WFDF: United States, New Zealand win big at the WFDF World Under-24 Ultimate Championships in Perth

WFDF Press Release – 19 January 2017

The United States’ teams swept the WFDF World Under 24 Ultimate Championships (WU24), winning gold in the Women’s, Men’s and Mixed divisions at the week-long event, which wrapped up in Perth on January 13. New Zealand added to its impressive streak of Spirit awards by winning top honors in the Spirit category in all three divisions. WU24 was the first WFDF World Championship event held in Australia since 2006 and welcomed 41 teams from 20 countries. More than 900 athletes were joined by 200 supporters, more than 100 volunteers, and 20 senior staff at the facilities at the UWA Sports Park in Western Australia.

The U.S. teams showed their dominance at the event, going undefeated throughout the week of competition. In the finals, the U.S. Men narrowly defeated an Italy squad that was up by 3 points earlier in the game. The final score was 15-13. In the Mixed final, the U.S. team beat Japan 13-11 and in the Women’s final, the U.S. handily defeated Canada 15-6. Canada and Australia also each took home two medals from the championships. The Canadians took home bronze in the Mixed division and silver in the Women’s, while the host Aussies won bronze in the Men’s and Women’s divisions.

"Hats off to Team USA for their competitive success, and to New Zealand for demonstrating their remarkable spirit, across all divisions of play," stated Robert "Nob" Rauch, WFDF President. "While it had been over a decade since our last WFDF World Championship in Australia, the Aussies demonstrated a tremendous level of organization and hospitality. WFDF would like to thank the local authorities for their support, and we also laud all the efforts and hard work of the Tournament Organising Committee, headed by Tournament Director, Anna Haynes, and the Australian Flying Disc Association (AFDA), who gave all the participants a very memorable experience."

Final Medal Results

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Spirit

Men’s

United States

Italy

Australia

New Zealand

Mixed

United States

Japan

Canada

New Zealand

Women’s

United States

Canada

Australia

New Zealand

To follow the calendar WFDF cycle of events, the biannual WU24 was due to be hosted in 2017 but given local seasonal considerations it was held early in 2018. Nonetheless, the age eligibility criterion for the tournament was based as if the event were in 2017. Accordingly, the WU24 was open to all players who were fourteen (14) years old or older and did not turn twenty-four (24) years of age during the calendar year 2017. Therefore, anyone born before January 1, 1994, was not eligible to play. The last events (previously named WU23) were held in the city of London, United Kingdom, Toronto, Canada, and Florence, Italy, in 2015, 2013, and 2010, respectively. In 2015, 900 athletes on 41 teams from 23 countries participated in the event.

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Best regards,

Volker Bernardi

Executive Director

World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF)

Enggasse 2a, D - 55296 Harxheim, Germany

Mobile: +49 176 64 19 77 02

eMail: volker.bernardi@wfdf.org

Web: www.wfdf.org

About WFDF: The World Flying Disc Federation is the international sports federation responsible for world governance of flying disc (FrisbeeTM) sports, including Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Guts, and Individual Events. WFDF is a federation of member associations which represent flying disc sports and their athletes in more than 76 countries. WFDF is an international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IPC and FISU and a member of ARISF, GAISF and the International World Games Association, and it is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in the state of Colorado, USA. The WFDF Executive Committee: President Robert L. "Nob" Rauch, Secretary Thomas Griesbaum, Treasurer Kate Bergeron.

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