Lang Wins Swiss Pro Tricks Title; Abelson Sets Pending National Record
by USA Water Ski & Wake Sports
U.S. athlete Erika Lang (Gilbert, Ariz.) scored 11,030 points to win the women's tricks event at the 2024 Swiss Pro Tricks tournament on Sunday at the Swiss Waterski Resort in Clermont, Fla. The world’s top professional men’s and women’s tricks skiers competed in the tournament, which served as the opening stop of the 2024 pro water ski tour.
Canada's Neilly Ross placed second (10,370 points), followed by Anna Gay (Winter Garden, Fla.), who scored 9,390 points.
Chile's Matias Gonzalez won men's tricks, scoring 12,440 points. U.S. athlete Jake Abelson (Holderness, N.H.) placed second, scoring a pending Open Men national record score of 12,230 points. Mexico's Patricio Font, who set a pending men's world tricks record of 12,770 points in the first round, finished third with 11,610 points.
Font's pending world record, if approved by the IWWF, would break his own record score of 12,690 points set in 2023. Abelson's pending Open Men tricks record, if approved by the American Water Ski Association, would break the current mark of 12,170 points set by Adam Pickos in 2020.