Flying over the waves

      It’s no small feat to cover a 680-meter course of tricks on a board while gliding across the water. And on top of that, to amaze the judges and the audience with spectacular jumps and spins of varying difficulty, without letting go of the tow rope that runs on a circular cable. All this was expected of the participants in the second stage of the Russian Cup in water skiing in the wakeboard (electric tow) discipline, held at the “Gorod Sporta” wake park on Svyatoye Lake.

      The first official competitions of this level were supposed to take place at the Dzerzhinsk municipal wake park as early as the end of July. But weather conditions forced the organizers to make adjustments, and the second stage of the Russian Cup was moved to August 22. Ten riders (six men and four women) from Moscow, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar Krai, Vladimir, Penza and Chelyabinsk regions fought for medals and bonus points. By the way, among the examiners at the Dzerzhinsk wake park were Damir Ganeev, bronze medalist of the Russian championships from Krasnodar Krai, and Stepan Lazutin, winner of the Russian championship from Kovrov.

      In the men’s part of the Cup program, Nizhny Novgorod riders made up half of the participants, and they had a slight advantage over their rivals because all three had already become acquainted with the Dzerzhinsk wake park when they started in the Mayor’s Cup of Dzerzhinsk, which was held in June.

      “Svyatoye Lake has a good wake park, there are certain features you won’t find elsewhere, and the pull is not bad either — it’s rideable,” shared Artemiy Spodarenko, the winner of the June competitions in Dzerzhinsk. “I think the guys who came from other regions will present strong competition, and it will be hard for us to contend for first or second place. So I’m aiming to fight for bronze.”

      The prediction of the 15-year-old from Nizhny Novgorod was half fulfilled: first and second places were indeed contested between Damir Ganeev and Samara’s Vladimir Balaev. And whereas at the recent Russian championships the 28-year-old Ganeev managed to finish ahead of his younger rival, at the second stage of the Russian Cup the 18-year-old Balaev rode a difficult program almost flawlessly and, having received high marks from the judges in the qualifying run, did not relinquish the lead after the two final attempts. Third place went to 13-year-old Stepan Lazutin, who pushed the Nizhny Novgorod riders off the podium.

      In the women’s competition the winner was Muscovite Irina Ryzhova, also a bronze medalist at the 2025 Russian championships.

      For understandable reasons, Dzerzhinsk residents do not take part in professional competitions (the water-skiing division at the Sports School of the Olympic Reserve “Gorod Sporta,” where 25 kids train in wakeboarding under an additional educational program, was opened only last year, and preparing for such starts requires at least five years of intensive training). But our young athletes gladly seized the opportunity to learn from the country’s leading riders and adopt elements from their complex and spectacular programs.

      “When we built the wake park on Svyatoye Lake, we feared that this sport, new to Dzerzhinsk, would not attract many people,” says Evgeny Shalyavin, director of the Sports School of the Olympic Reserve “Gorod Sporta.” “In reality, Dzerzhinsk residents immediately took to wakeboarding, and the division filled up. The kids training under coach Tatyana Karpova are progressing quite rapidly. I’ll add that, besides the young pupils of the sports school, members of the public organization of wheelchair users ‘ParaPlan’ have also begun to actively take up wakeboarding, so a special launch for adaptive athletes needs to be built at the wake park on Svyatoye Lake (for now they have to be carried to the water by hand). We very much hope the city administration will find the means to allocate funds for constructing such a launch.”

      Nina ShUMILOVA. Photo by Ruslan Lobanov

      More news about the event:

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      Flying over the waves

      It’s no small feat to cover a 680-meter course of tricks on a board while gliding across the water.

      19:56 30.08.2025

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