Family affair: Jason, Kohdi and Leilani Cartledge celebrate following Kohdi's world championship win on Saturday. Leilani wrapped up her world title last Wednesday, winning the first three races to earn the title before completing a sweep with a race four win on Saturday. Photo: IWWF
Echuca-Moama pair Kohdi Cartledge and Emma Barnes can each lay claim to the title of world champion, each wrapping up the title in their respective division in the final race of the IWWF World Waterski Racing Championships.
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Earning victory in race four, Kohdi joined sister Leilani as a 2023 junior world champion, claiming victory with a total of 2999.95 points — just 0.5 from the perfect 3000 — from fellow Australian Zak Armstrong, who was just 8.77 points behind.
Cartledge set up the victory off the back of a solid opening day of racing, where he finished just 0.1 seconds behind race one winner Ryder Tovatt, before suffering a slightly disappointing second race, where he finished fourth.
But wins in the final two races helped Kohdi to a winning total, with an individual’s worst result — in Kohdi’s case his fourth place in round two — being omitted from the final tally.
There were jubilant scenes as Kohdi crossed the line, not only in celebration of his personal achievements, but also at the fact he was part of a much bigger result that had never been accomplished before.
In a historic moment, Kohdi and Leilani became the first brother-and-sister duo to be crowned world champions at the same event, in the junior boys and girls categories respectively, with the family dominating the week-long event.
Kohdi and Leilani’s father, Jason, who was on board the Speed Lab entry as Kohdi’s observer all week, became emotional when discussing the feats of his children.
“I’m over the moon, the sunglasses aren’t coming off for this one. I don’t even know what to say,” he told the IWWF broadcast.
Kim, Kohdi and Leilani’s mother, added: “I’m so proud of these two, it’s incredible”.
Leilani also wrapped up a race-four win, securing a clean sweep of every race in her category to comfortably earn the mantle of the best junior girls waterski racer in the world.
World champ: Emma Barnes celebrates her women's F2 world championship alongside driver Jacob Hinterholzl and observer Sam Perry. Photo: IWWF.
Emma Barnes had earlier got the day off to a magnificent start for the local contingent, finishing second in race four of the women’s F2 category to clinch the world title with 2998.66 points, 46.68 points ahead of second-placed Molly Palser.
“Sometimes it feels like it’s sunk in and sometimes it doesn’t,” Barnes said following the triumph.
Barnes was the standout performer the entire way through the championships in her category, dominating the opening two races to record wins, although a second place in the third race had left the door ajar for American Sophia Rivera to steal the title in the final race.
“Obviously the first two races I won, so it started off really good,” she said.
“I think I had a bit more pressure on me on the Wednesday leading into the third race, I didn’t really perform that well.
“I think after that the third race I picked myself back up and then leading into the last race I felt so much better, and it all went to plan.”
Barnes promptly slammed the door shut in the finale, finishing just behind Palser in the decider to cement her status as the best in the world.
“I felt a lot better going into the last round, it wasn’t as much pressure on me on this time around and I felt a lot more relaxed,” she said.
“On the second lap the American girl (Rivera) unfortunately fell off, and I really only had to beat her to secure my win.
“The other girl, Molly, she’s one of my really good friends on and off the water. Getting the win on Saturday helped her actually get second overall. We sort of decided to help her out in that aspect, and yeah, she got a good result.”
Local Jake Clancy also enjoyed a fantastic final day, and while he was unable to earn what would have been a remarkable world championship, the wildcard entry did all he could to ensure it remained a possibility.
Entering the final day in second place overall, Clancy was clearly the best skier on the water, and did exactly what was required of him, taking line honours to give himself every chance of a come-from-behind win.
The margins were painstakingly close after all competitors crossed the line, with Clancy falling just 5.32 points short of glory, finishing third overall with 2977.16 points in a hotly contested division, behind Brendan Tidswell (2982.48) and Aiden Cuff (2979.02).
Fellow local Shane Henderson was also in action in the men’s F2 category aboard the Kausin Glamour boat, with Team NZ skier Kyle Taylor finishing eighth overall.
Tim Pickford and Brian Griffin, driver and observer respectively for the Sapphire open men’s entry, continued a strong day four for the Echuca-Moama exports, claiming a win in the final race with skier Lachlan Nix crossing the line first.
The win promoted Nix to fourth overall in the standings on 2912.50 points, just 32.16 shy of a world championships podium, a fantastic effort considering there was no margin for error after scoring no points in race three.
Georgie Pearse was another from the region that played an important role, serving as one of eight judges that enforced IWWF rules throughout the entirety of the competition.
