US Teen Girl wins World Title in Extreme Kayaking

Tennessee teen Emily Jackson, 17, recently won what seems likely to be
the first of many World Championship titles in the extreme sport of
whitewater kayaking.



Jackson won the Junior Women’s division of the event held every two
years on some of the world’s most spectacular stretches of whitewater.
Competing against an international field of 20 of the best young female
kayakers in the world, Jackson held onto top seeding throughout the
three-day event held on the Ottawa River’s world-renowned Bus Eater
wave. Flowing at near record levels, Bus Eater  omeasured some 15
feet from crest to trough.



Her first World Championship title adds to Jackson’s growing reputation
as one of the women to watch in a sport that requires competitors to
surf down a mountain of churning, frothing water that wants to crush
and destroy anything in its path.



Last year, Jackson made headlines by becoming the youngest woman to
ever kayak Africa’s Zambezi and Nile rivers, regarded by kayakers as
the most powerful, unable stretches of whitewater in the world.



The event also marks the first time a father and daughter have won
World titles at the same time in any sport. Jackson’s father, Eric “EJ”
Jackson won a record fourth World title in the Men’s division. Her
brother, Dane, 13, by far the youngest and smallest competitor at the
event, took bronze in the Junior Men’s division.