21 and Under World Waterski Championships 2003 - Chile - Saturday Another cloudy day today unfortunately, but very good skiing conditions with a slight headwind on the ramp. The first event was the men's jump preliminaries. Sam Haslam (GBR) jumped well in series 2 with a new PB of 51.9m, as did Juan Morera (ESP) with 52.1m. But all the series 1 skiers skied well and Sam and Juan didn't manage to make it into the final, finishing 15th and 14th respectively. Series 1 had a few problems with the water failing on the ramp, resulting in Eric Marberg (SWE) getting a re-ride and Will Asher (GBR) having his third jump stopped. Aurelien Serrault (FRA) skied some good jumps with lovely float, his longest being 63m. Will Asher jumped 62.5, (very close to his PB), finishing fourth and Jimmy Siemers, although passing on his last 2 jumps, scored 63.2m. The winner of the first round was Ryan Dodd (CAN) with an excellent distance of 67m, the longest distance jumped at this site. A good final to look forward to tomorrow. First of the finals was ladies slalom, which saw 7 skiers getting in to the 11.25m line length. Jamie Metcalfe (AUS), out fifth, scored 2 @ 11. Nicole Arthur (GBR), two skiers later, ran an easy tail wind 12m, then also 2 @ 11. It was 4 skiers later before this was beaten, by Michelle Simpson (USA) with 2.5 @ 11. Regina Jaquess, out last, fought all the way through her 12m pass, then won the event with 3 @ 11. Nicole Arthur took third place, as her first round score was higher than Jamie's. The men's slalom final also produced some excellent skiing. Mateo Ianni (ITA) improved his first round score by 7 buoys with 4 @10.75m. It was 5 skiers later before anyone else ran their 11.25m pass, although Jimmy Siemers (USA) got a fair way down with 4 @ 12. The 10th skier out, Will Asher (GBR), starting at 13, ran 13, 12 & 11 with ease. His next pass had everyone's eyes glued to the lake - he ran this pass, also with no problems. He then went on to run 3 @ 10.25, cheered by everyone at the site. (1.5 buoys more than he skied in the World Championships in Florida!). Ty Oppenlander (USA) managed 3.5 @ 10.75 to take third and Thomas Degasperi (ITA), had a disappointing 1 @ 10.75m, meaning Will Asher was first (5 buoys ahead of second place), with Matteo Ianni second and Ty Oppenlander third. The last event of the day was the tricks finals, which started late in the afternoon and due to a few technical problems, finished after 7pm! (although the sun had come out by then). In the ladies event, Regina Jaquess (USA) finished first with 7000 points, Tarah Benzl (USA) second with 6960 points and Whitney McClintock (CAN) third with 6600 points. Jimmy Siemers (USA) won the men's event with an improved score of 10680, Aaron Rathy (CAN) also improved his first round score to 9110, finishing second and Joffrey Malaquin (FRA) finished third with 8430 points. Ryan Dodd (CAN) finished fourth and Chris Sumner (GBR) fifth. Tomorrow's events are the Jump and Overall finals. With the forecast looking a bit warmer, it should be a great day. (And let's not forget the final night party!).