World U-21 Water Ski Champ
Taryn Grant Gearing Up for Open
Worlds in Mexico
By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy of Taryn Grant
Taryn and her brother Cole
Taryn Grant has been a great water
skier for a long time. She’s also been
one of the only female water ski
competitors in the province.
Oh yeah, and did we mention that
she’s the current U-21 World Slalom
Champion?
Back on July 5, in Sesesna, Spain,
Grant won her first – but probably
not her last – World Championship.
The 20-year-old Winnipegger who
skis at the University of Louisiana
at Lafayette won gold in the
women’s slalom competition at the
International Waterski and Wakeboard
Federation’s World Under-21 Water Ski
Championships.
Grant also added a silver medal in
the women’s jump competition.
Back in 2013, Grant won a bronze
medal in the slalom to go along with
a silver in the jump, but winning a
world title was, by her admission, the
immediate culmination of a nearlifetime of work.
“I’ve wanted this for quite some
time,” she said matter-of-factly. “In
2011, I took a bad fall off a jump
and I knew something was wrong.
After getting X-rays, I found out I
had broken my neck. It was a tough
road. I often wondered, when I was
in my body brace, if I’d ever ski again.
But here we are. I won the slalom by
half a buoy and lost the jump by 10
centimetres.”
When one considers how long
Grant has been a competitor and how
much work she devotes to becoming
the best she can be, one can easily
understand how important this world
title is to her.
“I got started water skiing through
my parents,” she said. “They’re
recreational skiers and we have a
family cottage at Betula Lake in the
Whiteshell. I think I started skiing,
or at least getting out on the water,
when I was 18 months old. My older
brother, Cole, who is two years older
than I am started to compete and
I just wanted to do everything he
did. I always wanted to follow in his
footsteps so I competed in my first
Western Canadians at age 6 and my
first nationals at age 7.
“I was in Girls 1 at my first nationals
which I think is U-9. I don’t remember
a lot about it, but I do know I won
a medal. Since then, I’ve been to 13
national championships and I love
going. It was always easy for me to ski
at nationals because my best friends
from around the country just happen
Taryn Grant winning Slalom in Spain 2015
Taryn Grant Jump
14 / sportslife