A midday torrential downpour and strong winds on Sunday caused disruption to a number of the outdoor events at The World Games, with several of the sports having to suspend play or reschedule events. The violent thunderstorm saw host city Wroclaw drenched with rivers of water running freely down the streets. The Speed Skating venue was affected by the storm as well: the video screen broke due to the wind. But the Wroclaw organisation prooved that it can deal with challenges. Vice President of the Wroclaw Organizing Committee, Adam Roczek, said: “It looked worse than it actually was. Thanks to the volunteers we were able to manage the situation.” At the Millenium Park venue, where the skaters compete, the volunteers took care of cleaning the track so that the two finals scheduled for the afternoon could take place on time
The boules competitions which are being held adjacent to the lakeside musical fountains of the Pergola, adjoining Wroclaw's Centennial Hall immediately suspended play with the bedraggled competitors finding shelter in the athlete's tent. In the aftermath of the storm, none of the six finals scheduled for this Sunday could be played. Therefore the athletes have to become early birds. The competition will start on Monday one hour earlier than planned. Boules start now at 8 am.
The Fistball matches at the Olakwa stadium were also affected with the action interrupted in the match between Switzerland and Argentina, causing a knock-on effect to the timings of the rest of the scheduled matches in today's qualifying round. In Flying Disc, the final qualifying match between Poland and USA was delayed by the storm.
As the medal matches took place later this day all problems were solved. The finals ran on time. Archery was able to complete the first round of qualifying before the rain hit, with Rio 2016 medallist Ellison Brady topping the qualification standings in the men’s competition. However, the sport experienced a slight pause before the afternoon session commenced.
Another sport which was due to conclude today was the Air Sports events. A sport which relies heavily on accurate meteorological information was aware of the impending storm, and so had consequently brought forward the deciding round of the Glider Aerobatics to Saturday evening, with Hungary's Ference Toth claiming gold. Half the competitors in the parachuting canopy piloting penultimate round had completed their activities before the rain arrived. After a 90 minute delay, the other competitors completed their routines. The other disciplines could be concluded too. Fortunately for Poland. Wojciech Bogda won the Paramotor Slalom competition and the first gold medal for the host of the TWG 2017.
To find out the latest information about the timings on Monday consult the results section of the official website www.theworldgames2017.com