Itās first time winners to the fore as Franceās Manon Costard and Mexicoās Patricio Font, both stunned the more favoured picks to win the womenās slalom and menās tricks titles respectively at the IWWF Waterski World Championships.
For Costard, it is a first ever medal at the world meet after finishing empty handed in five previous meetings.
And she certainly savoured her maiden world title after a stunning display in the womenās slalom event at the Water Sport Complex, Putrajaya on Saturday.
With defending champion Regina Jaquess having set a really high bar after putting up a run of 3/55/10.75, the pressure was certainly on preliminary leader Costard to step it up.
The 28-year-old, who was last out of the docks, was certainly equalled to the task, tying Jaquessā score to set up a deciding run-off – reminiscent of the 2017 final in which the American had won after beating out Canadaās Whitney McClintock-Rini.
But this time, it was the Marseille native who came up tops, putting up a 2/55/10.75 score to better Jaquessā run of 1/55/10.75 to take the gold while New Zealandās Jaime Metcalfe took the bronze.
It is Franeās first individual gold medal since the 2007 world meet and the European nationās first slalom gold since Sylvie Maurial in 1973.
āIām just so excited right now and itās going to be hard to calm down and realise what happened. Iāve been working towards this for years and I worked as hard as I could for this worlds,ā said Costard.
āI came into the competition with a lot of confidence but with a lot of stress too and the pressure of going out last from the docks was really intense. Especially since Regina had set such a high bar.
āBut I just focused on myself to ski at my level and Iām really proud of myself for achieving this.
āIn fact this is my first medal at the worlds. Iāve always done well in pro tournaments but never in world championships.
āI would love to dedicate this win to my dad too. Heās the one who got me into skiing when I was three but he passed away when I was 11. Heās the special one and I know heāll be proud as well,ā added Costard.
Meanwhile, Jaquessā failure to defend her slalom gold for a fourth straight world meet is a huge blow to the USā hopes of retaining their team title.
The 35-year-old who also missed out on the tricks final, also dealt a severe blow in her bid for a fourth straight overall title.
There was however ecstasy in the Mexican camp as 17-year-old Font dished out a dazzling display of tricks to take home Mexicoās first waterski world title since Alfredo Mendoza in 1955.
With two-time defending champion Adam Pickos of the US dropping out of contention early with a score of 9,260, the world title was up for grabs with Belarusā Aliaksei Zharnasek, Czech Republicās Martin Kolman and Franceās Pierre Ballon all taking the lead at one point.
And Font was simply ice cool and sensational as he went out there and produced a superb score of 11,740 – a new personal best and a new world junior record – to grab the lead.
It was all over minutes later as top seed Danylo Filāchenko succumbed to pressure, falling off on both his passes to hand the victory to Font.
āIāve been here training here for a week prior to this world championship and Iām glad that everything in practice worked out,ā said Font.
āIām just super happy right now because Iāve spent years dreaming about this moment and I still canāt believe itās true.
āIām just really pleased that I managed to put this round together with a new personal best and to stand up on both my passes as the final was really insane.ā
The last day of the competition on Sunday will see the finals for the menās slalom and jump and the womenās tricks and jump.