World Cup Skier Ryan Green and MasterCraft today

With March 16/18 approaching quickly, the final countdown to our 33rd World Cup Stop has already begun. As part of the EYRES Action Sports Games, thousands of spectators are expected for this spectacular event. Just a few hours ago, a major Press Conference  was launched by Tourism Minister Kim Hames and Mandurah’s Mayor, Paddi Creevey OAM. The typical glorious sunshine of Western Australia set the perfect tone for what also promises to be the perfect start to World Cup 2012 season.

WA State Champion Marcey Wallstead

We are now also approaching the cut off point for our World Cup Athletes Entry List. Full details will be announced shortly. Here is the full Press Release issued by our friends in Mandurah

State Tourism Minister Dr Kim Hames addresses the Media

Kuno Ritschard, Alan Morton and Des Burke-Kennedy

In January every year, we meet Alan Morton in London, Chief Executive of ProActive TV, to agree plans for both the production and global distribution of our World Cup TV series. Having now completed together a total of 32 edited TV shows with ProActive, the process has been streamlined to ensure that no matter where the World Cup Stops take us, the same tight deadlines are met.

IWWF President Kuno Ritschard and Marketing Chairman Des Burke-Kennedy are now working with ProActive to expand the global distribution of the 26 minute edited World Cup show. It is also hoped to obtain more advance broadcast listings for our hosts and sponsors and to capitalize on some of the current changes taking place within the Broadcast industry. Formats for the World Cup Show are also being reviewed to strengthen the branding to help raise its international profile. Watch out for developments here shortly.

NATALIA AND CLEMENTINE AND REGINA

What an extraordinary achievement – all FOUR World Waterski Records broken by three of our greatest World Cup athletes of all time. This brings our 2011 season to a perfect conclusion. Who would have guessed the levels reached officially today by Natalia Berdnikova BLR, Clementine Lucine FRA and Regina Jaquess USA. In fact, double congratulations to Natalia who broke TWO World Records which have now been approved.

NATALIA BERDNIKOVA - JUMP & OVERALL WORLD RECORDS

CLEMENTINE LUCINE - TRICKS / SHORTBOARD WORLD RECORD

REGINA JAQUESS - WORLD SLALOM RECORD

Here are the details of these new WORLD RECORDS :

SLALOM

2011-10-02 Regina Jaquess USA 2@10.25 Eddie Greene Budweiser Octoberfest, Lake Louis, Santa Rosa Beach, FL USA

TRICKS /SHORTBOARD

2011-09-18 Clementine Lucine FRA 10040 points Alexis Pickos Open, Santa Rosa Beach, FL USA

JUMP

2011-10-26 Natalia Berdnikava BLR 57.4m Pooch and Tays Jumpaween, USA Water Ski Headquarters, Lake Grew USA

OVERALL

2011-10-01 Natallia Berdnikava BLR slalom – 1.5@11.25 tricks – 9240 jump – 56.7m overall points – 2994.56 Sunset Lakes Fall Classic, Sunset Lakes USA

Perfect morning here at the Linyi City site

Clear blue skies, 22C and flat calm clean water in the River Yihi welcomed the first Practice session this morning. A perfect day today here in Linyi China !  All the Riders have arrived and caught up with sleep after the fantastic Kuching Sarawak World Cup Stop last weekend. Right now the Waterski Jumpers are still arriving and by tomorrow, they too will be ready for World Cup action.

Martin James with a full load in the MasterCraft

Apart from all the Riders, having lunch a few minutes ago in the four star Blue Horizon Hotel were Danyelle Bennett USA, Steve Critchley GBR, Scot Ellis USA, Marion Mathieu FRA, Damien Sharman GBR, Brian Kinney USA and Zack Worden USA. They will now head to the site for Practice after the Riders are finished and there will be another session tomorrow morning from 08.00hrs to 10.00hrs,  before the Official Opening Ceremony.

How about that for a World Cup Ramp ?

Will Furze and Martin James had a late night last night and early morning today getting the all new MasterCrafts prepared for today’s Practice. They drove those two beautiful machines to the dock at 10.00am and will continue on the water till 16.30hrs today.

Tented Village for World Cup athletes

The frantic work around the amazing World Cup site continues and all will be completed before the Official Opening Ceremony scheduled for 10.30hrs tomorrow Friday. We can be quite certain that this will be impressive as here in China great attention is paid to these arrangements. They always set a high standard right from the start. We have our cameras ready !

Riders Dan Nott GBR, Sam Carne GBR, Michael Callebert BEL and Marcelo Giardi BRZ

Today also was TV time ! We finished a series of TV and Newspaper interviews on site and these will continue over the weekend. The Webcast details have not yet been confirmed. We hope to have these for you shortly. As a locally produced upload, we are not sure if it will include our live on-site World Cup commentary or not so lets wait and see.

Always happy - Padiwat Jaemjan of Thailand

Here again is the World Cup Timetable. Everybody is looking forward to a perfect final 2011 32^nd World Cup Stop here in Linyi for our Riders, Waterski Jumpers and of course for our audience and hosts here in China.

World Cup Star Ageliki Andriopoulou GRE will defend her World Jump Champion title

Every two years, countries around the world select their very best Waterski athletes to compete for the titles of World Champion in their respective disciplines. With over 30 million active participants in our sport, all eyes will be on these 2011 World Championships taking place on July 17/24 in Russia. We will especially watch our World Cup Stars in action as they fight for World Champion titles in the coming days.

This weekend will see athletes, IWWF officials and supporters arriving at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo Airports for transfer to the City of Dubna on the picturesque Volga River. Dubna, Russia’s watersports capital and renowned for its international academic facilities and research centres, is steeped in Waterski history. Local Russian athlete, Natalia Rumyantseva, set five World Tricks Records dating back to 1979. The City also has the unique distinction of having hosted six successful Waterski World Cup Stops in recent years and will provide a spectacular stage for this major sporting occasion.

All World Cup followers will already have seen photos of the 30,000 permanent seats at Dubna’s World Cup Watersports Arena. This will bring a special atmosphere to these World Championships. City Mayor Valery Prokh and his team have worked wonders in developing the local watersports facilities in this Region of Moscow, widely regarded as the best in Russia. MasterCraft will supply the competition boats and Chief judge, Nikki Lee USA will manage the 21 IWWF officials and technicians who will travel from fourteen countries to ensure success.

Throughout the 2011 World Waterski Championships, a special information channel will be available at :

http://www.iwsftournament.com/ChiefJudgeBB

There will also be an active Twitter feed at : @ChiefJudgeDubna

The latest available Timetable summary for next week’s activities is as follows :

Saturday 16^th:

Accreditation

Sunday 17^th :

Accreditation and Official Opening Ceremony

Monday 18^th :

Preliminary Rounds – Slalom and Jump / Men & Women

Tuesday 19^th :

Preliminary Rounds – Slalom Men and Tricks Women and Men

Wednesday 20^th:

Preliminary Rounds  - Slalom Women and Men , Women Jump and Men Tricks – and International Hall of Fame Ceremony

Thursday 21^st Morning :

IWWF World Congress

Thursday 21^st Afternoon :

Preliminary Rounds – Men Jump

Friday 22^nd:

Completion of Preliminary Rounds

Saturday 23^rd : Finals Women Slalom, Men Tricks, Women Jump – and Medals Presentation

Sunday 24^th :

Finals Men Slalom, Women Tricks and Men Jump – and Medals Presentation

Sunday 24^th :

Closing Ceremony, Banquet and Volga River Cruise

The very hospitable Dubna organizers are renowned for their enthralling Opening and Closing Ceremony presentations. As this is the most important Waterski tournament ever organized at this very impressive Watersports Arena in Russia, some surprises await the athletes and audience during what promises to be a fascinating World Waterski Championships.

Reports and photos will be available throughout these Championships at :

http://www.iwwfed.com

Alex Lauretano USA - an outstanding athlete

In the past year, three-event Waterskier Alex Lauretano USA has been one of the most consistent performers of the season. This is no coincidence. This third generation Lauretano athlete was born in Bristol, Connecticut in 1988. At just 17 years of age, she was already the Can Am Slalom, Tricks, Jump and Overall Champion. In 2006, she moved on to be the Junior US Masters Jump Champion plus the USA National Jump, Trick and Overall Champion. In 2008, she took the U21 Pan Am Trick, Jump, Slalom and Overall titles – plus the title of the World University Tricks Champion. It is hard to believe that Alex has still not reached the age of 21 with so much success achieved. Her long hours of training with Jack Travers, Matt Rini, Chet Raley, Freddy Krueger and others has certainly paid off. Now that she has arrived in the Open Division, we know that we will see a lot more of the talented Alex Lauretano on the World Cup podium in the seasons ahead. Check out all our special World Cup interviews in our Stars YouTube Series at :

http://www.youtube.com/iwsfworldcup