U17 Worlds Trip Report

[Jimbo]

Hey all,

Our family just finished U17 worlds here in Chile and Horton suggested I post a quick trip summary.

 

Short story - an amazing experience for our son competing at the world level at a great venue in a very welcoming country.

 

Our son qualified as an independent via the October IWWF ranking list in jump (top 15 skiers qualify).  He was also given 2 wildcards by USA Waterski and the IAC (international affairs committee), so he skied all 3 events.  While he wasn’t a member of Team USA for team scoring purposes, he was Team USA all the way.

We arrived in Chile about 4 days before the official tournament start.  USAWS was able to secure 2 blocks of unofficial practice time at the site, so all the skiers were able to practice their events twice before official familiarization on Wednesday.  By semis, all the skiers had 3 days of practice which was outstanding.

 

The tournament itself was extremely well run.  Miranda ski school is a great site and the tournament ran like clockwork. The competition at the world level was incredible.  The smallest mistakes made the difference between making the finals or not - and it’s certainly stressful but it brings out some great performances.

Even more impressive than the competition however was the camaraderie, not just between the USA team members but between all of the teams.  I think all of the skiers made friends from around the world and all of the teams worked together to support other teams through injuries and adversity.  
 

Chile was amazing as well.  The Chilean people were very welcoming and Santiago is a beautiful city.  All in all a great experience.

 

 

[Horton]

Awesome. Thanks for the report @Jimbo

[LK_skier]

I watched a bit of it and wow there are some up and coming skiers to watch out for.  I was pretty stocked for some of the Aussies making pb's and podiums.