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Thursday, 2nd September 2010

Water sensation!

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Published Date: 17 January 2008
WATER-SKIING sensation Nicole Arthur has become the first ever female to have won world championships at EVERY age category from junior to senior.
And her latest title was claimed at a venue that would have seemed a million miles from where she honed her incredible skills.

The 20-year-old, from Slamannan, learned to ski on the Falkirk village's Black Loch but the sport has since taken her al
l over the globe.

This month Nicole was in Santiago, Chile, for the season's curtain raiser and she finished top of the table in the women's slalom event at the World Under-21 Champion-ships.

She described the venue as "the back yard of a guy who's the biggest importer of chicken in South America... a big complex with lakes and the Andes in the background".

But wherever she plies her trade Nicole is certainly turning heads. Last September, in Austria, she became the first Scot to win a World Open Senior Championship title despite being one of the youngest competitors.

And this year, in Santiago, she admitted that she was feeling some pressure at being the new kid at the top of world competition.
"Because I'd won the Worlds everybody was expecting me to win again," she said.

"In the first round I didn't ski that well, probably because of that reason – I was nervous. But in the second round I told myself to just get on with it."

Nicole set out as the penultimate skier in the final, needing to beat Canadian Witney McClintock's three buoys on the 11.25 metre rope.

But she set a new mark in getting around the fourth and when the last skier, Australian Karina Nowlan, failed to emulate her feat, Nicole sealed the top spot.

"I was 16 when I first competed in this event and I got bronze then, so I'm really pleased to get my first gold," she explained.

"It adds a fourth world title to last year's open in Austria and the two junior gold medals I'd previously won."

Even though every world title has now been accomplished, the Central Scotland Institute of Sport athlete still has one final year in the under-21 category.

But, as holder of the world's senior title, the next 12 months will be her busiest to date in the sport.

"Because I won the World Open Championship I've got invitations to all the professional and World Cup events," she explained.

"This year there'll be a lot of travelling and I'll go to America and do the whole States thing.

"There are about 12 pro tour stops, three World Cup and three title events. My first is the US Masters, on May 22 in Georgia, which is a very big one."

With such a gap before her next major competition, however, Nicole might be excused for having some well earned down time – even though the words 'time off' are not a part of her vocabulary.

"Much as I want to rest, the key for the next three weeks is to get back into my strength work here at the Central Institute," she added.
"It's going to be a heavy year!"



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  • Last Updated: 17 January 2008 11:45 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Falkirk
 
 

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