The Naish team dominates at the Australian Freestyle Nationals

February 1st, 2022, Sunshine Coast, Queensland — Maroochydore was once again the host of the Australian Nationals, as 50 competitors, from all around the country (except the cordoned off Western Australia) descended upon the Maroochy River mouth. Naish team riders dominated the Open Men’s and Women’s podiums, with Ewan Jaspan and Katie Potter both taking the crown. Leo Verrechia also finished with 2nd place in the Open Men’s, solidifying Naish’s dominance over the competition.

Event Recap by Champion Ewan Jaspan:

“The forecast was marginal, but spirits were high as the weekend approached, with the tides lining up nicely to add a few current assisted knots to the wind.Located on the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore is known for its warm, light winds, which is exactly what we were treated to.

Kicking off the first day, it was a bit of a manic rush as we needed to get the comp done as soon as possible with the easing forecast. The first day we managed to get all of the first heats done, with Naish riders all progressing through to the finals day in every division.

Katie Potter qualified first for the women’s final, while myself (Ewan Jaspan) and Leo Verrecchia both won our heats to be seeded 1 and 2 for the final. In the Masters division Marco Verrecchia was seeded 3rd and in the Juniors Alex Verrecchia 2nd.

After a great first day, the wind was looking dismal for the following 3 days, and waking up on day 2, after a late night with all the crew, it seemed like the comp may have been over, taking the results from day 1 as final. But around 10am, the clouds cleared and the wind kicked in a perfect 17 knots, and everyone made their way to the water. We were then met with perfect conditions all day to finish up the competition, and the riding level went up a few notches.

Highlight tricks of the day were Katie’s front to blind, amongst other powered blind landings, Leo’s huge toeside tricks, Marco stomping passes off the kickers rolling through and I was pretty stoked to land 3 double passes in my heat, as well as a few kicker tricks.

At the end of the day though, local competitions like this are about more than the heats, and it was a great time to catch up with old and new friends, while all progressing our riding, and keeping the progression of the sport alive. What was also great to see was the fact that the under 18 division was the largest draw, giving us great hope for future comps and generations. On the final day I was able to run a clinic with all the frothing groms, and it was exciting to see their ambitions and the questions they had to improve their kiting.

It seems like there is huge enthusiasm for next year’s event, and I’ll definitely be back to try to defend my title from the up and coming riders, especially that the West Australian riders should be allowed out to compete!

Congratulations to everyone involved, what a great weekend it was.”