A busy few days ended with four podiums for British waterskiers at two professional competitions in the USA. There were two for Freddie Winter, one for Will Asher and one for Rob Hazelwood.

First up was the King of Darkness at Isles of Lake Hancock near Orlando in Florida, where the final rounds are held at night, in the dark. In a packed men’s slalom field, only the highest scoring four skiers of the 21 starters from two preliminary rounds would make it through to the head-to-head semi-finals. 

Both Will Asher and Freddie Winter made it to the semis where they were up against each other for a place in the final.  Will went through but was beaten to the top spot by Nate Smith of the USA, the current World Champion and world record holder.  Freddie finished just behind in third.  Rob would have to wait for his turn on the podium and ended up in fifth spot.

Less than 24 hours later, all three were back on the water for the Swiss Pro Slalom just the down the road at the Swiss Waterski Resort in Clermont. From a starting field of 26 men, the top eight went through to the final where it was a straightforward ‘best score wins’ format.

Once again Nate Smith of the USA prevailed but this time Freddie Winter took second spot and Rob Hazelwood was third with Will Asher just off the podium in fourth. 

It was a particularly sweet result for Rob as it was only the second professional podium of his career in a single-discipline waterski event. 

He was also voted Skier of the Day by viewers of the live webcast by The Waterski Broadcasting Company.

The medallists were not the only Britons in action and aiming for the podium at the weekend. Unfortunately, Joel Poland and Jack Critchley just missed out in the King of Darkness jump event. 

Joel went into the 8-man final as top seed, having jumped close to his personal best with 69.1 metres in the first round.  However, he had to settle for a longest distance of 66.5m in the final and fourth place, just 20cm short of the podium. Jack Critchley, who had gone 67.7m in round one was fifth in the final with 64.7m.

The top three in the jump were Freddy Krueger, Taylor Garcia and Dorien Llewellyn.

Full results for all the competitions can be found here.

You can read a full round-up and watch the highlights from the live webcasts here. 

Photos: John Waldron