It was supposed to be the dawn of a new era, a time to shine for the young guns of freestyle whitewater kayaking.
Chalk another one up for the Age of Aquarius instead.
At age 43, Eric “EJ” Jackson of Rock Island, Tenn., notched his fourth world championship in freestyle kayaking on the Ottawa River’s legendary “Bus Eater” wave last week in Canada, besting an international field of 70 pro paddlers typically about 15 to 20 years his junior with tricks such as his signature “McNasty.”
With the victory, Jackson now lays claim to four of the past six world titles (the championships are held every other year) and six of the biggest events held in the past eight years, including pre-worlds (held in non-world championship years) and the inaugural World Cup, introduced in 2006.
“I’ve got a lot of experience and had a lot of success in my ability to outperform the competition when the time comes, if you want to put it that way,” Jackson said Sunday night via telephone. “Call it what you want, be it a higher skill level on the water or the ability to compete. But there’s still a burning desire within me to compete, and I rarely go into a competition lacking the necessary skill set. It’s worked out really well for me so far, and it’s a lot of fun, too.”
The former Olympic slalom paddler’s competitive instincts seemed to grow stronger throughout the course of the three-day event, in which he steadily advanced through the ranks from eighth place in the preliminary round to the top of the podium Friday. Canadian local Nick Troutman dominated the competition with the highest-rated ride in every round through the semifinals before settling for third in the finals behind Slovakian Peter Csonka.
“I like to win every round, but finals are the one that you want most, obviously,” said Jackson, whose namesake freestyle kayak designs were the top sellers in the nation last year. “Nick paddled super well and was clearly the one to beat in the early rounds. It was just one of those deals. There’s a lot of pressure in the finals and some people perform better in that situation, some perform worse. My scores went up.”
The Bus Eater wave – the largest ever used in championship competition – served as perhaps as big a star as the competitors. The enormous river feature, created from water flows about five times the average annual flow through the Grand Canyon, towered more than 15 feet above the kayakers skimming across its face and allowed for a wide array of dynamic aerial maneuvers as the small plastic boats careened off the river’s surface like skipping stones. Competitors took advantage of their 45-second rides on the wave by throwing huge, acrobatic stunts with the precision of gymnasts.
“Everything about this event was epic,” said Gypsum resident Ken Hoeve of Dagger Kayaks, who emceed the event. “I was floored ride after ride. It set a new standard for what is possible.”
The high standards spanned both age and gender at the event, with Jackson’s 17-year-old daughter, Emily, collecting her third junior women’s world championship title and 13-year- old son, Dane, placing third behind American teammate Evan Garcia in junior men. Canada’s Ruth Gordon bested Australia’s Tanya Faux to win the women’s division. Stephan Pastch of Germany won the open-canoe competition while American Dan Burke was tops in the hard- decked canoe division.
The 2007 world championships were considered a pivotal event in the sport’s history as the first to be sanctioned by the International Canoe Federation, the official governing body for paddling sports in the Olympics. Currently, only slalom and flatwater canoe and kayaking races are sanctioned as medal events at the Olympics.
Staff writer Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
