In Karate, several big stars were on stage on the first day of the Games. Olympic Champion Sandra Sanchez, who was the flag bearer for Spain at the Closing Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, won gold in the last competition in her career. It was an emotional moment in several ways! Philippine’s Junna Tsukii won gold in the women’s -50kg category, an important medal for the team which only has six individual athletes at the Games, and which in 2017 won only one medal, Carlo Biado’s gold in Pool, Billiards. The home country’s Gakuji Tozaki and Trinity Allen both won bronze in their weight categories.
The Powerlifting arena saw a sensational final for the Lightweight Women’s category, when Japanese Yukako Fukushima won gold on her sixth attempt at The World Games! Fukushima has competed at the Games since 2001, and had won four medals so far, but never before a gold one. The 52-year-old athlete was understandably more than happy to finally receive the biggest award. Japan got a second gold in the men’s class when Yusuke Satake won the competition at his first edition of The World Games. Finally, the Women’s Middleweight final saw the battle of the greatest: at the end, Carola Garra from Italy was the strongest, ahead of Taylor Lachapelle from the Virgin Islands, US, and the Powerlifting legend Larysa Soloviova (UKR).
The first medal of the Games was won by Geiny Pajaro (COL) in Women’s Speed Skating, Time Trial 200 m, and Colombia got two more gold medals as well when Johana Viveros and Andres Jimenez won Point Elmination 10 000 m and Sprint 500 m respectively. Olympic Champion in Ice skating, Bart Swings (BEL) showed that he is just as fast on roller skates and won his first distance at these Games, Men’s Point Elimination 10 000 m.
The Moldovan couple who have dominated the dance floors in the recent years, Anna Matus and Gabriele Goffredo, impressed once again yesterday and swept the gold medals in Latin Couple to Moldova with exhilarating top-quality performances.
In Finswimming the next host of The World Games, China, won two gold medals when Yaoyao Hu won the women’s Apnoea 50 m, and their Women's Surface Relay team won the 4x100m Final. The fastest woman swimmer on earth, Petra Senanszky (HUN), proved that she is in good shape and won Women’s Bi Fins 50 m – a discipline where she was also fastest at The World Games in 2017. Germany’s Max Poschart rose from a silver medal in Wroclaw 2017 to gold at Birmingham 2022 in Men’s Surface 100 m.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and over 100 countries will take part in The World Games.