Cooper_Trelawney

Those 2 Pineapples held up together look like a pair of 80s jumpers because of the size and the square tips. 😂

It's good to hear that Nick has a current design that might be a big hit.  Slalom ski design is such an art,  I like seeing skis that are really outside the box. 

Zack Worden 194'

@Horton you know jumping at Bennett's will be off the hook!  I'm looking at Will Roberts to put one wayyyy out there but honestly,  there could be 10 guys at 170+.  I think 195' is going to happen.  200' would be awesome!  Zack Worden went like 195' at Bennett's about 10 or 15 yrs ago for the then collegiate record.  His cut was so late it looked suicidal.

Looks like Pato Font set a new collegiate trick record 7260!  One thing that's great about collegiate skiing is that a world record holder and a beginner can both be competitors in the same tournament.   I think that's cool and a great opportunity for skiers to learn and be inspired!

@Horton I read that article and it referenced a couple of guys last named Horton.   Older brothers?

@Horton JD was amazing to watch.  Perfectly balanced on his skis.  His s-turn at 32 mph was crazy to watch...starting well ahead of the bow, sinking to his knees and sling shoting into the ramp.  But, while JD was mostly smiling, Swanson had that death stare.  

@Horton 118' for me that day.  Early all 3 jumps.  Took a lot of beers to overcome that!  146' on the 5' @ 32 mph was a really good jump on the short skis!  Man, those were the good days!

Swanson was a beast.  I was the 5th round jumper for my team at Collegiate Nationals in 1990 in Monroe.  I was sandwiched between JD Wiswall and Swanson in the skiing order.  Swanson was frickin' intense, pacing around and whatnot.  I think he was both pumping himself up and trying to intimidate Wiswall at the same time.  All I know is he made me anxious as sh!t and my jumping sucked that day 😂

Aarne Clow 

@Horton that young Italian skier had a 6+ meter PB at the Worlds, which is definitely a crazy improvement!  It's amazing that the WR is 20 ft further than a typical "good" jump by Freddy or Ryan.  Jumping is a different animal now compared to the 80s/early 90s.  The biggest improvement i ever made was 6' and that felt hugely further.   But I was only jumping 140s a long, long time ago.

This must be some weird rule but Smith and the bottom scoring women all scored exact 1 meter (3 ft) in jump; which is impossibility short.  Did they not go over the ramp and were awarded a cursory score?

Smith might have a hard time making a collegiate B team in tricks. 😂

@Horton you invented the mikro-just product but don't receive compensation?  That's a bummer.

Here's the first 240' jump.  Jaret Llewellyn, Dodd's countryman.  Looks like '08.  What's cool is that his son Dorian is now an awesome jumper, trickery and 3-eventer like his dad.

@Horton yeah, you are right.  Freddy went 250' behind a Mastercraft at (I think) the Isles at Lake Hancock in Wintergarden, FL 9 years ago and Ryan's 254' was at his home site pulled by a Nautique.  Both jumps are incredible to watch.  230' looks special.  These jumps look unreal.

https://youtu.be/nlmX-zgdCgU?si=d7jIQPNT53QtnMvD

The chart really illustrates how long the current world jump record has stood and I honestly can't think of when it might get broken.  254' seems unreachable considering Krueger and Dodd aren't getting younger (the only jumpers to ever go 250+).  Am I wrong?

Maybe the next women to run -39.5 could be Vanessa Vieke and Neilly Ross?

@Horton Did Bob LaPoint 3 event or just slalom and jump before becoming a slalom specialist?

I just gotta throw this out there,  how happy I am for Hanna on winning women's jump and overall after a few years of being 2nd.  She's been training so hard with Jay Bennett in Zachary Louisiana for several years and it's so redentive to see that hard work pay off!

@Horton I think the French waterski scene is pretty interesting.   Record setting lakes, mystery scores, great skiers, etc.  Its' the kind of place where you can snow ski/waterski or waterski/surf all in the same day while eating amazing food and drinking great wine.  We should check in with our mutual friend,  J Parades, to see what the secret recipe is in France.   That is, if he isn't exploring some reef in Tahiti...

I've seen his trick scores for a few years, then 2 years ago at Pickos' his little brother put on a clinic at the U21 world's.  Then I started paying real attention.   Last year's European championship in Italy was covered by twbc.  He and Luca Rochenwald (sp) jumped lights out.  He and his little brother are both tremendous athletes and seem to have a lot of fun on the water.  Hope we see more of them.

@MichaelGoodman that makes sense.  I'm sure they planned to jump the entire tournament facing the other direction like in 2021 but when the wind came up out of the other direction,  they starting jumping on the west facing ramp so the jumpers could have a headwind.

I thought the slalom finals were really fun to watch.  I'm happy for both winners.  I think it was fun to watch the field adapt to challenging conditions and the tournament was really about who handled it best.  Considering that both Freddie and Jamie weren't top seeds, we got to watch subsequent skiers chase their scores.  It made for really good viewing!