American Water Ski Association
Three-Event (Slalom, Tricks & Jumping) Water Skiing Background
Watch the Water Ski & Wakeboard – Understanding The Sport Video
Watch the Tournament Water Ski Slalom Explainer Video
Slalom, tricks and jumping are the three events of traditional
water skiing that make up the oldest and most original
discipline of water skiing.
The slalom event is performed on one ski by an athlete
attempting to negotiate his way around the outside of six buoys in a zigzag course without
falling or missing a buoy in consecutive passes. An athlete receives one point for each
buoy that he successfully rounds. The athlete who skis around the most buoys and scores
the most points, wins the event.
Each athlete begins with a 23-meter
(75-foot) slalom rope at the minimum boat speed for his age/gender division. Once an
athlete has run enough passes to reach maximum boat speed for his division, the rope is
shortened in pre-measured lengths until he misses a buoy or falls.
The tricks event (also
sometimes called figures or shortboard) has been described as
the most technical of the three events. Beginners
perform this event on two short skis, and intermediate to elite athletes perform on one
short ski. An athlete attempts to perform as many tricks as he or she can during two 20-second
passes. Each trick has an assigned point value and an athlete may perform each trick
only once. The athlete who earns the most points wins the event.
Tricks are performed either with an
athlete's foot slipped into a strap attached to the handle, called toehold tricks, or with
the handle held in the athlete's hands.
The object of the jumping event is
for an athlete to jump as far as he can. There are no style points. Just pop off of the
ramp and fly!
Each athlete has three attempts to
jump as far as he can. In each age/gender division, there is a set boat speed and the ramp
height is set at five feet (1.5 meters) in most divisions. However, elite women jump at a
ramp height of 5-1/2 feet (1.6 meters) and elite men jump at six feet (1.8 meters).
Although most jump distances for the
average male and female range between 80 and 170 feet (24 and 52 meters), the Men's world
record is 254 feet/77.4 meters. |