On the eighth day of the WFDF 2022 World Ultimate Club Championships, teams battled it out under the blazing sun in Cincinnati for a chance to take home a gold medal and the title of world champion. While there was a strong showing by the USA clubs on their home turf, with American club teams earning two golds and one silver medal in the Finals, WUCC 2018 silver medalist Revolution from Colombia prevailed in a nail-biter to take the Women’s gold medal and Canada, Australia, and Great Britain were also represented on the medal stand.
In the Mixed division, Seattle Mixtape overpowered Canada’s Red Flag with a commanding 15-6 finish, while New York’s PoNY edged out Raleigh’s Ring of Fire for the gold in the Open division with a final score of 15-12.
The most thrilling matchup of the day was in the Women’s division. where Revolution started the game at a 0-3 deficit against the USA’s Fury but battled back to take the game to “universe point” in a time-capped game, eventually earning gold with a final score of 14-13 after a final point that saw both teams with several scoring chances.
Japan’s exceptional Spirit of the Game was on display as the country earned two of the tournament’s three Spirit awards, which are given to the team in each division who exemplifies Ultimate’s core principles of sportsmanship and fair play. Buzz Bullets took home the honor in the Open division and MUD earned it in the Women’s division. In the Mixed division, Germany’s Colorado were the WUCC Spirit winners.
The Bronze Medal finishers were: Australia’s Lunch Box (Mixed), Great Britain’s Clapham (Open), and the USA’s Raleigh Phoenix (Women’s).
“It was an incredible week with all these elite club teams coming together in such an amazing, large-scale tournament after the Covid lockdowns, and it was so fun to see just how competitive so many teams and countries were,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We want to congratulate all the teams for incredibly athletic and spirited play. World Clubs is a truly special event, with its combination of elite competition, club team dynamics, and social bonding on a global scale. We also want to give our thanks to Tournament Director Dale Wilker who heads up a team of experienced and passionate Cincinnati Ultimate staff and tournament volunteers with the support Oshadega LLC, Columbus Ultimate Disc Association (CUDA), and the Warren Country Convention and Visitors Bureau (WCCVB).”
All three Finals games were live-streamed for free via the Olympic Channel and can be replayed on their website or at Ultiworld.com.
The Finals concluded eight days of competition from Cincinnati for WUCC 2022, in which more than 3,000 athletes across 128 teams from 30 countries participated. The WUCC is the third major event for Flying Disc this summer. The WFDF World Masters Ultimate Championships were held from 25 June to 2 July in Limerick, Ireland with 2,664 athletes on 115 teams from 23 countries. And Flying Disc was one of the sports featured at The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, also in July.
WFDF next hosts the World Overall Championships in San Diego, California, USA the first week of August, The World Juniors Ultimate Championships in Wroclaw, Poland with 650 athletes from 18 countries is scheduled for the second week of August, and the World Team Disc Golf Championships with players from 26 countries will be featured the third weekend of August in Varazdin, Croatia.