Sunday Crowns WWA World Champions and the WWA World Series Winner in Australia

Intermittent rain and dark clouds couldn’t stop the world’s best wakeboarders competing for a World Championship title Sunday at Marshall’s Lakes, Queensland Australia. In fact, the weather provided absolutely perfect water conditions, providing the perfect stage for the most anticipated contest of the year.

It’s the first time the WWA World Championships, presented by Malibu Boats, has been held outside of the USA, but bringing it down under did not help the Australians who have dominated the world of wakeboarding this year. The majority of titles, including the coveted men’s and women’s professional crowns, were still safely in the hands of the USA with Emily Copeland-Durham and Phillip Soven taking out the honors.

Copeland-Durham, fresh from her victory at Gravity Games H2O, followed up with another win, finishing ahead of Australia’s Amber Wing and New Zealand’s Andrea Fountain. Dallas Friday, after a nasty fall in her semi-final, was unable to compete in the final on Sunday, suffering a back injury.

The men’s final placings represented a changing of the guard, with young guns Phillip Soven and JD Webb battling in the final head-to-head challenge, after brushing aside their elder and more experienced challengers. New Zealand’s Jeff Weatherall had to deal with an in-form Trevor Hansen in their final run off to hold third place.

With a fifth place finish today, Daniel Watkins of Australia did enough to take the win in the WWA World Series, with today’s contest being the final round of five events around the world. Canada’s Rusty Malinoski held the lead into the final day of competition, but could not hold on when he failed to make the final cut of eight.

On the wakeskate lake, a purpose built course gave riders the opportunity to hit six different rails without having to share their water with the wakeboarders. Austin Hair of South Carolina held out Florida’s JD Webb, who scored a quinella of second places this weekend, ahead of Canada’s Aaron Rathy.

Malibu’s Marketing Manager Lani Farmer said “Malibu Boats is a globally-recognized brand and that is clear to see with Worlds being held in Australia this year. The event could not have been any better and we look forward to working with the WWA to ensure it keeps growing around the world.”

Results:

Men’s Professional Finals Heat 1:

• Phillip Soven
• JD Webb
• Jeff Weatherall
• Trevor Hansen
• Danny Harf
• Daniel Watkins
• Josh Sanders
• Dean Smith

Women’s Professional Finals:

• Emily Copeland-Durham
• Amber Wing
• Andrea Fountain

Wakeskate Finals:

• Austin Hair
• JD Webb
• Aaron Rathy

Top Overall World Series Winners:

• Daniel Watkins
• Rusty Malinoski
• Brett Eisenhauer
• Josh Sanders
• Danny Harf
• Kevin Henshaw
• Phillip Soven
• Jeff Weatherall
• Tino Santori
• Parks Bonifay

Open Wakeskate Semi-finals Heat 1:

• J. Webb
• Nobuyuki Yokoyama
• M. Marquardt
• Kazuya Yamoto

Open Wakeskate Semi-finals Heat 2:

• Aaron Rathy
• Parks Bonifay
• Keith Lidberg
• Austin Hair
• Johnny Pervan

Open Wakeskate Semi-finals Heat 3:

• Adam Monro
• Rob Smallcombe
• Yoshiko Ishamaru

Open Wakeskate Semi-finals Heat 4:

• Scott Broome
• Shane Bonifay
• Dean Smith
• Ryoji Yanagawa
• Matt Napier

Jr. Men Finals Heat 1:

1- Bradley Smeele NZL

2- Adam Errington USA

3- Austin Hair USA

4- Devin Rogers AUS

5- Sam Collins AUS

6- Ty Clifford AUS

Men’s Pro Quarterfinals Heat 4:

1- Phillip Soven USA

2- JD Webb USA

3- Trevor Hansen USA

4- Rusty Malinoski CDN

5- Parks Bonifay USA

6- Scott Mackey AUS

7- Justin Abbott AUS

Boys (10-13) Finals:

1- Harley Clifford AUS

2- Jarrod Askew AUS

3- Scott Wilkings AUS

4- Issei Asada JPN

5- Codee Yimloy AUS

6- Mitchell Scott AUS

7- Bradley Teunissen AUS

8- Brent Oliver AUS

* More results and pictures to follow…