Aaliyah posts her best-ever finish at World Junior Waterski

PETALING JAYA: Teenager Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah capped a fine outing with her best-ever finish at the World Junior Waterski Championships in Madrid.

The 15-year-old has never made the cut for any final events in her two previous outings in 2014 and 2016 but this time, she finished fourth.

The triple KL SEA Games gold medallist earned a breakthrough when she made the top-12 final of the tricks event by placing fifth with a score of 6,020 points on Saturday before going one better in the final a few hours later to finish fourth.

It was a bittersweet finish for the plucky youngster as she only managed 5,790 points in tough conditions to slip behind bronze medallist Daniela Verswyvel of Colombia, who tallied 6,120 points.

Canada’s Neilly Ross led from the start to win the gold with 9,570 while American Kennedy Hansen took the silver with 7,750 points.

Buoyed by the solid finish, Aaliyah – who is also a three-event skier competing in slalom and jump – also finished fifth in the overall category with a total score of 2,357.41.

She earlier placed 13th in both the slalom and jump events, narrowly missing out on the finals.

Despite missing out on the podium, Aaliyah was still pleased with her overall effort.

“I’m satisfied with my performances as I broke personal bests and records in the jump and slalom event,” said Aaliyah, who set a new national mark of 35.9m in jump and a new Asian open record in slalom with 3/55/12.

“Tricks, on the other hand, didn’t go so well. I think my body changed a fair bit from the last 12 months. I was gaining more weight mostly from muscles and that set me back a bit in tricks.

“But overall, I’m still happy with a fourth-place finish in tricks and fifth in the overall,” she added.

Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) head coach Hanifah Yoong said focusing on tricks would be the next plan for Aaliyah.

“We’ll be concentrating on tricks more now whilst also balancing slalom and jump but at a slower pace,” said Hanifah.

“But going forward, we’ll be working towards getting on the podium for the 2020 edition with hopefully a gold too.”

Meanwhile, Aaliyah’s younger brothers – Aiden, 12 and Adam, 10, – also had a creditable outing in Madrid.

Aiden finished 25th overall in tricks with a score of 3,520 while Adam, the national record holder and SEA Games gold medallist, placed 17th with a score of 4,410.