By James O'Connor
Cork’s Daniel Galvin ski'd two personal bests while representing Ireland in the European U21 Waterski Championships in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, France last weekend.
The 19-year-old had his bests in both the Tricks and Jump categories, with his jump of 41.2 metres being the longest jump by any Irish person this year.
Galvin’s weekend began on Friday with the Trick preliminaries, scoring a personal best with 5210 points, just shade away from the Irish open record, and would go on to finish a credible 8th in the final.
“I was really happy with my skiing all weekend. To get a PB in Tricks and Jumps in this competition is really exciting, so I have no complaints.
“When you’re competing in front of nearly 1,000 people and you produce your best stuff there’s no better feeling.”
“I started with my hardest trick first and hit that perfectly. From then on I knew I was well able for the rest of the trick’s and that I could beat my personal best.”
While his Slalom round didn’t go to plan after a fall on Saturday, the Cork Powerboat and Waterski Club man bounced back to finish the weekend in style with a flawless jump on Sunday
“The first pass in my slalom was great, but I just began to overthink the second pass and from then on I lost concentration and ended up falling.”
“It felt great to bounce back from a downer with a personal best. It was important to end the weekend on a high and so to nail the jump was unbelievable.
“We fitted a new surface on our jump at home so to be practising on competition standard equipment was a huge help.”
“The weekend after next I’m off to France, then a month later I’m going to Florida for two events. The main thing now is to get motivated and to and back into the water as soon as possible, just keep going and keep getting better.”
“I’d like to thank my supporters and sponsors Anabio Technologies LTD, Cork Powerboat and Waterski Club, Thong’s Flip Flops and Irish Waterski and Wakeboard Federation for their support.”
