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Water Ski Finals Preview
// by Joe Hornaday - U.S. Olympic Committee () // August 15, 2003
It may not catch the public fancy like some other U.S. teams, but that isn’t stopping the American Water Skiers from dominating their sport in the 2003 Pan American Games. While preliminary action mainly serves to narrow the field for the finals, the Americans have used the first two days of action to establish themselves as prohibitive favorites in at least four of the six events. For instance: + Chris Parrish in the Men’s Slalom and Rhoni Barton in the Women’s Jumps have rewritten Pan American Games records while Russell Gay in the Men’s Tricks narrowly missed a third. + Regina Jaquess, a mere 19 years old, won Women’s Slalom and Women’s Tricks prelim events. + Defending Pan Am champion Freddy Krueger finished a close second in the Men’s Jumps. The only other prelim event the Americans didn’t win was Men’s Tricks, where it took a Pan American Games record showing to beat Gay. + All 11 entries in the six events qualified for Saturday’s finals. + If the six members of the U.S. team duplicate their prelim finishes, they will bring home four gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals. “This is exactly what I expected,” said U.S. coach Jack Travers. “We have a very strong team. I feel confident we will come out with the highest medal count of any of the countries.” Saturday’s finals action begins at 10 a.m. (EST) with Slaloms, followed by Jumps and Tricks.
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