KUALA LUMPUR – National water skier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah will be looking to break new ground as she starts her 2023 season heading into the prestigious Moomba Masters in Melbourne, Australia from March 11 to 13.
Competing at the masters for the 10th year, Aaliyah arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday to prepare for the competition at the Yarra River where she will be looking to hit new personal heights against an elite class of top world ranked skiers.
“I will definitely aim to do my best but it has been tough for me the past two months having had to balance training and university studies.
“Furthermore, all the world’s best open skiers are coming to the Moomba Masters, so my focus is trying to get a new personal best if possible,” said the 19-year-old.
Unfortunately, Aaliyah did not make the cut to compete in the slalom due to the high number of elite skiers down to compete in this year’s Moomba meet, which means she will be unable to show her prowess as an overall skier and defend her overall gold from last year.
However, she will be competing in the tricks event where she won bronze last year, as well as the jumps event.
Aaliyah will be looking to set a score close to her personal best in tricks, with her current record sitting at a cool 8,080 set in Florida last year, while there is a good chance she could break her Moomba jump personal best of 41.4m set at the Yarra River last year.
“The main thing is that I have a long season of competitions this year and I certainly need to pace myself.
“My main goal this year is still the Under-21 World Championships in Mexico in June, and my training schedule is to peak there,” said the SEA Games gold medallist.
Besides Aaliyah, some of the top skiers include Americans Erika Lang and Anna Gay, Canada’s Neilly Ross and Paige Rini, as well as Australian veteran Jacinta Caroll in the jumps.
Meanwhile, Aaliyah also shared her experience adapting to college life while also preparing for the competition.
“I am really happy to have selected Florida Southern College and am grateful to be accepted because the acceptance rate is low.
“I do have lectures spread out over five days of the week but I also train on the campus lake which is a great experience as well.
“Despite trying to settle down and make a good impression at college, I still believe I am reasonably ready for my first event of the season and I’m definitely going to try my best,” she added.
Aaliyah had relocated to the United States in January, where she is pursuing her tertiary education to study psychology at the Florida Southern College while continuing her water ski training.
She will see action on March 12 as she first competes in the preliminaries of the tricks and jump events, while only the top six skiers from the preliminaries proceed to the final on March 13. – The Vibes, March 10, 2023
