The first day of the 2014 Action Sports Games kicked off on Mandurah’s Western Foreshore this morning with warm weather and perfect water conditions.

 

Australian water sports athletes dominate the impressive, world-class line-up for the first stop of the 2014 International Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup.

 

The Women’s Waterski Semi-final opened today’s action with Defending Mandurah Champion, Australia’s Jacinta Carroll easily securing a place in tomorrow’s final.

 

The World Jump Champion and Moomba Masters Jump Champion wowed the judges with a jump of 49m for her second attempt.

 

“With my distance today I’ll be last off the dock in the Finals tomorrow, so I’ll know the score I have to go out there and beat, ” she said.

 

“The weather is great today and hopefully it will be again tomorrow so we can see some big jumps happening.”

 

Joining the World Number One in tomorrow’s Women’s Jump Final is the world jump record holder Natalia Berdnikava (BEL), Lauren Morgan (USA) and Utah Lami (FIN).

 

The Wakeboard action for the weekend kicked off with the Women’s Semi-final, Heat 1 taken out by 2013 Mandurah World Cup winner, Australia’s own Bec Gange (AUS) with a score of 59.78.

 

Tomorrow’s Women’s Wakeboard Final will be a hot contest between Gange and reigning eight-time World Champion Raimi Merritt (USA) who took out today’s Semi-final Heat 2 with a score of 61.56.

 

Gange is feeling confident about defending her title from last year, despite her Semi-final score being lower than Raimi Merritt’s who is back competing for the first time since surgery for a broken ankle.

 

“Raimi rode really good and I’m excited for tomorrow,” she said.

 

“I’ve done really well in the past, I got third in 2012 and won last year, so I’m just pumped to be back.

 

“Tomorrow I want to land that last jump that I fell on today and tick all the boxes so hopefully the judges will like what they see.”

 

There was lots of excitement to watch in the Men’s Jump Semi-final with four world champions jumping over 60m.

 

World Record Holder Freddy “The Nightmare” Krueger put on a show, landing a massive 63.8m jump.

 

“The distances were huge today, I think every body was a little surprised,” he said.

 

“The high scores today show that the athletes are here to perform and with such great conditions and a big crowd tomorrow’s final is going to be nuts.”

 

The day’s excitement was felt right through the afternoon thanks to the world-class action of the Men’s Wakeboard Semi-final.

 

After four tough heats, tomorrow’s Men’s Wakeboard Final will be another nail-biter, with Japan’s Shota Tezuka hot on the heels of the world reigning champion Harley Clifford (AUS).

 

With the top heat score of 84.22, young gun Harley Clifford is feeling confident about defending his eight-year streak at the top.

 

“That was a pretty fun ride, a little bit windy but the wake was awesome and the crowd was awesome,” he said.

 

“I had a stand up pass so it couldn’t be better.”

 

The Action Sports Games continues tomorrow on Mandurah’s Western Foreshore with the Men’s and Women’s Waterski Jump Finals and Wakeboard Finals.

 

Tourism Western Australia and the Department of Regional Development of Lands are proud to support the Action Sports Games Mandurah through the Royalties for Regions – Regional Events Program, which is administered by Eventscorp.

 

EVENT SCHEDULE

Sunday 16 March

IWWF
0830 – 1030 Men’s Wakeboard LCQ Wake course
1030 – 1120 Women’s Big Jump Final Jump Course
1130 – 1230 Men’s Big Jump Final Jump Course
1230 – 1430 Men’s Wakeboard Semi-final Wake Course
1430 – 1530 Women’s Wakeboard finals Wake Course
1530 – 1630 Men’s Wakeboard finals Wake Course

Mambo Skate Park
1030 – 1115 Scooter Semi-finals and Final
1200 – 0100 Skate Semi-finals and Final
0130 – 0215 BMX Semi-finals and Final

FMX Zone
1120 – 320 FMX

 

– ENDS –

For more information:

Carolina Holland
[email protected]
0403 289 847