2025 Junior Masters Recap

Junior Masters was full of action in its 32nd appearance! Lots of tight competition led to some unexpected seeding going into finals as well as some surprising final results. In addition to the amazing performances, history was made when one athlete took all four junior men’s titles.

Kicking off the day we had junior womens trick. There was one skier who completely dominated this event with a massive 2,500 point gap to second place. That skier is none other than Alexia Abelson. Alexia secured top seed after the semi-finals with a score of 7,380 just to later increase that score by almost 400 points in finals, bringing her up to 7,730. In addition to her trick success, she took the girls overall title. Our other girl tricker was Ella Gay who just barely missed the podium, finishing in 4th place with 4,640. This brings the final junior women’s trick results to: 

1st - Alexia Abelson (USA) with 7,730

2nd - Kristy Appleton (AUS) with 5,220

3rd - Cristhiana De Osma (PER) with 4,120

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Ella Gay (USA) with 4,640

5th - Klaudie Kmentová (CZE) with 4,230

6th - Delfina Renosto (ARG) with 3,600

7th - Maise Jacobsen (DEN) with 2,580

Following the junior womens trick, the junior men’s trick took to the water. There were many tough competitors but the absence of one specific athlete was very noticeable. Jake Abelson opted not to participate in the junior trick event. While he still competed in slalom and jump, Jake decided to save his world record trick skills for the open competition. Tristan Duplan-Fribourg, from France, stepped up to lead the men’s trick semi-finals. Tristan wasn’t able to hold his lead; however, Tim Wild, from Germany, seized the top spot on the podium. The final results for junior men's trick are as follows: 

1st - Tim Wild (GER) with 8,750

2nd - Francisco Giorgis (ARG) with 8,130

3rd - Tristan Duplan-Fribourg (FRA) with 8,010

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Bautista Ahumada (ARG) with 7,890

5th - Adrian Elias (SVK) with 7,780

Slalom followed trick, with the junior women getting us started. Alexia Abelson cut her trick title celebration short to solidify herself as an overall threat. She pushed fellow overall competitor, Kristy Appelton (AUS), out of finals contention and stole the final spot. Alexia didn’t let the opportunity go to waste, and improved on her semi-finals score by 3 buoys to finish in third place. The standout performance was courtesy of Cristhiana De Osma, from Peru, who tied the junior women's course record and took the title with 5 at 38. This brings the women’s slalom results to the following:

1st - Cristhiana De Osma (PER) with 5 at 38 (11.25m)

2nd - Trinidad Espinal (CHI) with 1.5 at 38 (11.25m)

3rd - Alexia Abelson (USA) with 0.5 at 38 (11.25m)

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Kristy Appleton (AUS) with 3 at 35 (12m)

5th - Kate Pinsonneault (CAN) with 2 at 35 (12m)

6th - Ines Sole (BEL) with 1.5 at 35 (12m)

7th - Maise Jacobsen (DNK) with 3.5 at 32 (13m)

Immediately after the junior women, were the junior men. It really was immediate; there wasn’t even a driver change (how’s that for tournament efficiency). Jake Abelson was the first American to take to the water, breezing through 35 and setting the bar high early on. Shortly after Jake was Damien Eade. Damien made a statement in the semi-finals; he’s the defending Junior Moomba Masters champion and he made it clear he was coming for back to back titles. Damien took top seed into finals with a massive 5 at 38, and backed it up during finals with 2.5 at 38 for silver. The one person who could have dethroned Damien’s seeding was his brother Jaeden Eade. However, a surprising fall in the semi-finals took Jaeden out of contention, giving him a disappointing end to the event. Without Jaeden in the finals, the results came out to:

1st - Tim Wild (GER) with 4.5 at 38 (11.25m)

2nd - Damien Eade (USA) with 2.5 at 38 (11.25m)

3rd - Bautista Ahumada (ARG) with 2 at 35 (12m)

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Jaeden Eade (USA) with 1.5 at 38 (11.25m)

5th - Jake Abelson (USA) with 0.5 at 38 (11.25m)

6th - Francisco Giorgis (ARG) with 2.5 at 35 (12m)

7th - Adrian Elias (SVK) with 2 at 15 (18m)

The penultimate event, for the skiing portion of the event, was junior women’s jump. Alexia Abelson continued her overall dominance and set a new personal best of 92 feet on the first jump of the event. Directly after her was Cameron Davis who matched that score with her own 92 foot jump. This brings us to our highest scoring competitor, Camryn Waters. Camryn jumped an amazing score of 134 feet in the semi-finals to position herself in second seed. She came into finals and thought “134 is good, but I’m better” and stomped a huge 135 foot jump to position herself above the Canadian, Kate Pinsonneault. The final women’s jump results are as follows:

1st - Maise Jacobsen (DNK) with 143 feet

2nd - Camryn Waters (USA) with 135 feet

3rd - Kate Pinsonneault (CAN) with 133 feet

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Kristy Appleton (AUS) with 122 feet

5th - Cameron Davis (USA) with 92 feet

6th - Alexia Abelson (USA) with 92 feet

Men’s jump was the final skiing event of the day. Things didn’t exactly play out as expected. First off, BG Bickley jumped a giant 174 feet to slingshot himself into the top seed at the end of the semi-finals. The original top seed was Jake Abelson, who took a very uncharacteristic crash on jump two after taking a safety pass on jump one. With all the pressure on Jake’s final jump, he came up short of finals. This left the door wide open for Francisco Giorgis, from Argentina, to slip into finals. As finals came to a close, all eyes were on BG Bickley. BG couldn’t quite find the distance on his first two jumps and was putting everything on the line for his third, when all of the sudden he lost control and fell before even reaching the ramp. This tragic ending restricted BG to third place and brough the final results to:

1st - Tim Wild (GER) with 177 feet

2nd - Francisco Giorgis (ARG) with 172 feet

3rd - BG Bickley (USA) with 161 feet

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

4th - Jo Nakamura (JPN) with 167 feet

5th - Adrian Elias (SVK) with 154 feet

6th - Jake Abelson (USA) with 151 feet

You may have noticed one name that keeps occurring at the top of the results. The German, Tim Wild, made history as the first man ever to sweep all events in the Junior Masters. He took the titles for trick, slalom, and jump; which left him practically uncontested for the overall title. A massive congratulations to Tim for his unforgettable performance! 

All in all it was an electric start to the weekend and we’re already anticipating an amazing pro event tomorrow. A giant thank you to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, for hosting this amazing event. A big shout out to Nautique and all the sponsors that made this tournament possible. Last but not least, a massive thank you to the broadcast crew for streaming all of the action free for everyone to enjoy!