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The Water Ski World Championships is a bi-annual water ski competition that has taken place since 1949. Held near the end of the competition season, the World Championships are one of the sport's oldest major championships along with the Masters Water Ski Tournament (since 1959) and the U.S. National Water Ski Championships (since 1939).
Water skiing is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires sufficient area on a stretch of water, one or two skis, a tow boat with tow rope, two or three people, and a personal flotation device. In addition, the skier must have adequate upper and lower body strength, muscular endurance, and good balance.
Barefoot skiing is water skiing behind a motorboat without the use of water skis, commonly referred to as "barefooting". Barefooting requires the skier to travel at higher speeds (30–45 mph/48–72 km/h) than conventional water skiing. The necessary speed required to keep the skier upright varies by the weight of the barefooter and can be approximated by the following formula: + 20, where W is the skier's weight in pounds and the result is in miles per hour. It is an act performed in show skiing, and on its own.
The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.
George Joseph Cash was an American professional water skier. During his career Cash won four Masters, three U.S. Nationals, and two World Championships.
Richard Downing Pope Jr., better known as Dick Pope Jr., was a World Champion water skier and an important business leader in Central Florida. Pope was an important innovator in the sport of water skiing, including the development of barefoot skiing in 1947. He is the son of Dick Pope Sr., the founder of Cypress Gardens theme park.
Freddy Krueger is a World Championship water skier best known for water ski jumping. He currently holds the world jumping record at 312 feet.
Deena Mapple is a retired American competitive water skier. She is regarded to be one of the greatest female water skiers of her generation. Her Grand Slam Victory in 1987 - overall wins in the World Championships, U.S. Nationals, U.S. Masters and the Pro Tour - made her one of two athletes to ever accomplish the feat. She remains the only American to earn membership to the United States Waterskiing Team seven consecutive times.
Nels Nelsen Hill is an abandoned ski jumping hill located in Mount Revelstoke National Park near the city of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada. The original hill, Big Hill, was built in 1916 and was the first permanent ski jump in Canada. By 1933, three world length records had been set on the Big Hill. It fell out of use in 1939, with Revelstoke instead using the Big Bend Ski Jump.
Mike Seipel is a retired American competitive barefoot water skier. He was considered to be one of the greatest barefoot water skiers in the world. He was a member of the United States Barefoot Team and was a two-time overall world champion in 1984-85 and 1986–87. Seipel didn't win any medals at his first Worlds, but he launched a sports career that would eventually earn him 11 National titles, six World titles and nine World records. He skied on eight U.S. Barefoot Water Ski Teams and has since trained numerous National and World champions at his Barefoot International Ski School. Mike invented the inverted barefoot jumping technique, which he first attempted in competition at the world championships in 1990. This technique is now used by all the top competitors around the world and has allowed the world record to be extended up to almost 30m. Mike was also well known for being the first footer to do tricks like one-foot 360 turns and a stepover back-to-front feet-to-feet in competition.
Sport in Yugoslavia had a significant role in its culture and society. Team sports such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo had the biggest popularity. Of individual sports the most popular were tennis, athletics, alpine skiing, swimming, table tennis, ski jumping and chess. Yugoslavia made its debut at the Summer Olympics in 1920. Until its break up in 1992, it competed in 16 Summer and 14 Winter Olympic games and won a total of 87 medals in various summer and winter sports. Yugoslavia hosted its first and the only Winter Olympic games in 1984 in Sarajevo when Jure Franko won country's first Winter Olympic medal, silver in alpine skiing.
Keith St. Onge is a professional barefoot water skier. He holds the record for the most U.S. National Overall Pro titles at fourteen, a record previously held by Ron Scarpa. Keith is a two-time World Barefoot Champion, winning Overall titles in 2006 and 2008.
Julia Gromyko is a Belarusian-German water skier. As of 2004 she was the world record holder in the tricks and jump events.
Janelle Kirtley Godfrey was an American former World Champion water skier.
Willa McGuire Cook was the winner of 18 American national titles in water skiing. She was the first freestyle water skier, and had a unique and creative approach to her sport. In the 1950s, Cook invented swivel skiing, a style of water skiing that became hugely successful around the world, which combines the moves of ballet with water skiing by using swivel bindings on the ski. Today there is a trophy in her name, which is awarded to the best female performer at the National Water Ski Show Tournament each year.
Michael "Mike" Kjellander is a Swedish former professional water skier. He won the US Pro Tour 21 times, two times Masters champion, one-time US Open champion, 15 times European champion, 32 times national champion, two silver and one bronze from World Championship and one-time world record holder. He specialized in slalom and jump but was initially also successful as an overall skier. He is still the national current record holder in trick with a score of 7,760 points.
The 1972 NCAA Skiing Championships were contested in Winter Park, Colorado at the nineteenth annual NCAA-sanctioned ski tournament to determine the individual and team national champions of men's collegiate alpine, cross country skiing, and ski jumping in the United States.
This article lists the in the water and on the water forms of aquatic sports for 2019.
This article lists the in the water and on the water forms of aquatic sports for 2020.
Judy McClintock-Messer is a Canadian former water skier. She won the Masters Water Ski Tournament in 1981 and the Water Ski World Championships in 1985 and 1995.
Karen Morse is a British water skier who was a British and European gold medalist.