FLORIDA: Malaysia’s leading water-skier, Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, continued to push her limits with an inspiring performance at the Holy Cow Cup in Florida, United States.
Held at Lake Grew in Polk City from October 9 to 11, 2026, the tournament showcased why Aaliyah is among Asia’s best. She now holds Asian records across all four events: trick, jump, slalom and overall.
The 23-year-old improved her slalom personal best by running two buoys at 11 metres (2@11m). She also set a new jump personal best of 51.9 metres, surpassing her previous mark of 51.1 metres and breaking the long-standing Asian record of 51.2 metres, set by Japan’s Saaya Hirosawa.
“These results also helped put me in a higher start seed at the World Championships in Australia next year, which will hopefully place me in better weather and skiing conditions,” said Aaliyah, who is set to graduate in December 2026 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Florida Southern College (FSC).
As her season approaches its close, Aaliyah is looking ahead to the NCWSA Collegiate Nationals in California next week. Her FSC team will be aiming for a top-three finish among 12 Division I collegiate waterski teams.
“Individually, I aim to achieve gold medals in trick, jump, and overall,” said Aaliyah, who won three gold medals at the 2025 IWWF University World Waterski Championships in New Zealand.
It was her first Pro Slalom tournament, though she had previously competed in Pro Tricks and Pro Jump events.
“Slalom is not my best event. My favourites are tricks and jump, but as a three-event skier, I have been working on improving my slalom score to improve my overall ranking,” said Aaliyah, who became the youngest-ever SEA Games gold medallist in 2011, winning the women’s tricks event at just eight years old.
Aaliyah is now the top-ranked Asian female water-skier in the circuit, and holds higher global rankings in jump, where she is seventh, and tricks, where she is 11th. In Open Women’s Slalom, she is ranked among the world’s top 100.
“I finished in 11th position out of 12 pro skiers at the Travers Grand Prix. Nevertheless, I am extremely satisfied with my performance, especially after recovering from an injury sustained in a jump crash earlier this year, which delayed the start of my season.”
Her focus now turns to the IWWF Waterski World Championships in Australia in February 2027, followed by the 2027 Southeast Asian Games, which Malaysia will host in September.
“I have always been grateful for the support of my family, and especially my sponsors: Yayasan Sime Darby, the National Sports Council (MSN), Nautique Boats and D3 Skis.”
