Canadian wakeboarder Rusty Malinoski performs tricks during heats at the wakeboard competition at Ontario Place West Channel for the Toronto2015 Pan Am Games on July 21 2015.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
They call him Bone Crusher, but not because he's broken the same arm seven times. The menacing moniker stems from Rusty Malinoski's imposing physical frame and the powerful riding style he uses in the wakeboarding world.
"Most wakeboarders are supersmall guys, and I'm big. I'm about 200 pounds, bigger than most guys," said Malinoski, who's competing for Canada in the wakeboard final at the Pan American Games on Wednesday.
Size hasn't weighed Malinoski down over a decade-long professional career near the top of the World Wakeboard Association rankings. He has captured two world championships along the way, and he used his hulking physique to perform the first-ever 1080 in competition back in 2009 – a seminal moment in wakeboarding history that earned the Humboldt, Sask., native legend status.
"The sport needed that," said Team Canada wakeboarding coach Michael Lieffers, who hails from the same Saskatchewan town as the world's No. 3-ranked rider. "He changed the sport. I say that with confidence."
Though the three-complete-revolutions jump has nearly become a stock trick in Malinoski's routine, it still inspires awe from onlookers. It set a new standard for excellence, according to Lieffers, a long-time coach and friend.
Malinoski grins when he recalls initiating the aerial feat. He said it's a nice moment to keep in his back pocket, but plays down the significance in the broader context of his professional career, which began in 2005 when he left Saskatchewan for Florida.
"That was just one part of my career," he said. "Since then, I've been a world champion. That I was the first to land it in competition, that was great, but in my career, it's in the past. I just keep moving."
At 31, he's considered an elder statesman on the water. But he says he still feels 19. "People think because you get to a certain age you're old, but I think it's all in your head," he said.
He mixed that mindset with a drastic lifestyle change three years ago that led to significant weight loss – about 30 pounds – as he adopted a strict regimen before the rest of the wakeboarding community had fully embraced out-of-the-water training. He dialled back his social life and paid closer attention to what he was eating. The result was his second world championship title, and competitors took note.
"People started to take their training, fitness, health and nutrition seriously. They had to to keep up with him," Lieffers said.
That elevated commitment to fitness has helped Malinoski avoid serious injury in a sport that eats knee ligaments for breakfast. It's not that he's never been hurt – he did break his right arm seven times in a series of hockey, motocross and rough-housing accidents in his youth. But on the water, staying healthy has allowed him to remain a constant threat.
He plans to keep it that way.
"It's a short window you have as a pro," said Malinoski, who owns and operates a CrossFit gym in Clermont, Fla., with Guelph, Ont.-born wakeboarder Kyle Rattray. "You only have so much time to make your money, make your living. So I took advantage of it, set my priorities different – reward myself when I have something to reward myself for, not just because the sun comes up."
When the sun comes up Wednesday, Malinoski will be a favourite to capture gold in the Pan Am final, which takes place at the Ontario Place West Channel in Toronto. Among the challengers in the eight-country event is world No. 8 Daniel Powers of the United States.
Although he has an attic full of trophies won on the pro tour, the one prize Malinoski has yet to claim is Pan Am gold. A chance to do so on home water in front of friends, family and a Canadian crowd was as good of a reason as any for him to break from his busy touring schedule for a few days.
"It's definitely a busy time for me; it's not like a normal event. I won't win money or be part of any series I'm involved in, but it'll be really cool," said Malinoski, who still identifies as a farm boy from Saskatchewan. "It'll be cool to look back on my career and know that I went to the Pan Am Games for Canada, and won a medal."
Countries are sorted by most gold medals