Unrelenting passion, drive for success motivates teenage Montreal water-skiing champ

“I want to learn some of the biggest tricks,” said Montreal water skier Hannah Stopnicki, after finishing fifth in the women’s trick event at the U21 World Waterski championships last week as a 17-year-old. Gareth Madoc-Jones reports.

By Gareth Madoc-Jones

Posted June 21, 2023 1:55 pm.

Last Updated June 21, 2023 7:34 pm.

Finishing just shy of the podium at a major international water-skiing competition last week sparked something in 17-year-old Hannah Stopnicki.

And seeing her competitors pull off some impressive tricks in the water on the way to hardware? Well that just fuelled the Montrealer even more.

Stopnicki, who as a two-time Pan American water-skiing champion knows what it feels like to climb the top step, finished fifth in the world under-21 waterski championships in the women’s trick event in Mexico.

So she went right back to work.

“I am so motivated,” she told CityNews from Lantier in the Laurentians, about 114 kilometres north of Montreal, where she trains on Lac de la Montagne Noir.

“At the under-21 worlds, when you have girls who are a lot better than you and who can do a lot more flips than you, you just want to get back on the water and do more flips and learn them because you watched them all do them all weekend. And now it’s just, I want to learn some of the biggest tricks that the under-21 world champion did to win. So that’s the most exciting for me.”

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Stopnicki competed at the event in Mexico after turning 17 in spring. In May, she won the women’s trick event at the World Junior Masters against the best water skiers aged 18 and under.

Despite her young age, the teen clearly has the pedigree and fortitude of an elite athlete.

“You learn to not make too much of the stress and just let yourself enjoy it because when you’re skiing in a tournament, it’s really only five minutes when you’re out there and it’s just about you, about your tricks. And honestly, it’s the best experience. And it was so amazing to get to win.”

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That determination for victory is clear to those around her.

“She’s taken this role as a top-level athlete to heart,” said her father Daniel Stopnicki. “And she steps up every single day. She gets up early in the morning, she’s out on the water, she’s training. She trains hard. She knows what she wants, and she goes for it.

“I’m always really impressed by Hannah and all the young skiers, because when they go out there on the water, they know that at any given second, it could be over. It’s a cruel sport.”

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Hannah Stopnicki, a member of the Junior Canadian National waterski team, trains in Orlando, Florida. But Quebec is where it all began; Lac de la Montagne Noir is where she first learned to water ski.

“This is my home lake and I haven’t been here in over a year because it’s just so busy,” she said.

Stopnicki leaves for Europe Thursday to compete in Spain, France and Italy in a sport for which she has an unrelenting passion.

“It’s just it’s so fun and amazing,” she said. “And I’ve grown up doing it. I’ve been doing this since I was two years old, right around here somewhere on this lake. I’ve been doing it my whole life. I grew up doing it, and I love it.”