Warburton local and barefoot waterskier Glenn Porter is heading to France to compete in the World Masters Barefoot Championships in September.
He will represent Australia against barefoot waterskiers from across the globe at the 2025 World Masters Barefoot Championships which kicks off in Chartres in France on 7 September.
The highly decorated waterskier, who just came out of a hip replacement 16 weeks ago, said he expected to have some nerves prior to the competition.
“There’s always nerves and I think it’s healthy to have nerves,” Mr Porter said.
An accident saw Mr Porter getting a hip replacement, which “caused a lot of chaos” for the 53-year-old.
“I’d just come off the back of a Victorian state team ready to go for these world titles and I had to have my hip replaced. So I’ve had such a challenging last couple of years personally.”
“I had to learn how to re-walk again… so I haven’t been able to water ski.”
But he remained steadfast in his attitude towards the championships – a result of the mindset he developed over his time as a barefoot waterskier.
“It provides me with that mindset to sort of say, ‘life is not that easy. Life can be very difficult.’”
“I’ve always had barefooting and water skiing in my life which has enabled me to have that character to rise above it.”
Barefoot waterskiing is the sport of waterskiing without the skis with competitors able to compete in trick, slalom or jumping events.
Without skis, barefooters have to travel faster in order to be able to stay upright, usually around the 50 to 70km/h range depending on their weight.
Though he hasn’t done any waterskiing since his injury, he has been riding his mountain bike at the new Warburton Bike Park to keep his fitness up.
“I’ve had very little on-water training time, but I’ve been on the mountain bike, riding the mountain,” he said.
“I’m actually physically, as a 53-year-old, probably the best condition since 2023 since I competed in Texas.”
Most waterski sites are custom built like the one in France – however, since Mr Porter lives in Warburton, he bounces between Lilydale and Geelong to get access to places to train.
“The Geelong Waterski Club is probably one of best ski clubs in Australia on the Barwon River and has produced many world champions including probably the greatest skier of all-time skier Jacinta Carroll who is a five-time world jump champion and five-time world record holder,” he said.
Mr Porter’s list of accolades includes the world Open Men’s Trick champion at age of 16, 17 individual medals, a world record for Trick, Slalom and Starts and having been crowned two times as Men’s National Champion.
The World Masters Barefoot Championships will take place on the private lake of Saint Prest, also known as “Étang du Gorget” near Chartres in France.
