Seen as the original extreme sport, barefoot water skiing has a new world champion to name. Gold medalist Elaine Heller brought home victory in Taiwan at the end of July, just before starting her first year at UW-Platteville.

Submitted photo
Elaine Heller, shown here performing a toe grab, won gold at the World Games in Taiwan, making her the No. 1 ranked female barefooter in the world.

Heller began water skiing at the age of four, but when her father noticed her boredom, he discovered barefoot water skiing.

“I was just picking my nails as I was skiing, and my dad thought I was losing interest. He looked it up on the internet, and I got hooked,” Heller said.

Barefoot water skiing has been around since 1947. It is almost identical to water skiing, just without the actual skis. Barefooters compete in three events: slalom, trick and jump.

In slalom, athletes have 15 seconds to jump the wake as many times as possible, either forward, backward or on one foot. Tricks consist of two 15-second passes filled with as many tricks as possible, without repeats. Barefooters have to do three jumps, and the furthest distance is taken.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s a real challenge,” Heller said.

Only the best barefooters are chosen for the World Games, held every four years. This pseudo-Olympic style competition consists of a total of 31 games.

Heller, alongside her brother Cody and sister Shannon, practice at home on the lake her parents created on their farm in Alma Center. After being a part of a ski team for 5 years, Heller started competing.

Heller is a member of the American Barefoot Waterski Club which  selects the national team to compete at Worlds and the World Games. Only the top female and male barefooters from each country compete at the World Games.

Heller completed a 19 meter (59 feet) jump which resulted in a score of 2,844.84. The jump sealed her medal victory over former No. 1 Ashleigh Stebbeings of Australia.

“[It was] a lot of pressure, I really wanted to win it,” Heller said. “My dad kept pushing me, and it was the right amount I needed.”

Heller trains throughout the year, making a couple trips during breaks to her trainer in Florida.

Following her World Games victory, Heller is now ranked as the women’s No. 1 barefooter in the world. Heller teaches barefoot as well.

“I want to set world records, I’m very close with my jump,” Heller said.