Gold and bronze in the World Wakeboard Championships

This year, the ESC Thai Wake Park in Pathum Thani, Thailand, was the venue for the World Wakeboard Championships. This water sport appeared in the early 1980s on the back of the snowboarding trend.

It is based on a combination of techniques from the worlds of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing. Wakeboarders are connected by a rudder to a motorboat or an electrically driven cable that pulls them at speeds of 33-38 km/h, allowing them to glide through the water fast enough to perform a variety of acrobatic tricks with their board.

Six Belgians were present at this major event which attracted the best wakeboarders in the world. Two of them made it to the podium! First of all, it was the young Lowa Vancutsem who made her mark by winning the world champion title in her age category, that of 14 year old girls. The young resident of Hainaut demonstrated her technical mastery straight away in the very first round. Her style won over the jury, allowing her to crush the rest of the competition when the final scores were awarded at the end of the competition. Louis Eggerickx, the other Belgian medallist, finished third in the Junior Men category. Aged just 17 years, he gave a great world standard performance.

Let's wish our champions even more success in 2023.