredible hot streak over the past few seasons. The 25-year-old is currently leading the Waterski Pro Tour jump standings and the World Water Skiers Overall Tour, taking home more prize money than any other water skier so far in 2024. He has officially broken the world overall record five times, with a sixth record pending as of last weekend. His versatility across all three events—slalom, trick, and jump—is unparalleled in the modern era, consistently competing with the best in the world in each discipline.
This raises the question: Has anyone ever been this good across all three events? While numerous factors contribute to any GOAT debate—such as longevity, consistency, world titles, and professional victories—Poland, still in the early stages of his career, has a long way to go before reaching the heights of legends like Sammy Duvall, Jaret Llewellyn, and Patrice Martin. However, over the past four decades, since systematic record-keeping began, has any skier ever been as close to the top scores in all three events as Poland? Below, we rank the top five streaks in men’s overall:
Dorien’s achievements often get overshadowed by Joel Poland’s rise to world dominance, but the second-generation Llewellyn is the best in his storied family by some metrics. At the 2021 World Championships, his scores across the prelims and finals would have broken his own world overall record—had they been performed in the same round. Unfortunately for him, Poland’s scores were even better, snatching Llewellyn’s world record on his way to the title.
During this period, Dorien posted scores into 10.25m (41′ off), tricked just shy of 12,000 points, and jumped 70 meters (230 feet), placing him within 90% of the top specialist scores in each event. Only Dorien and Joel have achieved this since world rankings began in 1979. Sidelined with injury in 2023, Llewellyn has shown promising signs of a return to form across the first two stops of the WWS Overall Tour.
Image: Yvon le Gall
4. Mike Hazelwood (1979-1981)
92% of Individual Top Scores
92% of Individual World Records
Hazelwood’s dominance in overall skiing is unmatched in many ways. From the late 1970s through the early ’80s, the British skier won five consecutive Moomba Masters and four consecutive US Masters overall titles. At the height of his powers in 1980, Hazelwood held the world jump record, was less than 1,000 points short of the world trick record, and within a pass of the world slalom record.
He remains one of only two men in the past half-century to win professional titles in all three events, including victories in slalom and tricks at the Moomba Masters, alongside his string of jump and overall titles across the globe. Hazelwood might have ranked even higher on this list if records had extended further back, as they only began near the end of his dominant run.
Carl Roberge, known for his imposing athleticism, holds a strong claim as the greatest skier never to win an individual gold at the World Championships. He was ranked either first or second in the world for overall from 1980 to 1990, helping Team USA to five consecutive victories.
In 1982, Roberge was just one buoy shy of the LaPoint brothers’ jointly held world slalom record, less than two meters short of Hazelwood’s world jump record, and still ranked fourth in the world for tricks despite it being his weakest event. To this day, Roberge is the only man to simultaneously hold top-five world rankings in all three events and the only man to win a season championship on the Pro Tour in both slalom and jump.
Patrice Martin is best remembered for his six consecutive world overall titles from 1989 to 1999, including a nail-biting victory over Kreg Llewellyn by just 0.2 overall points—the smallest margin of victory ever recorded.
Martin’s performances in 1996 remain the closest anyone has come to the world record marks in all three events over the past four decades. He held the world trick record, was less than three buoys shy of the slalom record, and trailed Bruce Neville’s jump record by only 20 feet. At his peak, Martin was awarded the IWWF’s first-ever overall record, which he went on to break three times through the twilight of his career.
In an era where specialization reigns supreme, Joel Poland’s prowess across all three events is astonishing. In 2023, Poland ran 10.25m (41’ off), getting within 2.5 buoys of Nate Smith’s decade-old world slalom record. He tricked within 500 points of Patricio Font’s world record and jumped 71.7 meters (235 feet), just half a meter shy of the highest score that year.
While Patrice Martin’s golden run in the years leading up to Poland’s birth was technically closer to world record marks, the context is different. In the 1990s, scores were steadily climbing, whereas today, Poland is competing in an era where jump scores, at least at the highest level, have been declining. In the past five years, only one 240-foot jump has been recorded, and the world jump record hasn’t been seriously challenged in nearly a decade.
In 2023, Poland’s scores were within 95% of the top specialist scores in all three events, a feat previously unheard of in the sport’s recorded history. Statistically speaking, no one has ever been this good at water skiing.
Honorable Mentions:
Jaret Llewellyn (2002-2004)
93% of Individual Top Scores
90% of Individual World Records
Jaret famously held the “unbreakable” world overall record for 15 years, but his slalom performances fall short in this purely score-driven analysis. While undoubtedly one of the greatest overall skiers of all time, Jaret’s success stemmed more from longevity, consistency, and clutch performances than raw talent.
Sammy Duvall (1984-1988)
92% of Individual Top Scores
89% of Individual World Records
The most dominant skier of the 1980s, Duvall won four consecutive world overall titles despite fierce competition. A legendary jumper and consistent slalom and trick skier, Duvall’s era saw specialists like Andy Mapple and Cory Pickos pushing the envelope in slalom and tricks, leaving overall skiers like Duvall playing catch-up.
Pre-1979 Skiers
Early greats like Mike Suyderhoud, Ricky McCormick, George Athans, and Chuck Stearns may well have had periods rivaling Poland, but without systematic tracking of scores, we will never know for sure.
The recently concluded Fluid Fall Record tournament in Central Florida lived up to its reputation, with several impressive performances and records broken. Although the event is an amateur competition, the shores of the lake were lined with professional water skiers, all vying for big scores at one of the world’s premier ski sites.
Among the standout performances was Joel Poland, who potentially set his sixth world overall record. The British skier delivered a remarkable round that included 1.5 buoys at 10.25 meters (41’ off) in slalom, a trick score of 12,160 points, and a jump distance of 69.8 meters (229 feet). This marks Poland’s fourth world record in the past 12 months. Leading the Waterski Pro Tour in jump and remaining undefeated in the WWS Overall Tour, Poland appears unstoppable.
Poland shared on Instagram that he almost didn’t compete in the tournament, saying “This was a real last minute event, I signed up on Thursday, i just had a feeling this weekend could be the one. 3 days later, another pending world record and legs that feel like stone. No regrets 🤘 I’ll take every opportunity I can get!”
In the tricks category, Nelly Ross of Canada set a pending national trick record with a score of 11,230 points, just 130 points shy of the current world record held by Erika Lang. While there are no major trick events remaining for the 2024 season, Ross’s performance signals that the level of competition in women’s tricks is continually rising.
Meanwhile, Hanna Straltsova set a new personal best with a leap of 58.7 meters (193 feet), further solidifying her status as the best jumper in the world right now. Straltsova, who already leads the Waterski Pro Tour, is now outright the second-farthest female jumper of all time, behind Jacinta Carroll. Previously, Straltsova shared the second position with Natallia Berdnikava, but her latest achievement sets her apart in a class of her own.
Another rising star, Martin Labra, the 2024 Masters trick champion, demonstrated his growing potential with a pending Chilean overall record. Labra posted scores of 5 buoys at 11.25 meters (38’ off) in slalom, 12,190 points in tricks, and a jump of 63.1 meters (207 feet). The performance marks a significant milestone for Labra, as he overtakes his uncle, two-time world overall champion Felipe Miranda. Labra is shaping up to be a strong contender in men’s overall in the coming seasons.
Though not breaking any records, Regina Jaquess delivered another remarkable performance, setting only the second score in 2024 past two buoys at 10.25 meters (41’ off)—both scores belonging to Jaquess. The American skier is still in pursuit of becoming the first woman to run the full pass, with her current best standing at 5 buoys.
With six professional events remaining in 2024, including slalom, jump, and overall, the competition is heating up for what promises to be an exciting finish to the season.
Note: the original version of this article incorrectly listed Straltsova’s jump as a pending European record.
Joel Poland’s world overall record, set at the Ski Fluid Classic in April 2024, was officially ratified by the IWWF yesterday, marking his fifth world overall record in three years. The three-event superstar now has the distinction of breaking the most world overall records since official records began in the mid-1990s. He overtakes Regina Jaquess (four) and Patrice Martin, Elena Milakova, and Natallia Berdnikava (three each) with his five world records set between April 2021 and 2024.
His latest mark – 1 @ 10.25m (41’ off), 11,680 points, and 70.3 meters (231 feet) – was just three overall points higher than his previous record set at the 2023 Malibu Open and is still significantly below Poland’s personal bests in both slalom and trick, where he has previously run 10.25m and tricked over 12,000 points.
If the Brit can pull off the perfect round while he is in his current form across all three events, he will have the opportunity to set a generational record, one that will stand the test of time – similar to Jaret Llewellyn’s mark from 2002 which took 15 years for any man to best, or Berdnikava’s mark from 2012 which still stands to this day.
Arguably the hardest record in the sport to break, requiring near perfection in a single round of competition, Poland’s achievements are already historic. With four professional overall events, four jump events, and plenty more slalom events (if he chooses to attend), Poland will look to add more professional titles to his already impressive resume through the second half of 2024.
The Masters Qualifying Series kicked off this weekend with slalom and tricks at Lake Ledbetter in Winter Garden on Thursday and Friday, followed by Jump at Sunset Lakes in Groveland on Saturday. The world’s top water skiers competed fiercely to secure their spot in the 2024 Masters. Among them, Joel Poland stood out, qualifying in all three events, a feat not achieved since 2000, when overall was last contested.
While the format has faced criticism, there’s no denying the remarkable results it can produce by pitting the world’s best athletes against each other in a multi-round, single-best-score format. The qualifications to clinch a Masters Invitation this weekend were exceptionally high. On the men’s side, it took 4@10.25m (41’ off), over 12,000 points, and 66.1 meters (217 feet). Achieving any one of these would be impressive, but attaining all in the same weekend is unprecedented.
The level of skiing was phenomenal throughout the event. Highlights included 15-year-old Damien Eade running 10.75m (39.5’ off) to secure his ticket to the Junior Masters, and 18-year-old Charlie Ross setting an under-21 world record of 5@10.25m (41’ off) for his first professional Masters qualification.
The weekend saw four skiers surpass 12,000 points, tying the record set at the Swiss Pro Tricks. Poland and Gonzalez equaled their personal bests, Martin Labra delivered the highest scoring toe run in living memory (5,680), and 16-year-old Jake Abelson achieved an astounding pending world record of 12,970, oh so close to the new frontier of 13k.
Poland had arguably the best tournament of his life on the slalom ski. While he didn’t reach the stratospheric heights of running 10.25m again, his scores of 3.5 and 4 at 10.25m were among his best ever, before he was thrown into a seven-way run-off after the log jam at 4. Facing challenging conditions and a strong tail breeze, Poland was the only one to successfully run the 10.75m (39.5’ off) opener in the runoff, making his way into his first Masters slalom event.
Poland’s first-round scores, 3.5@10.25m, 12,160 points, and 67.4 meters (221 feet), would have set a new overall world record if not for the fact that the event was spread across two different sites. He eked out another foot in the second round of the jump, finishing with the top jump score of the tournament.
This level of competitiveness across all three events is unprecedented, at least on the men’s side. You would have to go back at least 40 years to find another man capable of winning professional events across all disciplines, fittingly to Poland’s compatriot Mike Hazelwood, who dominated both the Moomba and US Masters through the late ’70s and early ’80s.
While several women have previously qualified in all three events since the overall event was sidelined, Joel Poland’s achievement marks the first time any man has accomplished this feat. With potentially three overall world records in the last 12 months and an undefeated streak on the WWS Overall Tour, Poland appears unstoppable. Having clinched professional titles in trick, jump, and overall events, the question now looms: will slalom be next for him?
Qualified Men
Slalom (5/8)
Tricks* (4/8)
Jump (4/8)
Freddie Winter
Patricio Font
Ryan Dodd
Nate Smith
Martin Labra
Joel Poland
Charlie Ross
Joel Poland
Tobias Giorgis
Joel Poland
Louis Duplan-Fribourg
Louis Duplan-Fribourg
Will Asher
* Jake Abelson qualified also, but has opted to ski in Junior Masters instead.
This past weekend at a record tournament in Central Florida, the season opener on Lake Grew saw the establishment of two pending world records. Fresh off his first score over 12,000 points at the Swiss Pro Tricks, Jake Abelson set a pending world trick record of 12,720. Meanwhile, Joel Poland managed to surpass his current world overall record by the narrowest of margins after delivering strong performances in all three events.
Abelson, the 16-year-old trick phenom, recorded the highest-scoring hand pass of all time, totaling 7,670 points, which included a crowd favorite wake seven front (W7F) right at the buzzer. His score of 12,720 is 30 points higher than the current record held by Patricio Font, but 50 points lower than the pending world record set by Font at the Swiss Pro Tricks last weekend. Consequently, Abelson’s performance will only be recognized as an open world record if Font’s score is downgraded upon review. Additionally, Abelson’s score has the potential to set the under-17 and under-21 world records as well as the US national under-17 and open records. If approved, Abelson will be the first American to hold the men’s world trick record since Cory Pickos in the year 2000, seven years before Abelson was born.
Meanwhile, Joel Poland, the super talent from Great Britain, showcased incredible performances across all three events to surpass his current mark by a razor-thin margin. With scores of 1 @ 10.25m (41’ off), 11,680 points, and 70.3 meters (231 feet), Poland scored just three overall points higher than the current record set at the 2023 Malibu Open. While Poland is capable of more, particularly in the slalom and trick events, the pending record was only his second time surpassing 70 meters (230 feet) since he set the British record of 71.7 meters (235 feet) at the 2023 California ProAm.
Poland shared his elatement with the performances on social media, stating, “Still room for improvement, but I couldn’t be happier! There was a time where I couldn’t even imagine running these scores.” He emphasized, “Some will call it talent, but those around will know it’s a commitment to improving every day.”
The tournament witnessed countless other notable performances, including Freddy Krueger jumping 71.5m (235’), Patricio Font posting another score over 12,000, and the ‘retired’ Scot Ellis leaping 59.5m (195’) in the master’s men’s division.
Update: Abelson’s world trick record and Poland’s world overall record were both approved by the IWWF on May 23 and July 24, 2024, respectively.
Meet the most talented waterskier of this generation, Joel Poland. Growing up in England, Joel grew up wakeboarding and after a few years of that he got into waterskiing. After attending “Jump camp” in Orlando, Joel became extremely driven towards progression, practicing all 3 disciplines of waterskiing (slalom, trick, and jump). Grabbing your trick ski, sky flying, college waterskiing, getting banned from Australia, keeping skiing fun, competition vs. camaraderie, getting a boat sponsor, G.O.A.T. skiers, and getting wrecked on a dirtbike right before a tournament. Hear all that and much more in Episode 48 of the Grab Matters Podcast, now streaming on all major platforms!
Independent perspectives on tournament water skiing