With a total of 21 Water Ski and Wakeboard World Cup stops already completed, competition for places in the 2008 starting list is at an all time high. In simple terms, each skier or rider must be ranked in the top 20 in the world by the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF) to have any chance of success. In spite of this, the selected athletes will represent nineteen countries this season. The line up of spectacular venues also makes it a truly global event again this year with stops confirmed in Russia, Egypt, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Qatar.

The disciplines involved will be Slalom, Jump, Shortboard and Wakeboard. Eight Women and twelve Men will compete in the Water Ski disciplines. Eight women and eighteen men will compete for the Wakeboard titles. As in many sports today, the specialist has an advantage. The result is that very few water ski athletes can now achieve the standard required in more than one discipline. Reflecting the high standards, of the 54 Waterskiers selected, only six have qualified this year for more than one event. Slalom is now totally dominated by specialists. Some on the waiting lists may alter this if injuries or cancellations arise. Also, no country this year has produced more than one double contender. The very talented SIX double Waterski qualifiers from six different Nations are :

Natalia Berdnikova (BLR) - Shortboard and Jump
Clementine Lucine (FRA) – Shortboard and Jump
Ageliki Andriopoulou (GRE) – Shortboard and Jump

Jimmy Siemers (USA) – Shortboard and Jump
Ryan Green (AUS) – Shortboard and Jump
Jaret Llewellyn (CAN) – Shortboard and Jump

In Wakeboard, virtually all of the top World Cup competitors from the 2007 season are back again to take on the new challenge. These will include Andrew Adkison and Phillip Soven (USA), Jeff Weatherall (NZL), Daniel Watkins (AUS), Dallas Friday and Raimi Merritt (USA), Andrea Fountain (NZL) and Chen LiLi (CHN). Missing is the talented Sunni Ann Ball (CAN) who was forced by injury some months ago to retire from the sport.

In Water Ski, all of those who hold the number one place in the latest IWSF Ranking Tables have been selected. In Jump these will include Freddy Krueger (USA) and Ageliki Andriopoulou (GRE), in Slalom Jamie Beauchesne (USA) and Karen Truelove (USA) and in Shortboard, Nicolas Le Forestier (FRA) and Clementine Lucine (FRA). IWSF World Wakeboard Champions, Andrew Adkison (USA) and Dallas Friday (USA) will also participate. Bringing this level of talent to the major population centers around the world this year promises to further expand the growing fan base of both Water Ski and Wakeboard.

The first two World Cup stops of the season will be at Dubna on the Volga River in Russia for Water Ski and at Palm Hills Development at Hacienda Bay Beach in Egypt for Wakeboard.