KUALA LUMPUR: Waterski star Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah added another feather to her cap after breaking the Asian women's jump record at the Holy Cow Cup in Florida, United States, over the weekend.
The 23-year-old recorded 51.9m at Lake Grew in Polk City, surpassing the previous Asian mark of 51.2m held by Japan's Saaya Hirosawa.
The feat also means Aaliyah now holds the Asian records in all three disciplines - tricks, jump and slalom - as well as overall.
Competing in the Oct 9-11 tournament, Aaliyah also improved her slalom personal best by clearing two buoys at an 11m rope length, building on her previous best of one buoy at 11.25m set at the Travers Grand Prix last month.
The encouraging performances have boosted her confidence ahead of the IWWF Waterski World Championships in Australia in February and the Malaysia SEA Games in September.
"These results also assisted in putting me in a higher start seed at the World Championships in Australia next year, which will hopefully place me in better weather and skiing conditions," said Aaliyah.
The Yayasan Sime Darby scholar, who is pursuing a psychology degree at Florida Southern College, is also preparing for the NCWSA Collegiate Nationals in California later this month.
Her college team are targeting a top-three finish among 12 Division One teams, while Aaliyah has set her sights on individual gold medals in tricks, jump and overall.
The Malaysian, who won three gold medals at last year's World University Championships in New Zealand, is currently ranked seventh in the world in jump and 11th in tricks.
Her latest progress is particularly encouraging after a jump crash earlier this year left her injured and delayed the start of her season.
Aaliyah made history at the 2011 SEA Games when she became the youngest-ever gold medallist at just eight years old, winning the women's tricks event.
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