Aliaksei Zharnasek , IWGA Athlete of May 2017

Aliaksei Zharnasek , IWGA Athlete of May 2017

Congratulations to our Athlete of May, New World Record holder Aliaksei Zharnasek (BLR)!

Aliaksei Zharnasek (36) from Belarus has reached legendary status in the highly demanding sport of Waterski Tricks, often regarded as Gymnastics on the water.

In 2011 Zharnasek captured international headlines in setting a new World Tricks Record of 12,570 points. Since then, he has won several World Championships. However, no matter how hard he tried, breaking his own 2011 World Record over the past five years seemed impossible!  But this month changed it all: not only is Zharnasek now ranked No. 1 on the IWWF tables, but just a few weeks ago he managed to raise the bar yet again with a new pending IWWF World Tricks Record of 12,610 points. He also captured the title of Nautique Masters Tricks Champion in Callaway Gardens, USA, against the very best in the world.

Zharnasek was born and raised in Belarus, and since the summer does not last the whole year he got used to training for Water Skiing in a swimming pool as well. “During the off-season, we would trick behind a high-powered winch in an Olympic swimming pool. With a 50 meter pool you get a four to five second run, so we would take countless laps just working on a specific trick or sequence of tricks. With no wake to get your lift, you really learn how to load the rope and use your legs to generate power into your air tricks. You leave the edge of the pool and have to move directly into your first trick. There is no setting the speed, no turning around, just concentrated training on whatever trick you are working on that day.”

Zharnasek will compete at The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland in July.

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