Rusty Malinoski, a.k.a. “Bone Crusher,” made Humboldt proud last week when he took home gold for wakeboarding in the 2015 Pan Am Games.
The 31-year-old was the first to go into the final round, but the ones who followed after still couldn’t even come close. With a final score of 89.11, he beat the United States’ Daniel Powers and Venezuela’s Juan Mendez.
“It’s such a cool experience. I’ve done a lot in my career, but being chosen to represent Canada was a huge honour,” said Rusty. “Just with it being in Canada, it was a huge deal for me to put that with the things I’ve accomplished in my career.”
Though Malinoski now lives in Florida with his wife and two kids, he was still identified as one of the seventeen Saskatchewan athletes to compete in the Games, along with well-known Humboldt native Brianne Theisen-Eaton. Theisen-Eaton brought home bronze in the 4x400 metre relay and came in fourth place in long jump.
Rusty’s mother, Gloria, traveled down to Toronto from July 19-23 to watch her son compete. She was also there when he went up on the podium to receive his medal.
“It was overwhelming to see him with a gold medal as a Canadian,” she said. “It affirms all the hard work he’s done.”
Rusty first began wakeboarding when he was in his early teens. He had already been involved in extreme sports such as motocross with his older brothers by that point, but fell in love with wakeboarding the first time he tried it.
They didn’t have a proper wakeboarding boat at first, so Gloria said he and his friends used to take a fishing boat and load it up with things like sandbags to give it weight. After he had been practicing out there consistently for a year, his parents went and bought him a better boat.
“They’d be out at Stoney Lake all day and went through tanks and tanks of gas,” said Gloria. “Braden Stumborg, Tyler Dust, and Rusty, the three of them would be out there all the time with many other kids.”
It wasn’t too many years later when Rusty started winning more and more competitions. He’s won two world championships and various other competitions. He won his first competition in 2005 with the Pro Men’s U.S. Pro-Am Championship. He’s been in the top ten for competitions ever since.
“That was probably the greatest accomplishment in my career,” he said. “That particular day, I was the best. It was something I worked for for so long and it was something I wanted so much. Man, it felt so good to finally get that legitimate professional win.”
Rusty earned a special reputation when he became the first to land a 1080 during a competition, though Parks Bonifay and Danny Harf had been recorded landing 1080s before, just not during a competition. Over the years, he earned his “Bone Crusher” nickname because of his powerful riding style.
“I had no idea (I would come this far). I just loved it so much that it’s all I wanted to do and it’s probably the same for a lot of athletes because they’re so passionate and driven,” said Rusty. “I love it so much and I’m always having so much fun, so it’s like I’m not working a day in my life.”
It’s because Rusty’s wakeboarding is his life that he lives out in Florida since the water conditions are the best there. He gets a week off following the Pan Am Games, but then he’ll be off again for competitions, photo shoots, etc. all over the world. In fact, he said he wouldn’t be able to do nearly as many of the things he does now if it weren’t for his wife. She helps schedule a lot it for him, which allows him to focus on his training. During the competition, she was also a huge asset to his mother as well, since Rusty’s parents are sometimes nervous when they watch their son compete.
“We’re more comfortable with it now, but it helps to have his wife beside me,” said Gloria. “She knows the tricks he’s doing and how well they’re being done. When we watch it online, we’re not sure yet because we don’t understand each trick.”
Gloria says Rusty’s been an ambassador for the world of wakeboarding by bringing it to a whole new level with his work ethic. He practices two to three sets a day for training and says his motto is, “Work will win and wishing won’t.”
So far, Rusty’s hard work has definitely carried him a long way with success. This latest competition was one he was proud to be able to add to the list.
“The next one is not for four years so who knows if I’ll get chosen to do it again, but at least it’s something that I’ve done,” he said. “There were a lot of people expecting me to win and I couldn’t disappoint them.”
