Local former Junior World Champion Pro Wakeboarder Chloe Mills is loving her time back in competition, recently coming home with a third placing in the 2024 Nautique WWA Wakeboard World Championships.
The World Championships event, which was the fourth and final stop for 2024 was held on the Gold Coast at the Spit from September 26 – 29 and ran by the World Wake Association which was very exciting as it has been almost 20 years since the last Wakeboard World Titles were held in Australia.
The women’s professional category, in which Chloe competed saw fierce competition. Meagan Ethell from the USA demonstrated unwavering strength throughout the weekend to clinch her 8th WWA World title.
With Argentina’s Eugenia de Armas celebrating her first World Championships podium finish followed by our very own Chloe in third place.
“It was a great opportunity for Australian riders to compete in a world titles event. For the Pro Women and Men’s Division this is the last stop of the 2024 series,” Chloe said.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to any of the other stops, so I was looking forwarding to competing in this contest.
“As I didn’t compete in any of the other stops of the series I was ranked last coming into this event, but that meant I could only go up from there!
“Once the lake returned to normal level at the start of August, my training started. I had five weeks to get my body and mind ready.
“Lots of wind and cold weather made training difficult but I was out in the water as much as possible and was feeling good coming into the event.
“I had a great weekend and was happy to come away with a third-place finish.”
With Chloe suffering several debilitating injuries throughout her career, she has been on and off the tour but is currently fighting fit and grateful to still be able to do what she loves most.
“I’ve had some injuries over the years but that is all part of the game, but at the moment I have no injuries and hopefully it stays that way!” Chloe said with a laugh.
“I’m just grateful to still be able to wakeboard!”
So what is next?
“I am looking forward to the summer ahead and just being out on the water,” Chloe said.
“I have no plans for any further contests at the moment, but there are plenty of contests around Australia throughout the summer, hopefully I’ll make it to a couple of them!”