Bragg Creek water-skier Megan Pelkey went to Chile to have fun and try her best, but came home a world champion.
In the IWWF World Under-17 Water Ski Championships in Santiago, Chile, Pelkey earned three medals — resulting in the local teen claiming the girls' overall title.
Pelkey, 16, had been training in Orlando, Florida, living in a house with a group of other like-aged kids for four months, after a summer training program in Canada. When The Eagle spoke with her just before Christmas, she said her mental approach going into the world championships in January would be that winning is good, “But my goals are to have fun and ski my best.”
Apparently, on Jan. 5, ‘just having fun’ worked.
“Yes. I still can’t believe it,” Pelkey said from her home in Bragg Creek, where she is enjoying a break from the hustle and bustle of international water skiing.
“I remember going into it just very level and neutral. Winning was not my main focus. I just went there with the goal of skiing my best and putting all my effort into it.
“And then the title happened. I just can’t believe it.”
She was the only female competitor at the competition to make it into all three finals (slalom, tricks and jump).
Ten Canadians competed in Chile, with six skiers taking part in the team event and four as individuals. Each country had a maximum of a six-person team, with individual skier scores contributing toward the overall team title. Canada won silver in that department.
Megan is just one of four Pelkey siblings who keep the family busy with their hectic athletic endeavours. The Pelkeys have three daughters younger than her, all of whom are active in some kind of athletics.
Megan’s father Bob was busy packing up to take daughter Rebecca to a downhill ski competition in Panorama this week. With four daughters – all of whom compete in some kind of skiing – he laughs when asked how busy he is. But he had time to express his pride in Megan’s most recent accomplishment.
“As a whole family, we’re extremely proud of Megan’s achievement at the worlds,” he said.
“Her dedication and the sacrifices she made leading up to it, to train and practice so hard, it’s paid off nicely for her.”
He also wanted to share credit with all of Megan’s coaches over the years. The list is long, but people like Kristi and Sean Kraus at the Shalom Water Ski Park near Edmonton, and also coach Bruce Dodd have been instrumental in helping Megan get to where she is.
Pelkey has been water skiing competitively since 2017, and has been training in Florida since 2019.
As the sisters continue to compete at higher and higher levels in their respective sports, the Bragg Creek family is starting to consider how to possibly attract some kind of sponsorships to help offset the ongoing training and travelling costs.
Bob said he estimates they put on about 60,000 kilometres a year on the family vehicles.
For now, it’s time for Megan to decompress a bit in Bragg Creek, catch up on schoolwork, and then start training again.
She’ll be headed back to Florida in spring to train for the 2023 Junior Masters Water Ski Tournament, coming up in May in Callaway Gardens, Georgia.
