Singapore, 23 September 2007 – Sunday proved to be Dallas Friday’s lucky day as the crowd favourite demonstrated her return to top form by winning the women’s title – her first win since breaking her left femur at last year’s event at the same venue – at the Wakeboard World Cup Singapore 2007 this afternoon at Bedok Reservoir.
Despite a valiant effort from American Raimi Merritt on her professional debut, Friday demonstrated her undoubted class and experience in the final to complete her spectacular comeback and earn her rightful place at the top of the podium.“To come back here and win today was absolutely incredible, especially after the accident last year,” said a visibly elated Friday following her win, which bagged her USD$8,000. “It’s great to be back in Singapore, and it definitely means a lot to me to claim back the title this year.
“I haven’t been this happy to win a competition in a while, so this goes down as one of the most special wins of my career. The competition from the other riders was great this year, and Singapore has been wonderful as always. It’s a great venue and I certainly look forward to being back next year.”
Singapore’s 14-year-old wakeboard sensation Sasha Christian finished joint fifth after failing to make it through to the women’s final. It was nevertheless an achievement for the Singapore Sports School student – the youngest competitor in the 10-strong field – as it was the first time that any Singaporean had qualified for the semi-final stage of the World Cup.
Meanwhile in the men’s competition, Phillip Soven (USA) added yet another World Cup Singapore title to his impressive list of achievements to complete an unprecedented four-peat reign in Singapore.
Up against flamboyant New Zealander Jeff Weatherall in the men’s final, the 18-year-old Soven’s task was made easier when the former fell on his very first pass to virtually throw away any chance of upsetting the seemingly invincible American, who walked away with the USD$15,000 top prize purse.
The path to the defence of his title was also made much smoother with pre-competition favourite and top seed Danny Haaf’s exit at the quarter-final stage.
But Soven remained humble despite his victory. “It definitely was a tough competition this year, more so than the previous years,” he said. “With Danny and Rusty (Malinoski) out of the competition it did take a bit of pressure off my mind, but I just went out there and did what I had to, and thankfully it was enough.”
Said Paul Fong, General Manager of event organiser the Singapore Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (SWWF): “It was great to see Phillip win it for the fourth time in a row, and in particular for Dallas to come back from injury and win her first Wakeboard World Cup Singapore title.
“It truly represents her character and winning mentality. This year’s World Cup raised the bar, with a lot of riders going for it with each pass that they made. Despite the emergence of several young riders, it was the seasoned riders that pulled off the tricks, such as Daniel Watkins’ amazing double backroll. It’s these special moments like these that make the event.
“Wakeboard is one of the fastest growing sports with good spectator appeal and the visiting athletes believe this is the best venue in the world, so I’m definitely looking forward to having everyone back again next year.”
Meanwhile, the US$10,800 prize money for the first competitor who successfully completes a 1080 - one of the most difficult wakeboarding tricks to land - remained unclaimed despite the organisers’ best efforts. When no rider attempted the trick over the two-day competition, a decision was taken to organise a 1080 competition after the finals.
Three riders stood up to the plate, including the only two riders ever to have been captured on film completing the 1080 - Harf and Malinoski. But the closest anyone came to pulling off what is considered the holy grail of wakeboarding, was when Canadian Malinoski fell on landing after successfully completing the 1080 degree rotation while in the air.Final Results
Pro Women Final
1 Dallas Friday USA
2 Raimi Merritt USA
3 Sunni Anne Ball CAN
4 Chen Li Li CHN
Pro Men Final Results
1 Phillip Soven USA
2 Jeff Weatherall NZL
3 Daniel Watkins AUS
4 Andrew Adkinson USA