DanceSport Celebration at the World Games 2022 12/07/2022

DanceSport celebrated a fantastic worldwide exposure last week. The Legacy Arena and Sloss Furnaces venue were packed with fans and enthusiasts as four DanceSport disciplines took the center stage in Birmingham, AL (USA).

Breaking had another successful debut among the World Sports family, this time at the Sloss Furnaces venue with sold out tickets. Breaking Athletes from Japan and the host country USA dominated the medal rankings as Ami (JPN), Sunny (USA) and Ayumi (JPN) took home the medals in b-girls section and Victor (USA), Jeffro (USA) and Shigekix (JPN) were awarded the first ever World Games medals for b-boys. Total of 16 b-girls and 16 b-boys around the world enjoyed the ambience and the positive heath of the event and demonstrated their best athletic skills, dynamics and explosive strength for the American crowd. Breaking will make its formal debut at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Our Standard and Latin disciplines appeared already for the seventh time on the programme of the World Games. It all started in Lahti (FIN) back in 1997, and now  continued with a strong line-up of the finest couples of the moment.

Gabriele Goffredo – Anna Matus (MDA) secured their third consecutive Latin title at the World Games. The reigning WDSF Professional Division World Champions had a good and tight battle with the reigning WDSF Adult World Champion couple Marius-Andrei Balan – Khrystyna Moshenska (GER). Gabriele and Anna were ranked in front of the German couple by less than one point in final total scores. For Marius and Khrystyna it was their first time as dancers to compete at the Games. Charles-Guillaume Schmitt– Elena Salikhova (FRA) completed the podium with their third place and the bronze medals. They consecutively won three times the bronze medal. Andrea Silvestri – Martina Varadi(HUN) ranked 4th, Edgar Marcos Borjas – Alina Nowak (POL) ranked 5th and Ionut Alexandru Miculescu – Andra Pacurar(ROU) completed the spectacular final with their 6th place.

New names were carved on the table of honour of the World Games in the Standard discipline. The reigning World Champions Evaldas Sodeika – Ieva Zukauskaite (LTU) managed to keep up their consistent performance with their strong dancing.  They were awarded with the title for the first time in their accelerating career. Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini (ITA) had another solid competition. They were the winners of the silver medals and make strong progression, as on the previous World Games in Wroclaw, Poland they finished on the 4th place. Vaidotas Lacitis – Veronika Golodneva (LTU) compete as Professionals in our PD division and were ranked 3rd in this competition followed by Tomas Fainsil – Violetta Fainsil from Germany, Dmitri Kolobov – Signe Busk from Denmark and Rares Cojoc – Andreea Matei from Romania, ranked from 4th to 6th in the final in respective order.

The American spectators were thrilled as the  Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll couples showed their best at Legacy Arena. Having been on the sports programme of the World Games for the fourth time, the audience in Birmingham gasped as the athletic couples demonstrated their dancing skills and physical fitness with their mind-blowing tricks, throws and catches in front of their own eyes. Michelle Uhl – Tobias Bludau (GER) gave fantastic performances and nailed the title in Birmingham. Noëmi Kuran-Pellegatta – Nicolas Kuran-Pellegatta (SUI) had a top-ranked foot technique round and the couple won silver medals while Anna Sturm – MatthiasFeichtinger (AUT) completed the podium with their third place. Marie Dvorakova – Jiri Jakubec (CZE) ranked 4th, Emmie Delatorre - Guillaume Gabirol (FRA) ranked 5th and the line-up of the final was complete with Francesca Marletta – Simone Cavalera (ITA) on the 6th place.

The World Games is an 11-day international multi-sport event organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee.  Traditionally organized the year following the Summer Olympic Games. The World Games 2022 showcase a new generation of Global Sports in Birmingham from July 7-17 2022. 3,600 elite athletes from over 100 countries compete for gold in more than 30 of the fastest growing sports in the world.