1st World University Water-Skiing Championship
Balakovo, Russia - September 1st to 5th, 2004
Success for the USA
This first was a success, especially for the victorious US team despite the minor problems caused by the weather.
Waterskiing in Balakovo
Located in the centre of Russia, the city of Balakovo lies on the left bank of the river Volga. With a little under 300,000 inhabitants, the city where the Russian University Sports Federation hosted the First World University Waterskiing Championship is an important industrial, cultural and university centre. It must be noted that FISU has been opening its programme to new sports throughout 2004. Waterskiing is one of them and it was with great pride that Mr Valentine Timofeev, Mayor of Balakovo and President of the Organising Committee, met the male and female university water-skiers. His joy was even greater as he had personally encouraged the bid of his city. With a long sporting tradition, Balakovo regularly organises international competitions, not only in waterskiing but also in football, ice hockey, volleyball and motor sports.
Opening Ceremony
The waterskiing club and its school are blessed with a magnificent stretch of water located in the heart of the city as well as a training lake 15km away. Designed to hold 4,000 spectators, the waterskiing stadium of Balakovo includes two jumps, two slalom courses and all the equipment that the judges need to carry out their work in accordance with the regulations of the International Waterski Federation. The city possesses all the necessary facilities to host our university championship. In 1999 Balakovo hosted the World Senior Championships and the city has welcomed the National Championship every year since 1974.
Slalom competition
A City of Youth
Balakovo is also a university city. 11 higher education establishments prepare specialists in fields as diverse as law, management, engineering, education etc. The largest establishment in Balakovo is the Institute of Engineering, Technology and Management. In 45 years of existence this university has trained more than 20,000 students. With the encouragement of the Rector, Mr Anatoly Zemlyankiy, some of the students assisted in the organisation of the World University Waterskiing Championship.
5,000 Spectators
Twelve countries gathered in Balakovo for this first edition. The delegations were invited to participate in the general technical meeting chaired by our delegate for waterskiing, Mr Sergey Efimushkin. Mr Efimushkin gave instructions to be followed in order to ensure the smooth running of the competitions and invited the delegates to the Opening Ceremony that took place by the lake. A crowd of about 5000 spectators came to applaud the student skiers. There was a very friendly atmosphere and the Mayor of Balakovo, Mr Valentin Timofeev as well as Andrei Matchenko, Minister for Sports of the region of Saratov both emphasised how happy they were to promote university sport in their region. After the protocol ceremony, the participants enjoyed a folk performance provided by the authorities.
Organizing Committee
contact: Anatoly Chernyshov 20a Nab leonova 413800 Balakovo / Saratov region Russian Federation tel.: (7-8453)665401 fax: (7-8453)665401
The Competitions
Having started in clement conditions, the competitions were disturbed by the arrival of a very strong wind which obliged the officials to cancel some of the finals on the last days. This was not the case for the men’s slalom, luckily for the Italian Allais Carlo and his compatriot, Minelli Federico who finished first and second respectively before Frenchman, Chambaud Romain. For the women, the USA achieved the double, thanks to Regina Jaquess and Mandy Nightingale who won the gold and the bronze respectively while Russian Xenia Komarova came in between them at second place. Regina and Mandy were also planning to dominate the tricks discipline (which unfortunately saw its final cancelled) and found themselves in the same positions as for the slalom (1st and 3rd). The New Zealand competitor Megan Ross finished second. Obviously in top form, Americans Justin Allen and Matt Curmi added another two medals (gold and silver) to their list of successes with another double in the men’s tricks competition. British competitor, Christopher Summer won the bronze medal. Finally, the ever spectacular jump discipline was won by two … Americans: Tarah Benzel who took gold and Regina Jaquess silver. Russian Alexandra Gibinska completed the podium. In the men’s competition, Italian Matteo D’Alberto beat the Australian Dane Puxty and British Sam Haslam. It goes without saying that Regina Jaquess and Justin Allen took gold in the combined classification and that the team classification was headed by the Americans, followed by the Russians and the Australians. A first and a success, this was a fantastic result for the US team despite the minor problems caused by the weather. We’ll meet again in Plover, United States for the Second World University Waterski Championship, 2006.
