San Gervasio Pro Am

San Gervasio had some magic in the water in their 11th edition. PBs were being tossed around like it was nothing, athletes were coming out of retirement, and the cut was as high as it’s ever been. All of this led to a seat clenching head to head finals where no one could predict the outcome.

            The pro womens portion of the event featured athletes from 9 different countries, including veteran skiers and newcomers alike. This provided a wide range of scores and ski styles in a qualifier that you just couldn’t look away from. Jaimee Bull made 10.75m look like an opener, Ali Garcia established herself as a threat to the title with 3 at 10.75m, Allie Nicholson secured a 4 at 10.75m with the start of a lifetime. It’s safe to say adrenaline was pumping and excitement was in the air. As everything settled, the head to head bracket was determined.

-       Jaimee Bull vs. Chiara Bonnemann

-       Allie Nicholson vs. Beatrice Ianni

-       Ali Garcia vs. Jaime Metcalfe

-       Manon Costard vs. Annemarie Wroblewski

In the first battle, Chiara Bonnemann took an unfortunate early fall on the 11.25 meter line and left the door wide open for Jaimee to progress on to semi-finals. Quickly following, Allie Nicholson and hometown hero, Beatrice Ianni, took to their battle. To the Italian's dismay, Beatrice fell just short of completing 11.25m and Allie slipped through into the semis. The energy was building as Ali Garcia took to the water, attempting to set a score outside of Jaime Metcalfe's reach. However, a poor turn at 10.75m and a score of 2 left Ali well within the danger zone. With her eyes locked on 3, Jaime put everything she had into turning 2 and, unfortunately, got more than she bargained for. Resulting in a swim to shore instead of a victory lap.

The final battle to take to the water was the closest of them all. Manon Costard and Annemarie Wroblewski both put up the same score of 2 at 10.75m. So it’s a tie? Well not exactly. The rules state that in a head to head, the second skier has to beat the first skier outright to progress to the next round (the exception is during finals when a runoff will take place). In this scenario, Manon was the lead off skier which means she is the technical winner and progresses on to the semi-finals. The new lineup looked like this:

-       Jaimee Bull vs. Manon Costard

-       Allie Nicholson vs. Ali Garcia

            Jaimee Bull had the choice of order and opted to go first. She breezed all the way through 11.25m like it was a walk in the park (or rather a walk around the lake with Jolly Ski’s well kept trails). Unfortunately, Manon wasn’t able to keep up and had an uncharacteristic fall at the 11.25 meter line, eliminating her from a shot at finals.

This leads us to the Allie vs. Ali battle. Two friends who are forced into a rivalry of unmatched proportions. Who’s going to be the ultimate Ali(ie)? Well Allie Nicholson took to the water first and put up an incredible score halfway down 10.75m. Ali Garcia would have to get a piece of 4, something she has never before done. But that previously mentioned magic in the water, it showed up at this moment. Ali had an unbelievable start with a flawless 1 and 2, the perfect setup to turn 3. However, she lost her position slightly through the turn and was no longer on the perfect line. In a superhuman show of determination and strength, Ali pulled all the way towards 4 and threw her ski towards the buoy as a final hail mary. It worked! She was just barely able to clear the buoy line and secure the half, and a new personal best, to move on to finals.

Arron Davies - Skier of the Day

This brings us to the final showdown: Jaimee Bull vs. Ali Garcia. Jaimee opted to go first while Ali had the choice of boat/driver. Both skiers cruised through 13m and 12m, easy as you like. The intensity increased as the ropes were pulled into 11.25m. This is both Jaimee and Ali’s 5th set in this event and the fatigue is starting to show. They both had to fight their way through this normally automatic pass. The pressure was on, the whole crowd was on their feet, Tony was full of excitement on the mic, and Jaimee was approaching the course at 10.75m. She flew through the course, turning buoy after buoy until she lost her angle coming towards 5 and opted for an S-turn. Ali Garcia would need a miracle to overtake Jaimee. Despite her best efforts, she unfortunately couldn’t make it past 3 and was stuck with the silver medal.

            The excitement didn’t deplete for the men in the slightest. In the qualifying rounds, 13 out of 15 skiers ran 10.75m and scored in 10.25m. Will Asher took the top seed with 5, followed by Freddie Winter and Aaron Davies, who formed a perfect tie, with a 4 and a 2 each. Aaron was on fire at this event; His score of 4 was a new personal best and an extremely high score in every regard. Matteo Luzzeri also put up a fight, scoring 3 in both qualifying rounds and cementing his return to pro skiing. In the end, the bracket shook out to the following:

-       Will Asher vs. Jon Travers

-       Freddie Winter vs. Rob Hazelwood

-       Aaron Davies vs. Sacha Descuns

-       Matteo Luzzeri vs. Thomas Degasperi

            Starting with a bold battle between training partners, Will Asher and Jon Travers lined up on the dock. They may be friends in training, but in this moment there was no mercy to be spared. Only one was going to move through and they were both ready to fight tooth and nail for that position. Will went first and put up a solid score of 2.5 at 10.25m. He was most certainly still in striking range of Jon, however. Jon had an incredibly controlled turn at 1 but as he came around 2 he lost control of his ski and fell out the back. In a stroke of drama, the defending champion was knocked out in the quarter-finals.

            The action didn’t waiver in the slightest for the next matchup. A battle of the Brits was about to go down as Freddie Winter and Rob Hazelwood geared up for a showdown. Freddie had the choice of skiing order and opted to kick things off. Both skiers floated through 12m and 11.25m like easy warm up passes. The intensity kicked up at 10.75m but Freddie didn’t break much of a sweat. Surely Rob wouldn’t struggle much either, right? Well, a poorly connected 1 surely wasn’t going to make it an easy pass. Rob took a long pull to 2 in an attempt to make up for lost speed but instead came up short on space and fell to the inside of the buoy. A very unfortunate score for Rob pushed Freddie into the semi-finals and moved us on to our next matchup.

Following the shock of a lifetime, Aaron Davies and Sacha Descuns were next up. It was an intense battle with the closest scores of all the men. Both skiers scored 3 at 10.25m but Aaron moved on to the semi-finals because he skied first. The final showdown created a civil war in the hearts of the spectators. Two Italian legends, Matteo Luzzeri and Thomas Degasperi, but only one could progress. Matteo opted to go first and kept the crowd on their toes as he narrowly slipped around 6 at 10.75m. Thomas matched the pace and breezed through 10.75m. As Thomas prepared to face the course at 10.25m, Matteo was slipping around 2 to set a high bar for Thomas. He rose to the occasion, however, and secured a score of 2.5 to progress to the semi-finals and knock Matteo out of the competition. We had quite the lineup for the semis after an extremely captivating quarter-finals.

-       Will Asher vs. Thomas Degasperi

-       Freddie Winter vs. Aaron Davies

            Will Asher was the first semi-finalist to take to the water. If anyone can make 10.75m look like second nature, it’s Will. Thomas Degasperi didn’t struggle by any means either, cruising around all 6 and getting ready to return at 10.25m. Will was first up and came into 1 ball with perfect speed only to have a slow turn and just narrowly reach around 2. The door was left open for Thomas, but it wouldn’t be a cake walk by any means. However, Thomas isn’t the type to pass up a good opportunity and skied his way around 3 to move on to the final showdown.

            Next up on the water we have two skiers who have been on fire recently: Freddie Winter and Aaron Davies. Freddie has been on the comeback storyline of a century, skiing like he never left after recovering from a brutal injury sustained last season. Aaron Davies, on the other hand, has shot up in both scores and consistency this season. He has run halfway down 10.25m on multiple occasions, including the qualifying rounds where he scored 2 and 4. It was going to be one colossal showdown in the second battle of the Brits. Or so we thought… Unfortunately, Aaron took an early fall on the 10.75m line and pushed Freddie into the finals without much of a fight.

            This brings us to the final head to head of the event: Thomas Degasperi against Freddie Winter. They were hitting the water for the 5th time at this event. The fatigue was setting in and the tension was rising higher and higher. Thomas skied first and set the pace, flying through 12m, 11.25m, and 10.75m like it was nothing. Freddie did the same, pushing through 12m and 11.25m. 10.75m poised a bit more of a challenge. Everything started smooth with a textbook gate and 1 but Freddie got a little overzealous at 2 and bit off more than he could chew. He ended up in such an aggressive lean you would think he was trying to pull the boat into reverse before he lost grip of the handle. A disappointing score for Freddie but a show of the physical strain these athletes face during intense events like this. Relentful to end his set early, Thomas opted to take an attempt at 10.25m despite already having claimed the title. He turned one and ran out of strength as the boat pulled him up and inside of two.

            A hug congratulations to all of the athletes that participated in the event and especially all of those who landed themselves on the podium. Thank you to Jolly Ski and all the officials for making this event a possibility. Finally, thank you to the broadcast crew for bringing the action to the living rooms of thousands of enthusiastic water ski fans.

Watch the 2025 San Gervasio Pro Am

Bib Ceremony

Highlights Video

ebcast Replay - Day 1

Webcast Replay - Day 2

Scores of the San Gervasio Pro Am