Last weekend wake park athletes from all across the globe descended upon the Orlando Watersports Complex to compete against one another in the 2021 Nautique WWA Wake Park World Championships. Countries represented in the international competition were the United States, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, Iran, Hungary, England, Argentina, and Japan. Through three days of competition in both the Traditional and Features Only formats, wakeboarders and wakeskaters fought hard for their opportunity to become the best in the world among their division.
In the Traditional format, where each athlete gets one lap on the cable by themselves, Florida riders dominated the amateur podiums. For the Jr. Boys, Boys, and Jr. Men divisions Evan Cole (Elite Cable Park), Isaic Claudio (Nona Adventure Park) and Donny Graves (Shark Wake Park 561) took the wins in their respective divisions. For the women, Campbell Scarborough from OWC defeated the Texan, Lacy Carlton, in the Girls 10-14 division with her signature tail grabbed back roll off the kicker and her high flying air tricks, while her older OWC teammate Payton Gibney took the win in the Jr. Women’s division with her technical rail riding on the pool gap and the Nessie rail. Similar results came to fruition in the amateur Features Only format with Evan Cole, Isaic Claudio, and Jaden Garcia (Nona Adventure Park) topping the podium in the Groms Features, Kids Features, and Juniors Features divisions respectively.
In the Jr. Pro divisions Swedish rider Hugo Randow bested Colby Zebarth and Labryn Depta in the Jr. Pro Features final with his variations of spins and inverts on the kickers and his incredibly difficult rail hits that gave his the narrow margin of victory. For the Jr. Pro Traditional final it was Colby Zebarth from West Palm, Florida with his massive air tricks that made him victorious over Tyler Cole and Hugo Randow.
Julia Rick reclaimed her double World Champion titles after missing last year’s Wake Park World Championship due to the pandemic. The 28 year old German won both the Traditional and Features Only titles back in 2019 and this year she once again proved to be the best the in world at both disciplines. Her incredible aerial aptitude and her fearlessness on the rail features set her apart from the other riders and elevated her onto the top of both podiums. In both Traditional and Features Only, Meagan Ethell would receive 2nd place, while Taylor McCullough would take third in Traditional and Annie Best took 3rd in Features Only.
The main story for the weekend was the unbelievable talent of the entire Stuckey family as they claimed four World Championship titles for their household. Shannon “Mama” Stuckey took the win in the Masters Women Traditional division while her husband Jason rode to victory in the Veterans Features Only division. And in the Pro divisions it was a full-on Stuckey showdown between the brothers Trent (17) and Gavin (15). In the Pro Men Traditional division, Trent would emerge victorious with his double grabbed heel 900, his crossed-up method grab on his air front-to-blind, and a tail grabbed frontroll into the pool gap. Guenther Oka would follow close behind in second place and Fynn Bullock would trail in third. In Pro Men Features Only, young Gavin Stuckey would become the star of the show with his toeside roll-to-blind into Nessie’s bank and his mind-blowing KGB 720. Gavin won with a 94.30, followed by his older brother who scored a 92.01, and Fynn Bullock rounded out the podium with a 79.56. In addition to the weekend’s events, Trent Stuckey claimed both the Traditional and Features Only Wake Park World Series titles, making him the youngest rider to ever claim both overall titles.
CHECK OUT ALL THE RIDING CLIPS FROM THE WEEKEND TAGGED TO THE RIDER’S PROFILES IN THE WWA RIDELINE APP!
