Sarah Lochner’s Ski to Success

Felicity Alonzo

For Monash University student Sarah Lochner, the passion for waterskiing started behind an old blow up boat on family camping trips in the summer. She began competing at the tender age of 12.

And now, she has just returned from Akita, in Northern Japan, where she competed on a Monash University International Travel Grant at the Waterski World University Championships (WUC) in September.

The 2016 Australian Waterski WUC Team: Sarah Lochner, 2nd from right

WUC are part of a series of events organized by the International University Sports Federation. The waterskiing event consists of three disciplines: slalom, tricks and jump. University athletes reigned from several different countries for this event, in which Sarah competed.

Sarah performed spectacularly, placing 19th in the ladies’ slalom and 17th in the ladies’ tricks events.

Ultimately, Australia had a stunning result, with Sarah and her team achieving fourth place overall, despite the fierce competition from other countries.

“When we saw the quality of the other teams before the event (more like open worlds really), we realistically had our teams down for fifth place, so to get fourth and nearly snatch a bronze medal was a great effort by all,” Team Manager Peter Lochner said.

For Sarah, the opportunity was a ‘fantastic help in achieving [her] goals’, which she describes as the trip of a lifetime.

Sarah is currently completing a Secondary Education Honours in Health, Physical Education and Biology.