The U.S. Elite Water Ski team won the gold medal once again at the world championships. For the United States, the victory was more than just a win. For the members of the current water ski team, the triumph was about adding to the deep, rich history and legacy of U.S. water ski teams. Since the first world championships in 1949 at Juan Les Pin, France, the United States has dominated the team title, coming up short only five times in 30 world championships.

From the past 57 years of world champi­onships history, the alumni of the U.S. team is full of water skiing icons - Willa McGuire, Buster McCalla, Jimmy "The Flea" Jackson, Nancie Rideout, Larry Penacho, Joe Cash, Liz Allan, Ricky McCormick, Wayne Grimditch, Lisa St. John, Cindy Todd, Deena Brush, and Sammy Duvall - who have led the United States through spectacular performances and competitiveness to win team gold.

At this year's world championships, held Aug. 28-Sept. 4 in Linz, Austria, winning the team title was no walk in the park. The scores - from both independent skiers and team skiers from 40 countries -- were the best ever, while Great Britain, Australia, Italy and Canada showed substantial talent and formidable teams. Belarus made the biggest leap, making everyone take notice of this eastern European team as a serious threat for an overall team gold medal. Yet it was France, competing smartly and battling fiercely until the very end that threatened the U.S. team's winning streak the most this time.

For the U.S. team, which consisted of Rhoni Barton-Bischoff, April Coble-Eller, Regina Jaquess, Mandy Nightingale, Cory Pickos and Jimmy Siemers, along with coach Mike Meek and manager Frank Harrison, the week would be nerve wracking as it passed the lead back-and-forth with France.

Ten years had passed since France won its second team title. But with tricks specialist Nicolas Le Forestier and powerhouse overall skiers Clementine Lucine and Anais Amade anchoring the team, France set its sights on a third gold medal.

For the U.S. team, the drama began sev­eral weeks before the team left for Austria when Barton-Bischoff, a veteran member of the team, experienced a sharp pain to her shoulder in late July. The pain and significant loss in arm strength forced Barton-Bischoff to have neck surgery just three weeks before the Worlds. She recovered from the surgery and had 10 days to train for the Worlds.

The top scores were higher than ever, but the density of high scores was also unprece­dented. In men's jumping, the top-18 places were 200-plus feet. In women's tricks, the impressive score of 8,150 landed only a bronze medal; it would have won gold at the previous world championships. Of the 12 finalists in men's slalom, eight of them smoked through 39-1/2 feet off and into 41 off in the preliminary round. Competition in every event was a well-fought battle. Even the women's overall competition, historically not known for depth, featured eight women in contention to win the gold medal.

Preliminary Round
In slalom, the cool temperatures certainly didn't stop some of the top-seeded women from posting big scores, with two getting into 39-1/2 off. Great Britain's Nicole Arthur scored zero at 39-1/2 off for second place in the preliminary round. Coble-Eller, who has been hammering 38 off all season, not only gave herself the top seed for the finals with 1-1/2 at 39-1/2, but the score assured a high point-value for the U.S. team's overall score. "The site was skiing incredibly well," says Coble-Eller,
who was competing on her first U.S. Elite Water Ski Team. "I felt strong. There was no doubt in my mind that I would run 38 off."

The men put on an incredible display of slalom firepower as six competitors tied for the top spot in the preliminary round with 2 buoys at 41 feet off. U.S. independent skiers Marcus Brown, Jeff Rogers, Chris Rossi and Jason Paredes, along with Italy's Thomas Degasperi and Canada's Drew Ross com­prised the gridlock.
In tricks, Nightingale tallied 7,620 points, an excellent score for team points. It put her in second place in the preliminary round as Lucine nailed a big run of 8,510 to give France maximum points.
In men's tricks, Pickos, competing in his 15th world championships, once again helped the team by scoring 10,560, tying Canada's Jaret Llewellyn for fourth place in the preliminary round. "I was really happy with my performance," says Pickos, who advanced to the finals and provided valuable points toward the team scoring.

Europeans owned the top-three spots as Belarus team skiers Oleg Deviatovski was in third with 10,640 and Aliaksei Zharnasek was in the show by not only posting the best score in the preliminary round, but also the best ever at a world championships with 11,960 points. LeForestier's trick run featured a potent arsenal of flips, including back-to-back 360 mobius and reverse, front flip, and front-to-front 360 mobius. French dominance in tricks put team France in the lead.

Greece's Angeliki Andriopoulou continued to show no fear of the ramp with 171-foot distance. It was good for only second place in the preliminary round as Belarus' Natalia Berdnikova - also a strong contender for over­all - soared 172 feet to give her the top seed going into the finals and plenty of points for individual and team overall.

In men's jumping, distances were huge as Chile's Miranda Rodrigo earned a berth into the finals in 12th place with a 207-foot jump. The battle for the top spot once again pitted Canadian team skier Jaret Llewellyn against U.S. independent skier Freddy Krueger. Llewellyn jumped 229 feet. Krueger, who was still bruised and banged up from a jump crash the week before, landed just ahead of Llewellyn with a 231-footer to earn the top seed for the finals.

For U.S. team skiers, there was disappointment after the preliminary round was completed. Not making it into the finals of slalom knocked Barton-Bischoff out of the individual overall race, while Jaquess lost her chance to defend her back-to-back world overall titles after falling early in tricks. Siemers, who won the last two men's world overall titles, was knocked out of the race with an early fall in slalom. Despite being out of contention for individual overall, there was still the team title at stake. "At the past three world champion­ships we had the overall locked down by preliminaries," Meek says.

But that was not case this time, with France ahead of the U.S. team by 160 overall points. France was in a strong position to improve on its team scores, as Lucine and Amade were the only two skiers of the competition to make the finals in all three events. However, the U.S. team had skiers competing in all of the final events who were aiming to score higher than the preliminary round. "We were miserable bunch of skiers after the preliminary round, but Mike Meek encouraged us that it wasn't over," Jaquess says. "He would not let us leave without the team title."

"Mike gave the team a Vince Lombardi talk. 'It's not over'," Harrison says.

"Not one skier wanted to go home with­out a team overall gold medal," Meek says. "The skiers were unselfish for the team to win gold."

Finals

In the final round, the fight for gold and for more team points in each event became even more dramatic. In women's slalom, five women ran 38 off and took a shot at 39-1/2 off. Besides going for the event medal, Jaquess needed to help the team. She did, as she scored 1 buoy at 39-1/2 off. Though good enough only at this world champion­ships for fourth place, the score did plenty for the U.S. team's overall points and helped spur the comeback.

In the women's trick finals, performances climbed with three women scoring over 8,000 and Nightingale continued to narrow the gap between the U.S. team and France. With a first-round score of 6,710 points, Barton-Bischoff needed to dramatically increase her score in the finals to help the team; she did with 7,830 points. "I couldn't win the overall, but I could still help the team," she says. "I was in the zone. I tricked perfectly." Nightingale bumped her score from 7,620 points to 8,150 points, which gave her the bronze medal and inched the U.S. team even closer to France. "I wanted to win tricks, but I wanted to be safe for the team," Nightingale says. "I didn't go all out. I did an easier run in the finals."

Berdnikova and Andriopoulou made efforts to close the gap between them and front-runner Lucine for the individual overall title. Andriopoulou increased her score to 7,840 points and Berdnikova scored 8,160 points for the silver medal. But the gold went to Lucine as she contin­ued her unwavering consistency with an 8,430-point run in the finals.

In men's tricks, scores continued to climb as the top-five scores were above 11,000 points. The Europeans owned the medals as Zharnasek and Deviatovski took silver and bronze, respectively. Le Forestier, meanwhile, continued an undefeated season with a gold-medal score of 11,860 points.

For the final event -jumping - the tension tightened nerves as the scores narrowed to just a few points between France and the U.S. team.

Jaquess improved her jump distance slight­ly in the final round to help the U.S. team, but then France bounced back as Chardin, Amade and Lucine out-jumped their pre­liminary-round distances in the final round. "This world championships was a battle to the end with the French as the scores in the second round kept changing hands," Meek says. "We were sweating bullets until the very end."

Thomsen launched a 174-footer to put pressure on Andriopouiou, the top seed. A lot was on the line for Andriopoulou. Besides the potential for gold in jumping, she also had a shot at surpassing Lucine for the indi­vidual overall gold medal. Andriopoulou's scores also affect the battle for the team title between the United States and France.

Undeterred, Andriopoulou recorded a huge 180-foot distance - the farthest ever at a world championships - to clinch the gold medal. But 180 feet would not give Andriopoulou enough points to surpass Lucine in the overall battle, resulting in Lucine winning her first world overall title. However, Andriopoulou's increased distance did help the U.S. team as it compressed the French scores in the event, resulting in the U.S. team going into men's jumping, the last event, with a seven-point lead.

In men's jumping, team France had one chance to improve its score with Aurelien Serrault, but he failed to improve in distance in the final. But it wasn't over for the U.S. team as Llewellyn's score in finals would affect the United States. An increased jump distance over the preliminary for Llewellyn would compress the U.S. scores, resulting in the French winning.

But Siemers, the last U.S. team skier, still had a say in the matter. "I was aiming to go 5 to 10 feet farther in the finals," Siemers says, "so Jaret would have to go 235 to 240 feet." Siemers stayed on course by increasing from 209 in the preliminary round to 214 in the finals. "Jimmy knew what he needed to jump for the team, and he did it! " Harrison says.

Now the fate of the team gold was not in the hands of a U.S. or French skier, but Canada's Llewellyn, the second-seeded jumper in the finals. "We all stood watching Jaret jump. It was out of our control," says Barton-Bischoff, speaking of the U.S. team. At this point in the competition, Llewellyn had enough points ahead of Deviatovski to have secured his second overall title. However, he knew he would have to go big to beat Krueger for the gold in jump­ing. "Watching Jaret were nerve-wracking moments," Siemers says. "He went far. You knew it was big, but you didn't know how big until the announcer gave the distance." And the distance for Llewellyn of 232 feet came over the speakers. "We knew we won," Jaquesssays. "Mandy wasjumping up and down across the lake." The U.S. team came from behind and won its 25th team title with only 21 points to spare. "We went nuts," Siemers says.

The competition was not over yet. Though not affecting team scores, U.S. independent skier Krueger had to complete the event. And with a towering jump on his second attempt, Krueger landed 238 feet, just 5 feet shy of his world record, to win the gold medal and add to the U.S. cheers.

"I have been on a lot of world teams, but this one did not have a superstar. Everyone on the team had to make it happen to win," said Harrison. With the level of skiing at such a high level throughout the world and with such fierce competition, there's not a moment to waste for Harrison. "I'm already organizing a practice site for the U.S. team at the next world championship in Calgary in 2009."

Overton-Johnson Makes Comeback Bid

The news broke in August that Kristi Overton-Johnson was coming out of retire­ment to compete at the world champion­ships. Though- she had not competed since the 2002 Masters, she qualified to compete as an independent by virtue of being the current women's world slalom record holder (1 buoy at 41 feet off). "To be back on the water again was amazing for me," says Overton-Johnson, who set the world record in 1996, but had her competitive career cut short due to injuries and hip operations. "I had been in so much physical pain that it was victorious for me to run 38 off again in practice."

At the world championships, her hip unfor­tunately came into play at 32 off causing her pass to end at 5 buoys at 32 off. But for the 1999 world slalom champion, the early fall was not devastating. "It was neat to be on the plane, heading to the Worlds," she says. "It was neat to wear a bib. To see my son's face when I walked in the opening ceremonies was amazing."

Whether Overton-Johnson will continue to compete next year is a decision yet to be made. "I'm skiing because I love it and to stay in shape," she says. "The decision to ski next year will be a surprise even to me."

without parallel in sports. For Pickos, a two-time world cham­pion and 24-time world record holder, there is no end in sight to his days of com­peting. Pickos' toe pass is still the fastest in the world, and he scored 11,230 at the team trials earlier in the year. In 1977, when Pickos made his debut on the U.S. team, his tricks score was the decisive factor in the United States defeating Venezuela for the gold medal. And in 2007, Pickos' score was a contributing factor to the United States winning its 25th world team title. When asked about his plans to compete in the future, Pickos says, "I take it year by year. I love the competitiveness."

Siemers Sticking With Overall

Jimmy Siemers achieved significant early successes by winning two consecutive world overall titles at his first two world champion­ships in 2003 and 2005. But recent jump crashes caused Siemers to contemplate retir­ing from jumping and overall to focus just on tricks. Discouraged at the beginning of the year, Siemers said, "I'm done if I go out and get sixth or lower in jump at the Worlds and crash twice in the year." And Siemers did crash, once at the team trials. "I was copying Jaret [Llewellyn] and if you are a little off with his style, you're done," Siemers says.

Before the world championships, Siemers began to figure things out on the ramp. "I stopped trying to copy Freddy [Krueger] and Jaret," Siemers says. The approach worked as Siemers placed fifth at the world champion­ships. With his worlds performance and only one crash this year, Siemer is holding to his vow. "I'm still skiing overall," he says. "I'm might even go to Moomba next March to compete in overall."