USA Water Ski and the American Water Ski Association are pleased to announce that the 2018 Water Ski National Championships will be held Aug. 7-11, 2018, at Mystic Lakes in Maize, Kan. The bid from the Mystic Lakes Ski Club was approved by the AWSA board of directors at its mid-winter meeting on Jan. 28.

The Mystic Lakes Ski Club, which includes two world-record capability water ski lakes, has previously hosted the Midwest Regional Water Ski Championships, Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships and Barefoot Water Ski National Championships. It will mark the first time that the state of Kansas has hosted the Water Ski National Championships.

More than 600 of the nation's top water ski athletes from across the United States are expected to compete for national titles in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall in respective age divisions and two Open divisions at the Nationals, the world’s largest three-event water ski tournament. Advancement to the Nationals is primarily earned through placement on the national rankings list. Athletes also can qualify for the Nationals by placing in the top-five at Regionals or by placing in the top-five at the previous year's Nationals.  

The first national championships was held in 1939 at Jones Beach in Long Island, N.Y. Except for three years during World War II (1942-1944), the Nationals has been held every year since 1939.