Photo: Eric CAUSSE

Second day of event at L’Argentière-la-Bessée and everyone is finally arrived on Durance river: 226 athletes from 19 countries are now in the French Alps and started the official training in the II-III level rapids.

Downriver training, 3kms finishing at the Stade d’eau vive “Michel Baudry”

The Downriver race will be 3 kms long and is scheduled for tomorrow morning as the first competition of the event, but the stream is going to raise tomorrow.

This morning the teams, divided into 2 groups, tried the last 2 kms of the Downriver, that includes the Slalom and RX course as the final part.

Tomorrow morning the teams will scout the first part, 1 km long, of the river, before the start of the competition.

Slalom training

This afternoon, after the Downriver training, the rafters paddled in the Stade d’eau vive “Michel Baudry”, trying the possible run of the Slalom race.

The number of the gates will be official on the race day, so the teams can paddle studying the possible combinations of green (downstream) and red (upstream) gates.

The possible gates’ number is between 10 to 15, while almost 50 gates are usually settled in the slalom course for canoe training.

Opening ceremony in L’Argentière-la-Bessée

28 men teams, 9 women teams, 13 mix teams and 5 Para Rafting teams finally attended the opening ceremony, raising the White Card, becoming part of the Peace and Sport movement that promotes international cooperation through the power of sport.

The opening ceremony in the centre of L’Argentière-la-Bessée saw the major Mr Patrick Vigne, the FFCK Rafting Manager Mr Bruno Carlier and the WRF President Mr Danilo Barmaz welcoming the athletes in the center of the village, in presence of the Peace and Sport Ambassador, the Olympian Marlène Harnois, who raised the White Card with the rafters, a symbol of peace and international cooperation through sport.

White Card raised by the rafters at the World Champs

The 2021 World Rafting Championship is officially inaugurated, and tomorrow morning the first paddle strokes will open the Downriver: eyes on Durance!

From 18th to 20th June Zubin Potok hosted the European Rafting Cup 2021 in in the Mitrovica District in Kosovo.

20 teams participated in the event and paddled on Ibar river, that flows from Gazivoda Lake.

The first place in the three disciplines, RX, Slalom and Downriver, gave the overall gold to Italy 1 in the men category: Luca Liuzzo, Giacomo Schettino, Matteo Lancillotto e Alberto Longo. A third place in the slalom and two silvers in RX and Downriver guaranteed 262 points to Italy 2, that got the second place: Andrey Orsingher, Emanuele Boiano, Tommaso Patriarca and Luca Gianoli. Third step of the podium for NSK Liman from Belgrade who scored 248 points.

In the female category Italy 1 got a first place in Downriver and Slalom, that with a second place in the Final A got the overall gold: Giulia Liuzzo, Vittoria Sperandini, Rubina Boscia ed Emma Ichino with 288 points.

The  RX winners got the silver overall: Italy 2 represented by Federica Triangeli, Natalia Lehmann, Alessia Tiberi e Marika Branchini.

Third step of the podium for RK Advance team, third in every discipline.

The attention now goes to the upcoming World Rafting Championship: eyes on France!

A fresh afternoon on 30th June, in the Stade d’eau vive Michel Baudry, saw more than 50 teams paddling in the 400m whitewater venue for the RX qualification.

Based on the these times, the athletes will compete on Friday and Saturday in the knock out phase, that will crown the RX Champions with 120 points.

Italy 1, Women team

In the women category Italy 1, with Letizia Lauri, Elodie Lumignon, Gaia Mascarello and Carlotta Scalvino, crossed the finish line with the best category time of 1’00.61.

Second time, one second away from the the first team, to Italy 2 who stopped the clock at 1’01.82: Martina Bonomi, Christa Gruber, Francesca Leonardi and Miriam Waldboth. Third time for Chile that closed a provisional podium with just a 2 seconds difference from the first (provisional) step: Nicole Plagemann, Tabata Araya Soto, Costanza Molina and Camila Ortega Ilancafilo from Chile 1 with 1’02.62.

Italy 1, Men team

The first three men teams are in a gap of less than 50 cents: Italy 1 (56.19) with Pietro Fratton, Fabio Martini, Zeno Martini and Lorenzo Mastella, ahead of Italy 2 (56.46) with Michele Pattoglio, Dario Morandi, Francesco Regina and Giordi Sarteur and Croatia 1 (56.55) with Danko Herceg, Luka Obadic, Tomislav Hohnjec and Jadran Zonjic and Ivan Tolic.

France 1, Para Rafting team

Para Rafting category saw the France 1 team put down a great time of 1’00.22 after a clear run in the venue: the fastest Abel Aber, Latimier Latimier, Hugo Latimier and Benjamin Pillerault, were just one second ahead of Italy 1 (1’01.92) with Riccardo Novella, Marco Montagna, Carlo Benciolini and Nicola Speri. Third time for Italy 2 (1’05.17) with Massimo Giandinoto, Rosario Sperandini, Damiano Casazza and Rinaldo Veneroni.

 Chile 1, Mix team

Mix teams closed the race day with an incredible time of 59.82 by Chile 1: Yarela Munoz, Camila Ortega Ilancafilo, Ivan Correa and Paz Letelier.

The hosts from France 1 followed with a very challenging gap: 1'00.20 for Cyril Audoit, Marion Delorme, Kevin Gix and Coralie Yebenes.

Just a tenth of a second later we have the third time of Netherland: 1’00.30 for Kiki Roeling, Jenita Gobel, Xandar Van Os, Roel Bakker and Mark de Wit.

Olympian and Peace and Sport Ambassador Marlène Harnois

The IOC member and AIOWF President Ivo Ferriani, the President of the International Federation Sport Climbing Marco Scolaris, the FFCK Rafting Director Bruno Carlier awarded the Downriver Champions at the award ceremony in the evening, in the presence of the WRF President Danilo Barmaz, the major of L’Argentière-la-Bessée Patrick Vigne and the Peace and Sport Ambassador Marlène Harnois.

The World Rafting Championship 2021 has begun. The last teams are arriving in L’Argentière-la-Bessée and we are proud to announce that our partner Peace and Sport will be present during the whole racing week. As we always said, sport is not only about chronometers and medals, it is a way to meet other people and share experiences, to learn and grow.

Peace and Sport supports the 2021 World Rafting Championship

Founded in 2007 by Modern Pentathlon Olympic Medallist and World Champion Joël Bouzou, Peace and Sport is a neutral and independent worldwide organization that promotes peace through the power of sport.

In less than 10 years, the dynamism of sport has already enabled us to reinsert child soldiers back into society, to help war orphans rebuild their self-confidence, to reintegrate refugees, facilitate access to education, and more. As the Peace and Sport ambassador and Olympic Champion from Burundi Venuste Niyongabo explained us last week, in an interesting online meeting with WRF, sport is a means of improving international cooperation and raising awareness on the other’s viewpoint.

Raising #WhiteCards in L’Argentière-la-Bessée

The symbol that we now share with Peace and Sport is a white card. As a reference to the yellow and the red card in the sporting world that usually represents penalties, a white card invites not to punish but to promote peace.

We think that rafting, as a team sport, is a perfect tool for social inclusion and our athletes are raising the White Card symbol near the rivers now, becoming part of this great movement. Everyone can also contribute by joining the Peace and Sport Programmes following this link:

Another race weekend in Turkey just ended and crowned the winners with the title of National Champions 2021 and the participation to the World Rafting Championship.

With the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the great commitment of the President Fikret Yardimci, the competition was organised by the Turkish Rafting Federation in Rize, Ardeşen, in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey, from 9th to 13th June.

8 women, 15 men and 11 mix teams participated, with a great support from the local public who kept the eyes on the third level venue.

In the man category DİDİ S.K. from the host city triumphed in every discipline: the reunion of young athletes, after four years out of competition, proved the experience of the team, that scored 300 points: Okan Gunak, Devrim Tarik Gürsoy, Onur Memoglu and Dogus Oncirak, trained by Mr Yasin Makar.

Antalya Manavgat G.S.K with 258 points got a fourth place in the Downriver and two silver medals in Slalom and RX. Bronze to Çatak Belediyesi G.S.K A with 243 points.

Rize G. S. K. women team got the second place in the Slalom, but a gold in the other disciplines (RX and Downriver) assured them the first step of the podium with 290 points: Betül Karci, Gamze Aksoy Aydin, Dursiye Gedikoglu, Sudenaz Reyhan and Öznur Fil.

Second place in the women category for Tunceli G.S.K (248 points) and third place for Rize Belediyesi (243 points).

Last but definitely not least, also the National Champions in the mix category are from DİDİ S.K. club: Okan Gunak, Devrim Tarik Gursoy, Buket Maden and Selenay Makar.

Silver medal for Rize Belediyesi and bronze for Antalya Manavgat G. S. K.

The three winner teams got the tickets to France and will carry the flag as Turkey 1, but another team per each category has been selected by the National Rafting Federation commissions and will be part of the Turkish delegation in twelve days. They will land in Milan on 28th June and will directly go to L’Argentière-la-Bessée.

6 teams from Turkey, we wait for you!

First day of race in France: the 3 kms Downriver opens the competing part of the week, with the start in the Durance gorge with 20 cubic meters per second. The water flow doubles with the Gyronde tributary in L’Argentière-la-Bessée, reaching 43 cubics per second in the Stade d’eau vive Michel Baudry. 

The first team who started paddling and opened the competition is the same who got the gold. Downriver Champions in the Women category are from Italy 1: Letizia Lauri, Elodie Lumignon, Gaia Mascarello and Carlotta Scalvino stopped the chronometer on 12’37.21. Second place to the compatriots from Italy 2: Martina Bonomi, Christa Gruber, Francesca Leonardi and Miriam Waldboth with 12’44.95. Chile, with almost 10 seconds of gap from the winners, got the bronze with 12’48.99: Nicole Plagemann, Tabata Araya Soto, Costanza Molina and Camila Ortega Ilancafilo.

Durance river 

The man category awarded Italy 1 with the best time overall: 11’47.03 for Pietro Fratton, Zeno Martini and Fabio Martini, Lorenzo Mastella.

With a gap of 5 seconds Italy 2 won the second place: Dario Morandi, Michele Pattoglio, Francesco Regina and Giordi Sarteur followed their compatriots with 11’52.99.

The third place in the Downriver goes to South America: Juan Martin Martinez, Denis Orlando Gelves, Mauro Solano and Matias Maximiliano Cordero brought the bronze medal to Argentina. 

Para Rafting

Para Rafting brings, for the first time, Para athletes paddling in the same section of the normo athletes, into III level rapids.

Gold to Italy also in this category: Italy 1 with 12’43.01 composed by Riccardo Novella, Marco Montagna, Carlo Benciolini, Nicola Speri, 20 seconds ahead of France 1 (13’03.81) who got the silver:  Abel Aber, Latimier Latimier, Hugo Latimier and Benjamin Pillerault. Back to Italy for the third place: Italy 2 with Massimo Giandinoto, Rosario Sperandini, Damiano Casazza and Rinaldo Veneroni (13’10.83).

MIX TEAMS: 2 women and 2 men

Last but not least, in the mix cathegory, 1 second of advantage assured the first place to Sara Amonini, Valentina Volo, Nicholas Gheno and Mattia Felini from Italy 1, with 12’28.24. 12’29.49 for Netherlands: Jenita Gobel, Kiki Roeling, Xandar Van Os, Roel Bakker and Mark de Wit.

Italy 2 closes the mix podium with 12’30.55: Francesca Fontanive, Silvia Venturini, Michele Songini, Riccardo Colombo.

First discipline gone and awarded the first, second and third teams with 80, 72 and 64 points.

Despite the challenging situation due to Covid-19 restriction, after two years without WRF worldwide competitions we finally arrived at the day before the World Rafting and ParaRafting Championship 2021.

For the first time in history athletes and para athletes will compete in the same rapids, at the whitewater stadium in L’Argentière-la-Bessée, France.

Rafters and Para Rafters will paddle in the same rapids

The stade d’eau vive Michel Baudry was inaugurated in 1993 and is 400m long, with a difference in altitude of 4m.

The French Alps of the Pays des Écrins will host more than 200 athletes this week in the alpine river Durance, from 29 countries. A few teams are still on the road, or on the plane, but everything is settled for a week of race.

Stade d'eau vive Michelle Baudry

Before the World Championships begin We would like to take the opportunity to thank our athletes for being here: the Covid-19 pandemic forced all of us to take important choices and everyone who will paddle and take part in this competition made many sacrifices in order to be here. The hard work that everyone faced over the last months, and usually goes unnoticed during the period of preparation, will be expressed now.

This week is a chance for the athletes to show that they deserve to be here, especially to themselves, and enjoy what they deserved. They trained and they decided to travel, although the uncertainty times and now they have the opportunity not only to race, but to meet and share a new adventure with people from all around the world who have their same passion.

Sport is not only about chronometers, it unites us, and we are honoured and proud to welcome you all, finally together. The athletes are arriving and tomorrow is the beginning of a new adventure.

“We would like to help and show everyone there how to bring themselves out of the shell” with these words Andrea Gatti, the technical director of the Albanian Rafting Federation, explained his experience with the rafting movement in Albania: it is growing, thanks to the cooperation between different clubs and the training project that he is leading. 15 new guides have been formed during the last months by the President of the National Federation of Albania Zamo Spathara in collaboration with Andra Gatti, Daniele Corsi and Fabio Corsi from Italy, sharing their river experiences on the other side of the Adriatic Sea.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment of Albania Mr Blendi Klosi celebrated the new guides at the ceremony at the end of the course and immediately went paddling with them, young athletes from 6 different cities, in the Osum Canyon, formed by the river Osum that passes through the town of Berat and flows though the canyon, creating a gorge that is one of the most spectacular natural attains of the country.

During the training course two teams of guides have been selected for the participation in the upcoming World Rafting Championship, that represent a meeting point for river people from all around the world and it is not only about medals: sharing moments, creating memories and discovering new viewpoints is something that makes all of us grow. “It will be a great and useful experience for the delegation from Albania: to travel and meet new people from other countries is an opportunity to continue and improve the development of the discipline” Andrea Gatti added.

The delegation of two teams who will compete in the men category is composed by Ali Spathara, Claudio Hasanllari, Behar Zeqo, Alvaro Nallbani, Geri Saphatra, Klidi Dobroniku, Franci Koroni, Endri Hoxha, Xhuljan Ziu.

Mr Zamo Spathara declared “Once you touch the river you do not fear the storm in the city anymore. Rafting is sport, tourism and adventure. It unites us and make us stronger.”

Albania is back, competing in France after its last experience at the World Rafting Championship in Italy 2018.

Two weeks to go, see you in France rafters!