Georgia Groen is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

barefoot water-skier. In 2016, she won the overall open women's title at the Barefoot Waterski World Championships held in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, United States.

Biography

Groen grew up in the North Island town of Ōtaki, where she attended Kāpiti College. In 2013, she moved to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

to study at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

Competitions

Groen competed in her first event at the age of 8, and her first world championship event at the age of 12, in 2009. In 2013, she attended the Barefoot Waterski World Championships in Mulwala, Australia, and won silver in the overall open women's section. In the 2016 championship, Groen won the overall open women's title, and also her third consecutive open world trick title, silver in open slalom, silver in open jump and a bronze in the open team overall event.

Awards

In 2011, Groen won the Kāpiti Emerging Sportsperson of the Year Award, and the Sportsperson of the Year in 2012.

References

Living people 21st-century New Zealand people Sportspeople from Ōtaki, New Zealand Sportspeople from the Kāpiti Coast District People educated at Kāpiti College New Zealand water skiers Female water skiers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Waterskiing-bio-stub