Busan South Korea. The 2013 IWWF World Wakeboard Championships drew to a close this past weekend at the Hwamyung Eco Park.
The IWWF World Wakeboard Championships were inaugurated in 2000 in France. Subsequent hosts include the Republic of South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Russia, Qatar, South Korea and Italy. Korea is the first country to host the World Championships for a second time.
As the Official Towboat of all IWWF World Titled events, MasterCraft in collaboration with the regional dealers Marine Land Korea, provided the highly regarded MasterCraft XStar with the Ilmor 7.4-litre engine to deliver the wakes for over 130 athletes representing more than 30 countries.
This was the first World Championships to be towed by the all new XStar and rave reviews were given by the athletes as to the incredible size and perfectly shaped wakes which allowed them to deliver truly incredible performances out on the water.
With an extremely high level of riding across all divisions, competition for a place in the finals was fierce with several unexpected disappointments causing some big names to miss out on the chance to compete for a podium place.
In the Open Ladies division, one of the favourites, Bec Gange (AUS) suffered an unfortunate run falling on her first and second tricks opening up the field for the other big names in the final. Out of the six ladies, Carro Djupsjo from Sweden managed a fantastic two passes earning herself the bronze followed by Amber Wing (AUS) taking silver with Raimi Merrit (USA) taking the gold.
The Open Men's final saw fantastic global representation with athletes from Russia, Italy, Great Britain, Australia, Japan and the USA making it through with four out of the six men being Team MasterCraft athletes!
The general consensus for the six men final was all or nothing and the banks of the Nakdong river were packed with fellow riders and team officials all cheering on the men as they fought for their place on the world podium.
In the end, defending World Champion Harley Clifford (AUS) showed just why he is the worlds number one with two perfect stand-up passes taking home the gold and retaining his title followed by Shota Tezuka (JAP) with silver and Nikita Martianov (RUS) winning the bronze.
The attention now turns to the next MasterCraft World Cup stop in Mandurah Western Australia as the results from the IWWF World Championships will form the basis for selection to this prestigious invitational only series having been towed since its inception in 2004 exclusively by MasterCraft.
Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Website
