‘Officially amazing’: Utah woman breaks record as world’s oldest female water skier
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — At 92 years young, Dwan Jacobsen Young has set a new world record as the oldest female water skier.
Officially recognized by Guinness World Records, Young set the record in August 2023.
“I thought at first it was a joke then I realized it was for real,” said Young. “It’s really kind of quite an honor, actually.”
Young told ABC4’s Good Things Utah she has been water skiing since she was 30 years old in the 1960s. Her family had bought a cabin at Bear Lake and then built a ski float for water skiing. She said it took a while to learn but her experience on Utah’s slopes helped her get the hang of the sport.
As she got older, she never put it down. She said she found water skiing to be exhilarating and that there was “just something” about feeling the water and the air as it goes by. She continued to water ski even at the loving protest of her late husband.
“He was not encouraging at all,” Young joked. “In fact, he kept saying, the older I got, ‘you are crazy to do that! Why do you keep doing that?’ Because I love it and I can do it.”
Last summer while vacationing at Bear Lake with her family, Young said her granddaughter Becca got to thinking about her grandmother’s age. So she reached out to Guinness World Records to see if they would be interested and the rest became history.
On Christmas, Young’s family presented her with the plaque and certificate officially announcing her as the world record holder for being the world’s oldest female water skier.
“It was a complete surprise,” said Young.
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Young continues to water ski to this day, though she said she has switched over to slalom skiing – where your feet are strapped to one board as opposed to two. When asked what her secret was she said a supportive family, good health, and plenty of exercise.
She begins training for the water skiing season in the Spring, walking the hills around her neighborhood. She uses weights during her walks to keep her arm strength up, which she said is essential to water skiing.
“I think the secret is just keeping active no matter what your age is,” said Young.
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