She has now made 23 appearances at the event.
The 2017 world women’s champion has competed at the international level for nearly 18 years since her first world titles in 2001 when she was selected as the number one junior girl to represent Australia.
She was the flag bearer for the Australian team skiing for Merc Force in the World Water Ski Racing Championships in the US in 2017.
The three-time Victorian Female Skier of the Year discussed how the field of women competitors was quite big in the early days compared to now; however, there were some barriers early on.
“Back in the day, women were not allowed to compete in the Saturday Dash,” Ms Stevens said.
“Joanne Hamilton, who was one of my biggest influences in the sport, would have to enter the superclass just to compete in the dash.
“Water skiing today is on the right track. Now it’s not based on gender but on how well you perform.
“The boys always embraced us and the competition. The sport is doing everything it can to embrace women and equality.”
Ms Stevens revealed that the Mildura Ski Committee, of which she is a member, had pushed for more diversity on its board, with at least 40 per cent now female.
“It’s a really good thing. Keeping a balance and having a family focus is how the sport will grow,” she said.
Ms Stevens was an ambassador for the Southern 80 event back in 2018, which was a “really special moment” for her to be able to promote such an “important event”.
She won in record time that year with Maddison Boyer in the Open Women's, which was the first event at which they had skied together.
“It was pretty special, as I spent years trying to get the women’s record. Everything was perfect that day, perfect crew, drivers and skiers. Maddie and I had never skied together prior to the record,” Ms Stevens said.
Both skiers are currently injured and won’t be able to compete in this year’s Southern 80.
Ms Stevens actually spoke to Ms Hamilton, who is a fellow world champion having won the 1999 title in Spain, on the On The Rope podcast.
The women are the only two Victorian females to win open world titles and they are both from Echuca.
They discussed the challenges of juggling being a female athlete as well as being mothers and how the body changes after having children.
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