WORLD
WATERSKI CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2001
Recetto
Regione Piemonte
Italy
DAY
6. SUNDAY Sept 30th - PART ONE
It was sunshine,
sunshine, sunshine all the way today !
The last day of
the Worlds is always a bit special – with great expectations and also a sense
that, sadly, it is almost over for another two years. The programme was hectic
– with FOUR Finals – Men’s Slalom, Ladies Slalom, Mens Jump, plus the Overall
Final.
We kicked off
with the Mens Slalom Finals with near perfect water conditions and a rising sun
to the east shining over our north / south Slalom & Trick lake here in
Recetto. With 11 Athletes including three specialists, we started at 9.00am on
the dot. Italy’s Christian Rampanelli set the opening pace high with a score of
1.5 buoys on the 10.75m / 39.5 off line. The next Athlete, Oleg Deviatovski
(Belarus) equalled this. That remained the best till the fourth Athlete, Andy
Mapple, the five time World Slalom Champion, hit the water. His score – 3 on
the 10.25m / 41 off line. Awesome stuff !
When Canada’s Drew Ross cleared the 10.75m line, it looked like Andy
might not hold the lead – but Drew got caught at buoy number 2 on the 10.25m
line. Andy was still in front by just one buoy. Last off the dock was Chris
Parris (USA) and he too cleared the 10.75m line. The large crowd were on their
feet – could he topple the World Record holder and become World Champion ?
After a superb effort, Chris Parrish had to settle for 2 also on the 10.25m /
41 off line. Great performance. First
Andy, second Chris and third Drew.
Now it was the
Ladies turn on the Slalom course. Twelve Athletes including four specialists
and almost all performed better than in the Preliminaries. Nobody got beyond
4.5 buoys on the 11.25m / 38 off line until we reached Athlete number eight and
that was the great World Record holder, Kristi Overton Johnson. Kristi clocked
up an unbeatable 2 buoys on the 10.75m / 39.5 off line – or was it unbeatable ?
Next out was the USA specialist Jill Knutson and she clocked up 5 buoys on the
11.25m / 38 off line – just not enough. Last off the dock was Australia’s four
time World Jump Record breaker, Emma Sheers. Could Emma topple Kristi ? She had
a tough 12m / 35 off pass and also a very tough 11.25m / 38 off pass – but pure
determination and courage got her within knocking distance of Kristi. The crowed roared – Emma got a great 10.75.
gate and a terrific buoy one. She got to two and the crowed roared yet again –
and then she pushed the pint home with a final score of 3.25 buoys on the
10.75m / 39.5 ft off line. What a finish – Emma is the new World Slalom
Champion, Kristi got Silver and Jill Bronze.
Quickly we
switched to Jump Lake number one. It only took fifteen minutes and we were off
again – in glorious sunshine. Now it was the Mens Jump Finals. Huge crowds, huge expectations and a lot at
stake for12 Athletes. The first Athlete to exceed 60m / was Denmark’s Jesper
Cassoe – with a big 63m / 207 ft. This was pushed up further by Bruce Neville
(Australia) to 63.5m / 208ft. Then we had to wait for Scott Ellis (USA) and he
nudged it up to 64.4m / 211ft. Now we had a battle like none we have seen for
some time. Jason Seels (GB) got close with 63.3m / 208ft – but Freddie Krueger
(USA) and Jaret Llewelly (Canada) still on the sun drenched dock. Freddie stunned
the audience with his first jump adn best distance of a huge 64.6m / 212ft. Now
how often hae we seen Jaret on the dock as the last Athlete to go ? Could he do it. His Dad, Don, could harly
bear to look. The crowd rose to their feet. He hit that ramp like only Jaret
can – and landed almost in the next Province ! The distance – 65.7m /
216ft. I asked him why he could not
have given us a few warmer uppers first and he replied that he wanted to get it
over as quickly as possible. Now that’s confidence. Fantactic Jump Final – Gold Jaret, Silver Freddie and Bronze
Scott.
Now it’s the
Overalls and the Team results. This
comes in PART 2
Des
Burke-Kennedy
Recetto
Italy