Meet the youngest Pinoy Jet Ski World Champion Anton Ignacio

Monday, October 28, 2024

Who would have thought that a kod who used to be scared of riding a jetski would turn out to be a World Champion in Jetski sports, making waves at a very young age!

ANTON IGNACIO is not just your ordinary kid on the block. At an early age, he was already interested in different sports like basketball, soccer and other extra-curricular actitivies, but those times he wasn't interested with jetski at all even though his father is a pro.

Anton with his parents Bombet and Joyce Ignacio

He achieved national champion status in the 1996 Petron National Jet Ski race, and in 1997, he traveled to Arizona to represent his country at the International Jet Ski Competition.

However, Bombet ceased using his personal watercraft (the formal term for a jet ski) upon relocating to the United States in 2000. Although he returned to the Philippines in 2008, it was not until 2016 that Bombet purchased a new PWC for leisure activities.

It was then that Anton started to get interested riding a jetski in their resthouse in Mindoro. It was in 2017 when Anton starting practicing and being taught how to properly maneuver in the waters. According to Joyce, as a Mom, noone would want their son to be in a harmed in any way, Jetskiing is a an extreme sport, one wrong move and it could be fatal. Which is why they make it sure that Anton will be guided and supported a long the way. 

At 13, he became the youngest champion of the Jet Ski Association of the Philippines (JSAP) when he surpassed older competitors in the third leg of the JSAP National Tours. Then the rest is continously moving forward to more historical wins. 

Fastforward to the present, now that he is 18, Anton gained another world title as SBT-IJSBA World Jet Ski Finals World Champion Pro-Am Runabout 1100 Stock held at Lake Havasu, Arizona, USA. Not only this, he is also a runner-up at the Expert Runabout 1100 Stock and fourth place at Amateur Runabout 1100 Stock.

Watch the media conference of 
Anton Ignacio

Anton shared that he is very grateful for the support of his parents and JSAP as well as the sponsors ROBIG BUILDERS and RUDY PROJECT. It was evident that Jet Ski as a sport is not widely known yet in the Philippines although our neighboring Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are also very competitive in this field aside from Dubai and Germany. 

Anton is currently gearing up for the WGP #1 Waterjet World Cup at Pattaya, Thailand this coming December as well as the upcoming  2025 Southeast Asian Games. He wishes that this sport will be recognized more a d that he is willing to teach younger generation to learn more about this sport. He encourages everyone to be active in the sports and help represent our country in different worldwide competitions.

Congrats Anton for bringing home again a historic win for Filipino sports. 🇵🇭 

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