Looks like a USA v Australia showdown at the first 2015 World Cup Stop!

 
The success of the annual Action Sports Games in Mandurah Western Australia has attracted huge global TV audiences since the arrival of the World Cup Series there three years ago. With 986 hours of global Airtime achieved last year in 88 countries for the edited World Cup TV show, Mandurah will once again present the best Waterski Jumpers and Wakeboarders to over 100,000 spectators on site on March 14/15. This might just push the TV Airtime to over 1,000 hours for the first time ever?
 
This year, there will be three action packed zones at this pristine Mandurah site just south of Perth on the shores of the Indian Ocean. These will cover Wakeboard and Waterski in the Watersport zone, plus special zones for FMX and Skate/BMX.
 
World Waterski Jump Champions Freddy Krueger (USA) and Jacinta Carroll (AUS) will join World Wakeboard Champions Harley Clifford (AUS) and Raimi Merritt (USA) at this 43rd World Cup Stop of the Series. This has all the appearance of being a spectacular Australia v USA battle for World Cup honors.
 
Freddy Krueger will certainly be stretched all the way by Canada’s Ryan Dodd and Russia’s Igor Morozov. Since 1999, Krueger has broken the World Jump Record an extraordinary nine times. So far, he has proven to be almost unbeatable. World Jump Champion Jacinta Carroll will have the advantage of the huge home crowd on her side. However, Natallia Berdnikava BLR has broken the World Jump Record three times since 2011 alone. She will desperately want to get her 2015 World Cup season off to a flying start. Finland’s Jutta Lammi is the dark horse this year and both Carroll and Berdnikava will definitely be on their guard!
 
Wakeboard superstar Harley Clifford, much like Freddy Krueger, is also almost unbeatable. As both World Cup and World Wakeboard Champion, he will want to retain his coveted Mandurah title. The threats are most likely to come from Japan’s Shota Tezuka and fellow Australian Tony Iacconi. All have trained hard in preparation for this showdown. Raimi Merritt (USA) has already won nine World Cup titles to date, going back to her first in 2008 in Egypt. She has to be the Mandurah hot favorite right now. However, Australia’s Bec Gange took the 2013 World Cup title here and will be loaded with confidence. Watch out also for Carro Djupsjo (SWE) and Nicola Butler (USA) who have that extra star quality.

For updates throughout, check out WaterskiandWakeboardWorldCup.com, the IWWF Facebook page and the Action Sports Games Facebook page.