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This past weekend at the McCormick International Record tournament in Seffner, Florida, several athletes offered a preview of what promises to be an exciting ski season in 2001.

Over 40 high level Trick Skiers competed as most were trying to boost scores on the IWSF World Ranking List. This was the last chance weekend for counting scores prior to issuance of the final rankings which will be used for the World Championships this September.

Patrice Martin narrowly missed a World Trick Record with a score of 11,850pts. He barely missed claiming back his coveted World Overall title as well.

Patrice's performance sets the stage for a SUPER showdown at the US OPEN between the top trick skiers in the World--- all going for the win and the world record------ Patrice, Cory, Nicholas, Siemers, Llewellyn.

Overall at the US OPEN should be pretty spectacular as well----- with Patrice now back from injury, Jimmy Siemers and Jaret Llewellyn will have to be at their peak.

But don't count out a couple of other USA athletes---- Michael McCormick (who is recovring from having his appendix removed) and Scot Smith--- two of the best overall skiers in the world that are going to be right up there with the rest of the pack.

Sebastian De Pasquale set a pending European Jump Record of 218'. Awesome performance for the man with the big smile from Switzerland.

Team O'Brien's Elena Milakova pushed the Women's World Jump Record to a pending 175', while current world record holder Toni Neville settled for a respectable 171'. The Open Women's jump division was pulled by a 2001 Correct Craft Ski Nautique.

Junior sensation Regina Jaquess, skiing in the Open Women division, eclipsed the magical 150' barrier, with a leap of 152'-- putting her into an elite group of ladies that have gone over that threshold. Regina's slalom performance of 2 1/2 @ 38' off, on her 66" O'Brien Mapple, brought her to within 1 1/2 bouys of her own Girls 3 U.S. National record.

O'Brien Air Neville's were the dominating jump skis------ used by Elena, Toni, and Regina.

Elena, Regina, Patrice and Sebastian all trained at McCormick's ski center in Seffner prior to the tournament. McCormick's ski school will again be the site of the U.S team trials in July. The site is one of the premier three event tournament sites in the world, offering near perfect conditions for all three events.

report by Jim Jaquess