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OTTAWA - Today, the International Water Ski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) released its 2013 year-end rankings, and two Canadians finished the year ranked #1 in the world.
Jonah Shaffer (Ottawa, ON) is ranked number one in the U17 Men’s Slalom event. Shaffer’s year included a victory at the US Masters and a podium finish at the U17 Worlds culminating in the season ending ranking. Calgary’s Stephen Neveu also came out on top of the world rankings, in his case in the U21 division. Neveu’s season end ranking was propelled by a gold medal finish at the U21 Worlds, a national championship, and a surprise 4th place at the World Water Ski Championships.
Beyond the two number one ranked skiers. Canada was second among all nations with 40 Top Ten rankings, behind the leading United States and just ahead of France at 37. Canada also had 11 placements in top 3 positions in the world rankings.
Whitney McClintock (Cambridge, ON) was the only woman in the world to end the season ranked in the top ten in each of the three water ski events. Her placements in the event rankings (2nd in slalom, 7th in Trick and 10th in Jump) combined to put in her in fourth position in the overall rankings.
Canada was most successful in the slalom rankings, where Canadians occupied 15 Top Ten positions, including 5 top 3 positions, including Shaffer and Neveu at the number one spot. The depth of Canadian slalom skiing was on full display as Canadians placed in the top ten in nine of the twelve age categories, and had an incredible 24 men ranked in the Elite Men category.
The IWWF world rankings list is a comprehensive ranking, using averages of scores obtained at record capable events around the world. Twenty five different nations registered at least one top ten finish in the rankings this year.
A full overview of the world rankings, including all Canadian entries is available here.
About Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada
Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada (WSWC) is the governing body for towed water sports in Canada. WSWC includes over 24,000 affiliated members and over 1,000,000 participants get on the water each year in Canada.
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