Aaliyah in action during the slalom event in the Oceania Championships.
PETALING JAYA: Waterskier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah will take a month break after a successful year to return stronger for next season.
On Sunday, the 19-year-old smashed her own Asian record in the open women tricks event in the Oceania Championships at the Max Kirwan Ski Park Mulwala, New South Wales to end the year on a high.
She scored 7970, skimming the record by a mere 10 points (7960) and her efforts also saw her come first ahead of Australian duo Erica Hayes and Layne Moroney respectively.
It turned out to be a strong weekend for Aaliyah as she finished third and fifth in slalom and jump while taking top spot in the overall event.
"These results will help me in maintaining my world rankings for next year which will be crucial in getting a good seeding in the future world ranking tournaments," said Aaliyah.
"I'm very grateful to the National Sports Council (NSC) for the chance to do seven events this year after staying out of 2020 and 2021 with no competitions. It had been a year of great progress and great results for me.
"I will now take one step back and take a one month break from training so that I can take two steps forward to prepare for 2023 which I aim to be on the world podium again and this time in the Under-21 Waterski World Championships in June in Mexico."
Meanwhile Aaliyah's brother Aiden did not have a good outing in his open men tricks event when he was knocked out in the first round after his ski broke.
