Freddie Winter has been crowned the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour Men’s Slalom Champion. It follows Joel Poland’s victory in Men’s Jump earlier this month.

Freddie’s victory comes little more than a year after a devastating leg injury threatened to end his professional career. He crashed into a concrete dock while competing in France in summer 2024. Unsure he could ever be competitive again, he worked tirelessly on his rehabilitation and defied the odds to achieve a remarkable comeback.

In May this year, just four months after his return to training on water, he won the prestigious Masters tournament in the USA. He went on to take several victories and make the podium in a series of professional competitions throughout the 2025 season.

He had an unassailable lead going into the final event of the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour, the Travers Grand Prix, held in Florida, USA, at the weekend. There, he completed his comeback in style, with another hard-fought victory in a high-scoring final on Sunday. His winning score was 1 buoy on the 9.75m line.

Freddie has finished second on the Waterski Pro Tour on three previous occasions, but this is his first title, something he said was very special.

“A year and a half ago I had a really, really terrible time,” he said. “I hurt myself and I worked really hard to come back here and be competitive. So, in some ways, it’s very emotional to take this on a comeback year. I had some wins and I’m very grateful.

“What I’ll say is that, to everybody that sent me a message, that told me ‘well done’, who gave me some motivation to come back, this really is for you. It was very, very dark last year; it was very difficult, and I couldn’t be happier to be back here and to be winning tournaments.”

Earlier this month Joel Poland became the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour Men’s Jump Champion after going the entire season unbeaten. That came just a few weeks after his gold in Men’s Jump at the World Championships in Italy.

Well done also to Jack Critchley, who finished in second place in Men’s Jump on the 2025 Waterski Pro Tour.

You can find the full results of the Travers Grand Prix here.