Jacinta Carroll - 2024 VU Sport Hall of Fame inductee

Jacinta Carroll is one of the most dominant athletes in the history of water ski jumping and a proud Victoria University alum. Over more than a decade, she established herself as the world’s leading female jumper, achieving an extraordinary record of consistency and success.

Jacinta first rose to prominence with a second-place finish at the 2013 Moomba Masters, before beginning an unparalleled winning streak. For nearly a decade, she won every professional water ski jump event she entered. Her achievements include five World Championship titles, 11 consecutive Moomba Masters victories and seven straight US Masters titles – a streak interrupted only by COVID-related travel restrictions in 2021.

Representing Australia internationally from 2009, Jacinta quickly became the sport’s most successful female jumper. She secured five consecutive world titles between 2013 and 2021 and set multiple world records along the way. In 2015 she first broke the world record and went on to surpass it five times. In 2021, she made history as the first woman to jump 200 feet, cementing her place among the greatest athletes in the sport.

Alongside her sporting success, Jacinta excelled academically at Victoria University. She completed her Bachelor of Exercise Science and Human Movement in just three years while competing internationally. Her achievements at VU earned her a Full Blue, two Female Athlete of the Year awards, the Outstanding Student Alumni Award and the University’s inaugural Academic and Sporting Excellence Award – an honour that now carries her name. She credits the University’s flexibility and support with enabling her to balance full-time study and elite competition.

Jacinta stepped away from international competition after winning her fifth consecutive world title at the 2021 World Championships. In March 2024, she officially retired from water ski jumping, closing one of the most successful careers in the sport’s history.

Today, she works as a physiotherapist and continues to support elite sport through roles with the Queensland Academy of Sport, Tennis Australia, the Brisbane Lions Academy and national water skiing and weightlifting athletes.

Her induction into the Victoria University Sport Hall of Fame recognises her extraordinary achievements and her lasting contribution to high-performance sport.