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ORLANDO, FL (December 17, 2004)—The last stop for 2004 of the IWSF Waterski World Cup was held this past weekend in Doha, Qatar. Only the men competed in Wakeboarding, Slalom, Jump, and Tricks. Team Nautique members Phillip Soven, Jaret Llewellyn, Thomas Fenzl, Kyle Eade, and Jason Seels all stood on the podium at the last event of the year.Soven, still the youngest pro wakeboarder, placed first in the Open Men’s competition squeaking by Brett Eisenhauer by 1.17 points. Also winning the last stop put him in second place for the World Cup Series Wakeboard Championship even though Soven was not able to go to the first event in France.
Seels, who has been skiing for eighteen years found he placed third in the finals of the Open Men’s slalom competition with a run of 2.25 buoys at 11.25m. When asked about his success, Seels commented, “I have been working on a one handed gate in slalom which has been working well, and I think that gave me the confidence going into the event.”
Llewellyn could not have asked for a better ending in the 2004 World Cup placing second in jump and tricks after all three stops. Amazingly with only one chance to jump, Llewellyn was the last to go and he jumped 57.5m to finish first. Also with a second place finish, Llewellyn put up a run of 10,460 points in tricks to defeat Russell Gay in the finals. “For a first year tournament the media exposure was great and I’m looking forward to next year; bigger, better and more events,” commented Llewellyn.
Fenzl, a native of Austria placed second in the Open Men’s division with a distance of 55.1m. When asked about the conditions, Fenzl commented, “It was my first time on the sea and the conditions turned out rather bad, lots of wind, concrete walls along the shore side and lots of movement in the tide. I was really happy with my distance when I came in after skiing and thought that would probably take me to fourth or fifth place. To finish second was a big surprise to me, although I thought for a moment I could even win this when Jaret left it all to his last jump to pass my set distance.”Eade with another podium finish in the Open Men’s jump division accrued enough points to finish third Overall for the 2004 World Cup season. Eade jumped 54.9m to finish third but missed second place by only 0.2m. When asked if there was anything else you could have done differently, Eade commented, “Sure, I could have gone a little harder than what I did. However, we all knew how unpredictable the conditions were so you had to keep a level head and stay well within your comfort zone.” Eade also added, “I think all the skiers were a little dubious about flying into the Middle East and competing but traveling to Qatar was a great experience and I am hoping we get the opportunity to go back again next year.”
Even though the women did not have the opportunity to compete in Qatar, Emma Sheers and Rhoni Barton finished strong in the 2004 World Cup. Sheers dominated women’s jump and took first place in overall points in the World Cup Series, she also placed second in slalom. Barton finished third in the World Cup Series in women’s tricks and jump; both athletes ending another great season.
