The Waterski Pro Tour continues this weekend in Zachary, Louisiana with the LA Night Jam. Thirteen men and five women are going to compete under the lights in an incredible jump event.
The men’s jump field is headed by top seeds Freddy Krueger (60pts), Dorien Llewellyn (40pts), and Joel Poland (32pts). This jump tournament is set to be the tightest competition of the waterski season so far. At the previous jump tour stop, the King of Darkness, Krueger walked away with the winning jump of 226ft (68.8m) in the final round. However, Poland and Llewellyn both jumped 227ft (69.1m) at the same tournament in earlier rounds. This weekend, all of our jumpers will have to ski their best to have a chance at winning the final round.
The women’s field consists of five of the best jumpers in the world: Hanna Straltsova (16pts), Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya (20pts), Giannina Bonnemann-Mechler (12pts), Valentina Gonzalez (6pts), and Dominique “Dodo” Allard. Going into this tournament, Straltsova has the longest jump of the season at 186ft. Her major competition comes from Danisheuskaya who posted a tour best jump of 176ft at the King of Darkness tournament. This small pool of competitors will have plenty of opportunities through three rounds to out jump each other.
Our spotlight skiers of the weekend are going to be Brandon Schipper and Dodo Allard. In the past, Schipper was a 3-Event superstar at Iowa State and then an accomplished jumper at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, since graduating he has gone on to become one of the most spirited jumpers at pro events, and even crosses over to compete in Show Skiing on the rare occasion. Allard is also a recent University of Louisiana-Monroe graduate who will be making her first tour appearance of the season this weekend. She competed in the Night Jam last year, posting a high score of 158ft (48.1m).
Good luck to all of our competitors this weekend, and be sure to keep an eye out for our two spotlight skiers of the week!