Freaky Friday

She loves sushi and A Tribe Called Quest, could pass for a model, wakeboards better than any other female on the planet and has just added second place in the WWA Wakeboard World Championships to her list of achievements. But who is Dallas Friday?

World Champion, X Games Champion, Vans Triple Crown Champion, World Cup and Pro Tour Champion: it's not just ESPN who reckons that Dallas Friday is "the winningest female wakeboarder in history." Her house in Florida contains more precious metal than the national bank, including a few regional gymnastics trophies. The latest addition to her trophy collection is her silver medal at the WWA Wakeboard World Championships. But what others might consider a career highlight wasn't quite what Dallas had been hoping for – she had been chasing her fourth consecutive world title in Reno.

Comeback following serious injury

"I hope it inspires you to be the best that you can," says Dallas, addressing her fans, about her career. But because her sport is regarded as something of a fun and feel-good sport, it's all too easy to overlook the fact that this maxim is also a commitment to hard graft and dogged self-discipline. Even tougher than battling with her opponents was coping with a torn meniscus in 2001, a broken vertebra in 2002 and with three torn ligaments in 2003. Having also suffered a snapped femur in Singapore in 2006, the 20-year-old had to go through months of rehabilitative training before being allowed back onto a wakeboard. Which makes her second place in the World Championships all the more impressive.

Born Dallas Jacqueline Friday

"I admire anyone who pushes their sport to the next level," she says, having herself won the gold medal at the X Games and Gravity Games aged just 14 years and who is a shining example to countless fans. She has had to answer the same question from them about her name hundreds of times: "It's not a stage name, it's genuinely my real name," she explains patiently each time, as well as the fact that Dallas has nothing to do with the city in Texas, the TV series or the Dallas Cowboys: "My father grew up in a small town called Dallas in North Carolina - and that's where I get my name from."