For Immediate Release
September 16, 1995

Roquebrune-sur-Argens, FRANCE - Canadian water skiers had a busy day on the water today at the 1995 World Water Ski Championships in France.

1st CANADIAN MEDAL

Prince Albert of Monaco presented Canadian skier Susi Graham (Kitchner, Ontario) with Team Canada's first medal of the 1995 Worlds. Graham won bronze in the women's slalom event with a score of 1@11.25m (49 buoys) behind Helena Kjellander (Sweden) who scored 1.25@11.25m (49.25) and Kristy Overton (USA) who also scored 1@11.25m (49 buoys). "It feels great to win the first medal for the team," said Graham, "The competition was real close and I was aiming for the gold, however I am still happy with the way I skied." Judy Messer (Streetsville, Ontario) placed 8th by improving her score from the preliminaries. Graham continude, "With both Judy and I skiing better in the final it will help the Canadian team score."

CANADIAN AIR FORCE REACHES FINALS

Kreg and Jaret Llewellyn (Innisfail, Alberta) both qualified for the men's jump final with jump distances of 52 and 56.3 metres respectively. Along with the Llewellyn brothers, also reaching the finals is Jim Clunie (Tisdale, Saskatchewan). It has been only 19 days since Clunie underwent corrective knee surgery for a miniscus tear which occurred at the Bud Pro Tour finals Auguest 26 & 27, in Seattle. Under the watchful eyes of Canadians coaches and team doctor, CLunie managed a strong jump of 54.5 metres. "My knee felt pretty good," said CLunie, "however I was feeling a little doubtful about the first jump since I haven't jumped since Tuesday (3 days off)." In fact, Clunie has only been on the water two other times since the injury. "I was mostly concerned about missing the cut (to make the finals)." Clunie commented about his approach to the finals tomorrow, "I'm going for broke, all or nothing, I'll finish first, last or unconcious. It will take huge jumps from all three of us in the final to help improve our team score." Men's jump final will be the final event of the World Championships.

MESSER IN THE LEAD, TEAM CANADA 3RD

Judy Messer is having a strong tournament here in France. She currently leads the women's overall race (total points from all 3 disciplines) by 89 points over Philippa Roberts (GBR) and Sherri Sloan (USA). Messer will ski in both women's trick and jump finals tomorrow. Team Canada is currently in 3rd place behind France and United States.

LLEWELLYN FOURTH

Jaret Llewellyn placed 4th with a score of 10530 points matching his own Canadian record. Brother Kreg placed 7th also with a great score of 9220 points. The men's trick final proved to be a phenominal event with 5 skiers scoring over 10,000 points.

Team Canada will wrap up their World title defence tomorrow with skiers in all final events: Men's slalom - Drew Ross (Belleville, Ontario), Men Jump - Kreg and Jaret Llewellyn (Innisfail, Alberta) and Jim Clunie (Tisdale, Saskatchewan), Women Trick and Jump - Judy Messer (Streetsville, Ontario).

For further information please contact: Angela Gallant (613)-5683