It’s one of the most prestigious international waterski competitions in the world and the 2026 edition saw two Britons retaining the titles they won in 2025. The Masters Waterski & Wakeboard Tournament in Georgia, USA, was held over the long Memorial Day weekend with victories for Londoners Freddie Winter and Joel Poland.

Slalom specialist Winter (36), from Wandsworth, defeated a strong field of the world’s best to take the Men’s Slalom title. Last off the dock in the final as the highest scorer in the preliminary round, he used all his strength and skill to finish with 2 buoys on the 10.25 metre rope length. It was just half a buoy ahead of Canada’s Cole McCormick in second. Charlie Ross, also of Canada, was third.

Winter went into the competition as the defending Masters Champion, having won in 2025, a few months after returning from a career-threatening leg injury. He now has four Masters titles.

After his victory, Winter said he was ‘very happy’. He dedicated the win to Dimitri Kourounis, an influential waterski coach who died earlier this year.

“I was thinking of him all the time and thinking about doing it for him,” Winter said.

“Back-to-back is really nice. It was a big field, everybody was here and it’s very difficult to ski here,” Winter said. “I felt good and I won in both rounds. I hope this will set me up for a good season because I’ve been skiing really well and, hopefully, this is the start of some really good stuff.”

Finals day at The Masters always ends with the spectacular Men’s Jump competition, where skiers launch themselves off a 6ft high ramp at speeds of up to 70mph to see how far they can fly.

Joel Poland (27) from Clapham came into the competition in exceptional form. He was undefeated in all competitions over the jump in 2025 during which he became the World Champion and set a European record. He was also the defending Masters Men’s Jump Champion.

Once again, he proved his dominance, going into the final as top seed and needing only one of his three jumps to secure the Men’s Jump title for the fourth time and the third year in a row. He won with a distance of 68.7 metres ahead of Austria’s Luca Rauchenwald (67m) and Ryan Dodd of Canada (65.3m).

Earlier in the day Poland had also competed in the Men’s Tricks final where he won bronze for the second successive year.

It may be early in the season but 2026 is looking like it could be another exceptional one for Poland. In April he broke the overall waterski world record - which involves skiing in the three events of slalom, tricks and jump - for the ninth time, though that is still awaiting official ratification by the world governing body.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Masters Waterski & Wakeboard Tournament was held at Robin Lake, Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia, USA from 22 to 24 May. Full results of the elimination and final rounds can be found under ‘standings’ on the Masters website https://www.masterswaterski.com

For more information, please contact Jane Peel, British Water Ski & Wakeboard Head of Communications on jane@bwsf.co.uk or on 07802 496927.

Library photos can be found in the dropbox link below. Images from The Masters 2026 will be added when we receive them. Please credit the photographers, as shown.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/b4o2w9ezv9oxvy743sygv/AMF6_HwvqBxnlbmRRTcm52M?rlkey=logfp4tg2yvw7vux7ki2y0keb&dl=0

WATERSKIING EXPLAINED

Slalom - The boat travels at a constant speed in a straight line down the middle of the slalom course. At elite level the speed is 58kph (36mph) for men and 55kph (34mph) for women. The skier, on single ski, has to go through the entrance gates - a pair of buoys in the middle of the course - then virage from side to side across the boat wakes, successfully rounding six turn buoys before going through the exit gates.

Each successful pass results in the rope being shortened, making it increasingly difficult to reach the turn buoys. Eventually, the rope length becomes less than the distance from the boat to the turn buoys so the skier has to use body length and reach to round them. The winner is the skier who completes the most turn buoys at the shortest rope length.

Jumping - This dramatic spectator event involves skiing over a ramp at speeds of up to 70mph, taking off and landing on the water to ski away. Each skier has three attempts at the ramp. There are no style points. All that matters is the distance achieved.

Tricks - The skier is given two 20-second runs to complete as many different tricks as possible. These can vary from a simple 180 turn to complex somersaults with twists. There are also ‘toehold’ tricks where the skier holds the rope with one foot. Each trick is worth a given number of points according to difficulty. Points are awarded only if the tricks are deemed to have been successfully performed.

British Water Ski & Wakeboard (BWSW) is the sport’s national governing body and a non-profit making membership organisation. All its income is invested in developing and protecting waterskiing and wakeboarding across the UK from the grassroots to our top athletes. 2026 is BWSW’s 75th anniversary.

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