Freddie Winter from Wandsworth in London has been crowned the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour Men’s Slalom Champion. His victory comes little more than a year after a devastating leg injury threatened to end his professional career.

The 35-year-old was one of the world’s best slalom waterskiers and a two-time World Champion when he crashed into a concrete dock while competing in France in summer 2024. Unsure he could ever be competitive again, Winter worked tirelessly on his rehabilitation and defied the odds to achieve a remarkable comeback.

In May this year, just four months after his return to training on water, he won the prestigious Masters tournament in the USA. He went on to take several victories and make the podium in a series of professional competitions throughout the 2025 season.

He had an unassailable lead going into the final event of the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour, the Travers Grand Prix, held in Florida, USA, at the weekend. There, he completed his comeback in style, with another hard-fought victory in a high-scoring final on Sunday.

Winter has finished second on the Waterski Pro Tour on three previous occasions, but this is his first title, something he said was very special.

“A year and a half ago I had a really, really terrible time,” he said. “I hurt myself and I worked really hard to come back here and be competitive. So, in some ways, it’s very emotional to take this on a comeback year. I had some wins and I’m very grateful.

“What I’ll say is that, to everybody that sent me a message, that told me ‘well done’, who gave me some motivation to come back, this really is for you. It was very, very dark last year; it was very difficult, and I couldn’t be happier to be back here and to be winning tournaments.”

Winter is not the only British waterskier to be crowned a 2025 Waterski Pro Tour Champion. Earlier this month Joel Poland (26) from Clapham, London, secured the Men’s Jump title after going the entire season unbeaten. Fellow Briton, Jack Critchley (29) from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, finished second in Men’s Jump.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

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

Photos can be found in the dropbox link below. Please credit the photographers as shown. We are still waiting for photos of the Travers Grand Prix, the final WPT event. They will be added to the link if and when they are available.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/l654b62x1sw6wxq15guw6/AOQRg74xd3YS6N5USLnASPM?rlkey=2phyesob0saved549wz9gc7oc&dl=0

Waterski Pro Tour

The Waterski Pro Tour is a season-long series of professional competitions contested by the world’s top waterskiers. There are podiums at each event with points awarded according to where the skiers finish. The Tour Champions are those with the most points at the end of the season.

Waterski 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 a 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 the buoys. The winner is the skier who completes the most turn buoys at the shortest rope length.

Waterski Jumping

Water ski jumping is a spectacular high-adrenaline event which involves skiing on two skis over a ramp at speeds of up to 70mph, taking off and landing on the water to ski away. There are no style points. All the matters is the distance travelled and a successful landing.

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 water skiing and wakeboarding across the UK from the grassroots to our top athletes.

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