Wow what an amazing contest! Every world cup truely is spectacular but the one in Mandurah must be my favorite one. After training in Singapore for 10 days I felt more than ready to head down to meet my friends and the rest of the competitors. I don’t think the line-up has ever been quite this impressive with 11 of the best riders in the world, and myself 😉
I started off a bit rocky with crashing twice in my semi finals and therefore ended up in the LCQ, the Last Chance Qualifying. In the second round I was up agains the very talented Larisa Morales from Mexico, Megan Barker from the UK and Chloe Mills from Australia. Luckily I was first off the dock and didn’t have to deal with my competition nerves of watching the others ride before me. This turned out to be a good thing as I managed to stick my pass and was so excited to make it into the finals which consisted of Amber Wing AUS, Bec Gange AUS, Melissa Marquart USA, Raimi Merritt USA and Nicola Butler USA.
The conditions in Mandurah are always a bit rough with both wind, waves and sometimes even dolphins in the course! (well I guess the dolphins don’t really make the condidions worse but they are incredibly cool!). I was second off the dock and after watching my friend Nicola go out and kill it, I was ready to go.
My first pass went according to plan and I managed to stick one of my high enders, a whirly bird which is a backflip with a full twist. Then on the second pass my nerves or the wind or something got to me and I took an unfortunate fall on a Raley and therefore missed most of my second pass but I still managed to get a last spin in as a wild card trick, a toeside 540.
Watching the rest of the ladies throw down was good, even though the conditions made everyone struggle a little. In the end Raimi Merritt stuck an impressive S-bend and ended up grabbing the gold medal tightly followed by Nicola Butler in second. I was over the moon when I realized that I got the third spot being the odd one out as the rider from Sweden.
It’s always so great being around these amazing pro women who motivates the crap out of me by always stepping it up. The level in female wakeboarding is incredible right now and I am so thrilled to watch it improve every day.
A big thank you to all my sponsors, family and boyfriend for helping me get another podium. And thanks to all the organizers for putting on another great event!
I cant wait to come back next year!
Carro
Photo by Chris West Photography