By Conner Pesek
Most will agree, there’s nothing else like skiing in Moomba Masters. You’ve got enormous crowds, it’s in the middle of a city, the conditions are unruly, and there’s a lot on the line for every skier. Competitors travel halfway around the world and push the absolute limits of what’s possible, all in pursuit of a Moomba Masters title. In the case of the Americans, let’s just say pressure makes diamonds as fans lined the banks of the Yarra River and watched on webcast March 6-10, 2025.
Brittany Wharton told us, during our awards banquet, that a pro jump win was the next goal she was after, and Brittany made her intentions clear from the start of the pro womens jump event. She posted a massive 161 feet in the qualifying round to take top seed going into finals. Was that enough though? No, of course not! She not only matched this distance in finals, but tacked on another 7 feet to take the women’s jump title, and her first ever pro win, with a huge 168’. Checkout this reel on Instagram.
Erika Lang, on the other hand, is a seasoned veteran. She’s won titles at the Moomba Masters, Nautique Masters, Pan Am Games, Worlds, and many more. We weren’t surprised to see her move through to finals, but we were surprised to see her score come back as the highest ever women’s trick score on the Yarra River with 10,830 points, beating her own record from 2023. Erika didn’t just want the record, she wanted the win. She locked in the title as the Moomba Masters Champion with 10,440 points in finals, only 290 points above Anna Hunter landing in second.
We can’t talk about trick without mentioning the prodigy, Jake Abelson. Despite being 17 years old, Jake is now widely known as the best trick skier in the world, and his scores validate that statement. Just last year, he set a new world record of 12,970. He carried that momentum into Moomba and won men’s trick with 12,230 in a super competitive field. “How competitive?” you may be wondering. Well, the entire podium was over 12,000 points if that answers your question. One trophy wasn’t enough for Jake, however. He also secured three more and became the first and only person to break 12,000 points in the Junior Moomba Masters competition. This leaves the question: How is he going to get all that hardware back through TSA?
Skiing is about more than just the individual events. There’s also the overall competition where a skier's performance in slalom, jump, and trick are factored into one score. In the women’s overall event there was one athlete that completely dominated, and her name is Sasha Danisheuskaya. Sasha had the highest slalom, jump, and trick scores out of all the overall competitors. This gave her a perfect overall score and secured her the overall title with a significant lead over second place. Additionally, Sasha took second in women’s jump with 165 feet.
The Yarra River can be a tough place to compete for even the most experienced athletes. Unpredictable conditions can be cause early falls, desperate scrambles to stay over the ski, and upsets amongst the best. Everyone was shocked to see Regina Jaquess fall at 35 off in the qualifying round and barely slip into the last chance qualifier. However, being the experienced skier she is, Regina was able to clear her mind and come back to the LCQ ready to make a statement. With an impressive of 1 at 39 off, she showed everyone that she didn’t come all the way to Australia to mess around. She took second place with 5.5 at 38’ off in the finals, cementing what may have been the best comeback of the tournament. In addition to her success in slalom, Regina took third in jump with 162 feet (10 feet above 4th place), rounding off an all American jump podium.
We want to recognize a junior skier who has been quickly climbing the ranks. This skier came into Moomba Masters with no prior experience in the pro field. He not only competed in his first pro slalom event, but qualified for finals and ended in sixth place. Damien Eade is showing insane potential and he’s definitely someone to watch out for in the coming years.
Special thanks to the entire Moomba Masters crew and Nautique Boats for another unforgettable event. Also thanks to Eric Steiner for his stunning real-time images on social media and this article's featured image.
