Larisa Morales Gets Silver In The 
Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup In South Korea

Translation: Heido Sundstrom

Mexican wakeboarder, Larisa Morales, won second place in the Junior Ladies category of the Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup, celebrated in the Hwamyung Eco Park in the city of Busan, South Korea.

In the final, Morales dueled with her archrival from several years ago, Italian competitor Giorgia Gregorio, who won for the first time in 2011. The following year, Gregorio returned to defend her title, beating the Monterrey native in the United States championship. The rating that the judges gave Morales was a 13.43 in execution, a 14.58 for intensity and a 13.88 for composition, giving her a total of 41.89 points and Second Place overall.

Meanwhile, the scores for Giorgia Gregorio were: a 15.54 in execution, a 17.37 for intensity and a 16.65 for composition, giving her a total of 49.56 points, plus the championship title and gold medal. Third place and the bronze medal went to Zhen Kun Duan of China with 33.45 points. This was a very worthwhile contest for both Gregorio and Morales since, out of six competitors in the final heat, these two were the only one that scored above 40 points.

At just 16 years old, Larisa Morales is already a young and talented athlete in this difficult extreme sport that is wakeboarding. Her talent has made it possible to see the Mexican flag flying high and to hear the national anthem on foreign soil. Morales’ next competition will be the third stop of the 2013 Wake Tour Mexico that will be held on September 20th & 22nd in Cancun, Quintana Roo.

The Mexican team achieved the following places during this contest in South Korea: Larisa Morales was Junior Runner-up, Jorge Alberto Perez finished in 20th place in the Junior Men’s category, Carolina Rodriguez made it to position #15 of the Women’s Open category and Juan Pablo Ochoa placed 37th in the Men’s Open category.