PUTRAJAYA – Malaysian water skier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah performed above expectations at the Moomba Masters 2022 after finishing the tournament with one gold and one bronze.
The 18-year-old athlete has been making strides after snapping three golds for tricks, jump and overall as well as a bronze in the Junior Moomba in Melbourne last week.
In the Masters event, she rose to the challenge on the tricky Yarra River to take home an unexpected bronze in tricks in the open category as well as the women’s overall gold medal.
Competing in the Moomba meet for the tenth time, Aaliyah nailed a total of 7,050 points in the tricks final yesterday.
That was enough to earn her the bronze behind Canada’s Neilly Ross, who tallied 10,390 and United States’ Erika Lang, who scored 10,260.
It was certainly an unexpected result for Aaliyah, who had qualified for the final in fourth place, after posting 6,530 in the semi-finals on Sunday.
Aaliyah had won her first-ever pro water ski event, which came with a cash prize of AUD3,500 (RM10,577).
Having qualified for the open women jump final in fourth place, Aaliyah leapt to a distance of 39.1m to maintain a fourth finish in the final and win AUD2,000 (RM6,043) prize money for her effort.
World champion and world record holder, Australia’s Jacinta Carroll, strolled to the gold with a distance of 58.5m followed by Chile’s Valentina Gonzalez (45.7m) while Australia’s Casey Wooderson finished third with a distance of 43m.
However, Aaliyah’s efforts − together with a ninth-place finish in slalom − was enough to help her take home the overall gold in the women’s open category.
She had a total of 2,668.52 points ahead of Chile’s Valentina Gonzalez (2,323.40) and New Zealand’s Courtney Williams (2,082.85).
It was certainly a milestone achievement for Aaliyah to win her maiden medals in an open category at the elite world stage.
“The best Moomba Masters ever. It has certainly been an incredible week for me and the highlight has got to be taking third in open women’s tricks,” said Aaliyah.
“That happens to be my first world-level podium finish in the open category and I’m pleased about that.
“It was also good to produce two successive personal best jumps of 39.5m and 41.4m during the Junior Moomba to break the national record twice in two days.
“I’m definitely very happy with my performances here and this should give me added confidence for the future.”
“This is the coming-of-age acid test for Aaliyah and she proved her competitiveness at the world level by getting into the finals of tricks and jump in the open category,” said Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) head coach Hanifah Yoong.
“She has become independent and can manage an event by herself after traveling to Melbourne on her own.
“We are happy that she has pulled through with high-level performances and to come out with flying colours on top of managing her schedule and preparations.” – The Vibes, March 15, 2022
