Four British waterskiers and one wakeboarder are set to compete at the prestigious Moomba Masters, which gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, later this week.

Freddie Winter, Joel Poland, Jack Critchley, Sanchia Outram and Luca Kidd will take on the notoriously tricky waters of the Yarra River in the heart of the city.

Held every year in early March, the Moomba Masters is the traditional curtain-raiser for the new season.

Freddie Winter wins Moomba 2024. Photo Sporting Moments by Shaun

Freddie, the current Men’s Slalom World Champion, is looking to defend the slalom title he won at Moomba in 2024.  However, this will be his first competition since the end of June when he crashed into the dock at the Monaco Slalom Cup, badly breaking his leg. He required surgery and intensive rehabilitation and has only been back in training on the water since January.

Joel, the seven-times and current Overall World Record holder was not at Moomba last year and is a strong contender for medals. He will compete in slalom, tricks and jump. 

Joel Poland. Photo Johnny Hayward

Jack joins Joel in the jump. He won silver at Moomba in 2024 with a leap of 63.1 metres.  Both Jack and Joel will also go in the spectacular Sunday Night Jump, a competition separate to the Moomba Masters but held the same venue, in the dark.

Jack was third in the Night Jump last year.  

Jack Critchley. Photo Johnny Hayward

Sanchia is the only woman among the British competitors and will compete in slalom and jump.

Sanchia Outram. Photo James Elliott

The sole wakeboarder from GB is Luca Kidd. Last year he made the final at Moomba and finished 6th.

Luca Kidd. Photo Mantis Pro Media

As the first major competition of the year, the Moomba Masters will be an early indicator of how well the off-season training has gone. 

This is a key year for the waterskiers as the IWWF World Championships, which take place once every two years, will be held at Recetto in Italy at the end of August. Freddie is a two-time Men’s Slalom World Champion (2017, 2023). Joel was Overall World Champion in 2021 and won silver at the 2023 World Championships.

The Moomba Masters is one of the world’s classic annual professional competitions and part of the Moomba Festival, which draws tens of thousands of people to the riverfront over six days.  The 64^th edition takes place from Saturday 8^th to Monday 10^th March. Junior Moomba is held before the Masters, on Thursday 6^th and Friday 7th.   

You can watch the webcast on the Moomba website.

Liive scoring for the waterski competition will be available here while the wakeboard results will be on the WWA Rideline App.