It is a sensational turnaround as Canada came from behind to snatch the team overall gold medal from under the noses of the US on the last day of the IWWF Waterski World Championships.
Canada, with big jump efforts from Ryan Dodd and Whitney McClintock-Rini, eventually tallied a total of 8,025.87 points to pip the Americans who finished with 8,019.55. France was third with 7,933.50 points.
But it never looked as Canada started the day trailing the Americans by quite a huge margin.
And they suffered a big blow in the women’s tricks event as defending champion Neilly Ross took a tumble on her second pass and only finished with 5,840 to place 11th.
The Americans on the other hand continued to extend their lead even further after Anna Gay smashed the world championship record of 10,220 with a score of 10,530 to take the gold.
Going into the afternoon session, McClintock improved from her preliminary score of 47.7m in a 49.5m leap to finish fifth in the women’s jump event.
McClintock’s effort helped the Canadians close the gap on the US and it was also enough to secure the women’s overall gold medal, ahead of Belarus’ Hanna Straltsova and US’ Brooke Baldwin.
Then in the final event of the day, Dodd flew off the ramp for 67.9m, beating out Chile’s Felipe Miranda (65.6m) and Great Britain’s Joel Poland (64.4m) to clinch his third straight world title.
And the 34-year-old’s massive effort was enough to help Canada across the finish line as they reclaimed the team gold they last won in 2015.
“With two events to go, I thought there was no way we could win. But the women’s jump changed everything,” said Canada head coach Steve Bush.
“With the Americans having two skiers affected by Jacinta Carroll winning the jump, suddenly we found ourselves two points ahead and Ryan, who’s had a great tournament, finished it for the team.
“I’ve said it before that the team battle will be a roller-coaster ride and it was…going right down to the wire. The team title has always been the goal and to win by just six points is amazing.
“It’s never easy to win the team events but it’s a good battle and it’s also nice to have team events since it will promote three events a bit more,” added Bush.
Meanwhile the 29-year-old McClintock who ends an eight-year drought for an individual title, was thrilled to have finally won the overall gold for the second time – the first being in 2009.
“It was a hard week of skiing. 10 years ago when I won the overall, it was the peak of my life and I really wanted to put it all together coming into this world meet,” said McClintock.
“I really worked so hard on all three events and it’s quite a ride for me since I wasn’t spectacular in any of the three events. And I’m usually strong in slalom.
“I had a hard start with a heartbreak in slalom, missing out on the podium and my tricks score was a little less than I anticipated but I kept my head down and kept my faith that this is my week.
“All I wanted to was to win the overall gold and I’m so thankful that I managed to pull through.”
Meanwhile it was also a double joy for Australia as Jacinta Carroll and Joel Howley claimed the women’s jump and men’s slalom gold respectively.
Carroll, the defending champion, was just too good for the field as she beat out Straltsova and US’ Regina Jaquess.
For Howley, it was a sensational win as he edged out Brits – defending champion Frederick Winter and Will Asher – in a three-way run-off which also resulted in a broken foot for the 27-year-old Queenslander.
“Winning worlds will forever be something special and I’m just so thrilled to win it. Now this broken foot don’t really matter so much for me,” said Howley.
