KIEV, UKRAINE - The WRF Pararafting Commission chaired by Mr. Oleksandr Bakanychev

has published the sport categories for Para Rafting competitions; according to the

The second race of these World Championships is over. Today, in Ivrea, the athletes performed in the Slalom race discipline on the Dora Baltea River. 25 teams tested the water that comes from the Mont Blanc.

Yesterday, after the opening ceremony of the World Championships, the teams and the coaches were given a free hour to study the river before going back to the camp in Villeneuve (AO).

Besides memorizing the course of the river very carefully, this morning the athletes had the chance to train before the Slalom race. All the athletes said they had fun and felt a lot of adrenaline thanks to the amazing strength of the river and its rapids.

The gate number nine was probably the hardest one of the course. It was the most technical part that challenged all the athletes. In fact, some rafts got stucked and they were kept in the hole because of the centrifugal force, and were forced to come out of the water.

The teams go back to the camp in Villeneuve in order to rest and get ready for the last day of races.

07.18.2018, Ivrea - The most important event for the world of rafting is everyday closer: the World Rafting Championships for the categories Junior and U23, which will be held in Italy from 21 to 24 July 2018.

More than 35 teams, for a total of 15 participating countries, will compete on the rapids of the Dora Baltea River firstly in Villeneuve(Aosta) and then in the Canoe Stadium of Ivrea.

The WRF, after reaching a collaboration agreement with the International Canoe Federation (I.C.F), became an official ICF Associate Member and a landmark for rafting worldwide.

The international delegations will arrive in Italy on Friday 20 July. For the occasion, the Rafting Aventure Park in Villeneuve will turn into a village that will host the athletes throughout this important event. On Saturday, it will be possible to follow the official training in the river from 9 am to 12 pm and from 3 pm to 6 pm. On Sunday, athletes will finally confront each other in 3 different specialities: Downriver in Villeneuve (AO), RX and Slalom in Ivrea (TO).

At the end of the kermesse, the award ceremony will be held in the suggestive and unique Piazza d’Armi at Forte di Bord. It will be possible to follow the event live on the ICF official channels and on all the WRF social networks. Good luck to all the organizers and to the young athletes.

After the World Rafting Championship settled in Italy from 21st to 24th of July the President of the Armenian Rafting Federation and the Rafting.am club met Mr. Levon
Vahradyan, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs.

During the meeting, in the capital Yerevan, Mr. Seto Zakaryan, President of the Armenian Rafting Federation, reported to Mr. Vahradyan the Italian experience of their athletes in Villeneuve and Ivrea. Rafting in Armenia is growing up under the World Rafting Federation, indeed after their National Championship on 11th August and the International Rafting Fest of the next weekend (18th and 19th August) they will discuss the opportunity of organizing a WRF event next year.

This morning competition was a bit hard because of the river condition. For this reason and the strength of the water, some athletes got to the end of the course exhausted. But Italians were stronger.

Check out the results on the results page //

After this first event, the opening ceremony of this World Championship was celebrated in Ivrea, where the RX and the Slalom competitions are going to take place in the next days.

Danilo Barmaz, the president of the World Rafting Federation, during his speech encouraged all the athletes to perform well and to have fun. Danilo Barmaz: “This is an historical day for Rafting”.

The Fédération Française de Canoë-Kayak (FFCK), one of the most important Kayak Federation in the world, has become a Member of the World Rafting Federation. The application shall be ratified by the Executive Board during the next U23 & Junior World Championships in Aosta/Ivrea, Italy.

"The France's membership is a great news for all the WRF movement and provides a great boost to the continued growth of our sport in Europe. All of us know well the importance of the FFCK in the paddle sport community" said Danilo Barmaz, WRF President, "Rafting represents an incredible tool for the development of the active basis of all paddle-sports, from slalom to canoe-polo."

"In France rafting as a team sport is used by schools and companies: the management of the group dynamics and the team balance, whether it aims at achieving sport or social goals, is the way to co-opt into water experience an important number of people from the educational and labour sector: the FFCK with its structures will play a key role in the development of rafting as tool of inclusion and overcoming differences" said Andrea Gatti, WRF Coordinator of the Educational Projects Commission.

U23 & JUNIOR WORLD RAFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018: AN INCREDIBLE FIGHT TO CONQUER THE WORLD TITLES

Villeneuve and Ivrea has hosted 40 teams competing in the 3 World Rafting Federation disciplines: downriver, slalom and RX, on the Dora Baltea river. Many surprises in the italian Valle d'Aosta and Piemonte regions led the
young athletes tuned not only about the results.

26th July 2018 - Athletes from 13 nations will remember this WRF Event thanks to the withewater, the adrenaline of the competition and to the international feeling of sharing a passion. This event confirmed the WRF intention to focus on young athletes, working to see them at the Olympics in the future.

After the first two traditional races of Downriver and Slalom the last one was a new spectacular discipline called RX, officially born in order to impress the public. It is composed by 2 parts: the first one is a qualification phase who's times will decide the starting position of the second knock out phase, where the couples fight in a direct elimination. It has been a race full of surprises.

Mix teams
The 2018 WRF's innovation are the mix teams: only in the new entry category RX there are 2 boys and 2 girls on the raft, creating an innovative perspective of team. The U19 mix has

been conquered by the Italian hosts, after them Czech Republic and Turkey. Same nations took the u23 podium, but 1st Turkey, 2nd Italy and 3rd Czech.

Italian hosts won 3 golds in the general ranking. The 4th and last one was taken by the Czech u 23 women team, that beated Italy and Russia with an amazing show of team spirit.

World Rafting Spirit - International teams made by Armenia, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Albania and Serbia closed the races under the flag of wrf, that is working on the Olympic project and hopes to see some of this amazing guys in the future Games.

On the occasion of the World Championships, the WRF launched its TALENT IDENTIFICATION PROGRAMME (TIP) (/documents/rules/wrf-rafting-development- programme-draft/viewdocument), by involving an international team composed of athletes coming from different developing countries (Croatia, Chile, Czech Republic).

Did you miss the live streaming on Planet Canoe? Check it out here

The first day of official trainings, prior of definitive races, came to an end. The athletes enjoyed the day without rain, which went better as the hours were passing by.

Paraphrasing what the athletes said about the training, the level of the water has risen a little bit because of the rain of yesterday night, but they trained a lot and they are ready to face anything.

Today, are the first races of this World Championship, starting with Downriver in Villeneuve (Aosta) where two groups of athletes, A and B, are going to compete. They are also going to the open ceremony of World Championship on a pair with the ICF awards ceremony.

On July 21, 2018 the Rafting World Championships in the Junior and U23 categories.

The Junior&U23 R4 World Championships will take place in Chavonne (Aosta) and Ivrea, a Piemontese town famous for its traditional orange feast and known also by itsriver Dora Baltea, which crosses along the city and which will be the watercourse where the world event will happen. The event will run from July 21 to 24: the official competition will start on Sunday with the Downriver (in the Chavvone-Sarre section) in Valle d’Aosta and then from Monday moves to Ivrea for the Slalom and the RX.

This event runs straight after the ICF Canoe Slalom U23 and Junior World Championships: Ivrea will be remembered as host town for this World Event and also for being the host place five days before the Rafting races start off, of the U23 and Junior Slalom Canoe competition.

Italy is well prepared to make the participants feel at home. All the organization’s efforts are focused on the 12 participating countries with their 35 teams in all, to make them and all the people attending the competition, take with them the best of memories of the event, of the town and its host team, as it will be on of the first big events.

The award ceremony will be held in the famous “Forte di Bard”, a fortified complex built in the 19th century by the House of Savoy on a rocky prominence above Bard.

The championship will be widely broadcasted by WRF and Planet Canoe, the official platform of the ICF. This will be an opportunity to show the world how this sport works, and certainly to engage the audience with the beauty of unforgettable landscapes.

You can get further information in ‘Bulletin 1 and Bulletin 2’.

Carolina Navarro Casares for World Rafting Federation

SPANISH VERSION

Este 21 de julio de 2018 dará comienzo el Campeonato del Mundo de Rafting, categorías U23 y Junior.

La competición tendrá lugar en Chavona (Aosta) and Ivrea, ciudad piamontesa famosa por su tradicional evento de la naranja y también atractiva por el rio Dora Baltea, que atraviesa la ciudad y precisamente río donde se celebrará el evento.

Para los locales que organizan el evento, esto significa una oportunidad para mostrar su ciudad y la región en general, y por supuesto albergar atletas de todo el mundo.

Ivrea será recordada un tiempo por ser anfitriona de no solo este mundial, sino también por acoger 5 días antes el Campeonato del Mundo U23 y Junior de Slalom Canoa. En un periodo de dos semanas el rio que cruza la ciudad tendrá másvida que nunca.

El evento comenzará el día 21 y finalizará el 24 de Julio: La competición oficial comienza el domingo con el Downriver (en Chavvone-Sarre) en el Valle de Aosta, y desde el lunes se celebrará en Ivrea el Slalom y el RX.

Italia está preparada para hacer sentirse como en casa a los participantes de esta competición. Serán 12 países y 35 equipos los que participarán, así que todos los esfuerzos de la organización están puestos en un objetivo: que los atletas y toda la gente extranjera en general, se lleven un bonito recuerdo del evento, el entorno y los anfitriones, porque es una de las primeras grandes competiciones.

La ceremonia de inauguración seráen el famoso “Forte di Bard”, una fortificación construida en el siglo XIX por la casa de Saboya.

Carolina Navarro Casares for World Rafting Federation