2025 Masters Recap

Highlights:

Erika Lang won women's trick

Jake Abelson won men’s trick by over 1,500 points 

Damian Eade won the junior head 2 head against Tim Wild

Allie Nicholsan won women’s slalom for the first time

All american women jump finals

Hanna Straltsova won jump for the fourth time

No american skiers in mens jump but Joel had back to back 70m+ jumps which is insane for Robin Lake

Special mention: Meagan Ethell became the first female to land an  X-mobe 540 in women’s wakeboard finals and secured her 9th title.

Article:

American athletes had a very strong dominance at the 65th Nautique Masters, claiming 4 gold medals and 8 podium spots. Our strongest event was undoubtedly women’s jump, where the entire finals was only american athletes. The excitement didn't stop there, however. 

Kicking off the day was the women’s trick event. Erika Lang is the first USA skier on the water and she wants to make a statement. Fresh off of titles at Moomba Masters and Swiss Pro Tricks, Erika is on fire and has no intention to cool off. She set the bar insanely high with 10,530, putting the pressure on Anna Hunter. Anna was the defending champion coming into finals, but defending that title would be no easy feat after Erikas performance. With her bright red bib, Anna set a solid score of 9,450. Enough to land her on the podium but not quite enough to take the win away from Erika. The final American athlete was Kennedy Hansen, who came up just short of the final cut with a score of 9,040. The final women’s trick scores came out to the following: 

1st - Erika Lang (USA) with 10,530

2nd - Giannina Mechlar (GER) with 10,020

3rd - Anna Hunter (USA) with 9,450

4th - Neilly Ross (CAN) with 8,600

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

5th - Kennedy Hansen (USA) with 9.040

6th - Paige Rini (CAN) with 6,870

7th - Olivia Chute (CAN) with 4,630

8th - Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya (USA) with 3,360

Directly following the women’s trick was the men's trick. There were two USA athletes competing in this event. Adam Pickos was the first of them to take on Robin Lake. He put up 10,310 in the semifinals, coming up just short of the finals cut. The top seed skier was Jake Abelson who scored a massive 11,620 in semis to launch himself to the top of the finals running order. As big as 11,620 was, Jake wanted more. He went full throttle in finals and landed a score of 12,190 to facilitate his spot on the exclusive list of skiers to break 12,000 on Robin Lake. Jake's win was a welcome success after missing finals in slalom and jump in the junior competition. The final men’s results were:

1st - Jake Abelson (USA) with 12,190

2nd - Doren Llewellyn (CAN) with 10,680

3rd - Joel Poland (GBR) with 10,670

4th - Matias Gonzalez (CHI) with 6,610

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

5th - Louis Duplan-Fribourg (FRA) with 10,420

6th - Adam Pickos (USA) with 10,310

7th - Patricio Font (MEX) with 5,000

Moving on from tricks, we had the slalom event. Ali Garcia was the first American of the day. She put up a strong score of 4 at 38 and pushed herself above three notoriously capable competitors. However, she was narrowly pushed out of the final cut by a mere half a buoy. Allie Nicholson followed Ali Garcia’s example but tacked on some extra buoys to become the only female skier to score into 39 in semifinals. Regina Jaquess took another one of the finals spots with an s-turn around 5 ball at 38. Regina was the first of the two finalists to ski again, scoring 4.5 at 38 in finals. Her fall seemed to be the result of an overly aggressive approach to the pass and potentially biting off more than she could chew. Regardless, it was an amazing performance from Regina with arguably the most incredible 3 ball turn of the event. The final skier to take on finals was Allie. Allie made a statement when she ran 38 a second time and went on to score 2 at 39 to secure the gold medal. With Allie on top, the final results came out to: 

1st - Allie Nicholson (USA) with 2 at 39 (10.75m)

2nd - Vennesa Vieke (AUS) with 1.5 at 39 (10.75m)

3rd - Neilly Ross (CAN) with 5 at 38 (11.25m)

4th - Regina Jaquess (USA) with 4.5 at 38 (11.25m)

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

5th - Alexandra Garcia (USA) with 4 at 38 (11.25m)

6th - Paige Rini (CAN) with 4 at 38 (11.25m)

7th - Jaimee Bull (CAN) with 2.5 at 38 (11.25m)

8th - Whitney Rini (CAN) with 1.5 at 35 (12m)

There were only two USA skiers in the men's slalom. However, that number did not decrease in finals with both Dane Mechlar and Nate Smith pushing their way through. Dane skied first and was looking extremely strong in the semifinals with a huge score of 5.5 at 39 (who needs exit gates anyway?) However, when finals rolled around, a peculiar fall took the unsuspecting Dane by surprise. He was running a flawless 35 when his ski suddenly leapt out of the water around 5 and left him out of contention for the title. While it is unfortunate to see, things like that certainly do happen when the conditions are subpar. Nate Smith, on the other hand, improved dramatically in finals. He took down 39 and improved on his semifinals score by a full 5 buoys. With a strong 2 at 41, he really made Freddie fight for any chance at the title. After finals concluded the scores settled at: 

1st - Freddie Winter (GBR) with 2.5 at 41 (10.25m)

2nd - Nate Smith (USA) with 2 at 41 (10.25m)

3rd - Cole McCormick (CAN) with 3.5 at 39 (10.75m)

4th - Dane Mechler (USA) with 4.5 at 35 (12m)

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

5th - Charlie Ross (CAN) with 2.5 at 39 (10.7m)

6th - Thomas Degasperi (ITA) with 2.5 at 39 (10.75m)

7th - William Asher (GBR) with 0.5 at 39 (10.75m)

8th - Robert Hazelwood (GBR) with 0.5 at 38 (11.25m)

Wakeboard made an appearance in between slalom and jump. While we won’t go into too much detail, one rider refused to be ignored. Meagen Ethell won her 9th Masters title; but that’s not all. She became the first ever female rider to land a mobe 540 in competition. Meagen threw down this incredible flip as her wildcard trick following a virtually perfect two pass run. A big congratulations to Meagen!

Now back to skiing. When the riders cleared from the water, the ramp was set and the crowd was ready. The women didn’t disappoint. A very dominant American jump field left a finals full of red, white, and blue. Regina Jaquess narrowly missed finals with a semifinals score of 158 feet. Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya was the first finalist to take to the water. She turned in for jump one, load building through the wakes, eyes locked on that top left corner, when all of the sudden her sling snapped. Luckily, Aliaksandra reacted fast enough to safely pass clear of the ramp. Despite finding a new sling, she was never able to find her rhythm again and passed on her remaining two jumps. An unfortunate sight to see after the impressive 165 feet that launched Aliaksandra into finals. Next to the water was Hanna Straltsova, the defending champion. Hanna came out strong and blasted 176 feet to slingshot herself into a lead that would be difficult for anyone to surpass. That didn’t stop Lauren Morgan and Brittany Wharton from trying, however. Both of which came up just short with nearly identical scores of 166 feet. When recalculated using meters, Lauren was found to have landed ahead of Brittany by only 0.1 of a meter (50.6 over 50.5). This rounds out an all american podium with Hanna claiming the top step and brings the final results to:

1st - Hanna Straltsova (USA) with 176 feet (53.6m)

2nd - Lauren Morgan (USA) with 166 feet (50.6m)

3rd - Brittany Wharton (USA) with 166 feet (50.5m)

4th - Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya (USA) with 0 feet (0m)

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

5th - Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah (MAS) with 161 feet (49.1m)

6th - Regina Jaquess (USA) with 158 feet (48.2m)

7th - Valentina Gonzalez (CHI) with 129 feet (39.4m)

The final event of the day was the men's jump. Unfortunately, Freddy Kruger dropped out of the event on short notice. This left the field without any American representation. However, it was still a very entertaining showdown. The two most threatening competitors were Joel Poland, the defending champion from Great Britain, and Ryan Dodd, the current world record holder out of Canada. Both skiers put up amazing performances but Joel jumped 230 feet on back to back jumps to defend his title. To add a little insult to injury for Ryan, Joel threw a fist pump midair for an extra bit of flair. The final results were:

1st - Joel Poland (GBR) with 230 feet (70.1m)

2nd - Ryan Dodd (CAN) with 218 feet (66.3m)

3rd - Igor Morozov (N/A) with 214 feet (65.1m)

4th - Luca Rauchenwald (AUS) with 190 feet (57.9m)

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

5th - Louis Duplan-Fribourg (FRA) with 208 feet (63.3m)

6th - Jack Critchley (GBR) with 204 feet (62.3m)

7th - Emile Ritter (CHI) with 198 feet (60.4m)

Another moment worth mentioning is the junior head to head during Sunday's event. Damian Eade went against Tim Wild, of Germany, for a shot at redemption and a $2,000 scholarship prize. Tim had bested Damian in the juniors event, but Damian wasn’t going to let that slide. After an intense showdown, Damian came out on top with one of the most passionate celebrations of the event. Congratulations to both Damian and Tim for their accomplishments this past weekend. 

It was an amazing weekend and a great way to keep the season moving forward. 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!