From 16 November to the 2 December, the lifesaving community descended on Adelaide, Australia, for the Lifesaving World Championships (LWC).

With over 7,000 participants from 45 nations, LWC Adelaide 2018 is the largest Lifesaving World Championships ever conducted and provided a number of ‘firsts’ for the  International Lifesaving Federation.

FIRST!
It was the first time the event has returned to the same city for a second time.

FIRST!
It was the first time a state association has successfully bid for and run a World Championships (until now it has always been a national body).

FIRST!
LWC Adelaide saw the largest number of technical officials attend, which is a testament to the popularity and strength of the competition and nothing, whatsoever to do with the time of year, the wine, food and tourism.

With sixteen days of competition split across the pool and the beach, the Lifesaving World Championships is the largest international lifesaving sport competition in the world. All the events are based around rescue capability and are specific to saving people’s lives.

There were 35 world records broken at the pool alone, with some extra spice thrown in, as the hosts took honours in the Open National Teams competition, beating traditional rivals New Zealand.

Team GBR (Open and Youth) held their own against a strong field, both teams made up of 12 athletes fought hard to place 7^th and 6^th respectively (Open with 344 points, Youth with 509 points).

However, special mention has to go to Zara Williams, who became a DOUBLE World Champion in addition to winning four gold medals during the Inter Club Championships.

RLSS UK was proud to have had five lifesaving clubs represented us at the Inter Club Lifesaving World Championships:

Club	Open	Youth
Crawley Town LSC	37th	58th
Heanor Swimming and LSC	50th	49th
Jersey Aquatic Rescue Club	57th
Loughborough Students LSC	57th
Retford & District LSC		21st

 

Medals

GBR Open

Zara Williams – World Champion - 50 m Manikin Carry and 100 m Rescue Medley

Chris Parry – Silver Medallist -Beach Sprint

Great Britain – Bronze - Board Rescue

Great Britain – Bronze - Oceanman / Oceanwoman Relay

Emily Corin – Bronze - Surf Ski Race

Dan Humble – Bronze - Surf Ski Race

GBR Youth

Great Britain – Silver - Line Throw

Great Britain – Bronze - Board Rescue

Great Britain – Bronze - Board Rescue

Great Britain – Bronze - Mixed Ocean Lifesaver Relay

Robert Whittaker – Bronze - Oceanman / Oceanwoman

 

“The lifesaving community is truly unique,” said John Baker ESM, Chairman LWC2018

 “When we were hit with that major weather event in the first week, volunteers from all over the world were on the beach at first light to help clean up. So effective was the mobilisation, we were able to restore of the infrastructure and get back to competition within 24 hours. As one lifesaver said to me when I thanked them, “that’s just what we do”.

The event was a resounding success; RLSS UK would like to congratulate all of the medalists and extend our thanks to everyone involved in bringing the event to life.

NEXT UP…The World Lifesaving Championships will move to Italy for RESCUE 2020

For all the detailed results please visit - https://rescuesoft.info/ 

National Record recording

Please remember that the ultimate responsibility for claiming a national record lies with the lifesaver(s) concerned. If you set a record and it is not awarded please complete RLSS UK Record Application Form and return to [email protected] as soon as possible.