En un comunicado de prensa
publicado el pasado 14 de Enero, la Federación Mundial de Disco Volador (WFDF)
anunció que todos los eventos del Campeonato Mundial de la WFDF (Incluyendo
el WUGC) programados para llevarse a cabo en 2021 serían cancelados o
pospuestos debido a las preocupaciones actuales de salud y seguridad en
relación con la pandemia de coronavirus y la incertidumbres en torno a los
viajes transfronterizos resultantes y otras restricciones que siguen imponiendo
las autoridades gubernamentales.

https://wfdf.sport/2021/01/wfdf-announces-major-changes-to-the-2021-events-schedule/

WFDF Announces major changes to the 2021 Events Schedule

All WFDF World Championship Events in 2021 are Canceled or Postponed

In Events, News, Press Release * Official Communication by WFDFJanuary 14, 2021

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) today announced that it will not host any World Championship Flying Disc Events in 2021, effectively canceling the World Under-24 Ultimate Championships (WU24) and the World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC) both planned to be held in Europe in July this summer, and postponing other planned events.

The WFDF COVID-19 Working Group and the WFDF Board of Directors have been following the global development of the pandemic closely over the past year.  WFDF is primarily concerned about the health and safety of athletes, volunteers, and others involved in planning and holding events.  It has reviewed the guidance from various governmental authorities and the World Health Organization regarding the various lockdown measures, and the predicted relaxation of restrictions on public gatherings.

After careful consideration of the situation, WFDF has concluded that it is simply not feasible to plan cross-border events through 2021, due to varying regulations and restrictions.  There can be no certainty as to the ability of athletes to travel and compete safely in various events in 2021.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present incredible challenges for the planning of international sporting events and especially for large championship events bringing athletes from countries across the globe,” said WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.  “While the development of several safe and effective vaccines is good news, the limited availability and slower than expected distribution plan guidance by governmental authorities suggests that a return to whatever our “new normal” will be on a global basis is not going to occur until late this year.  After taking into consideration all of the data available to us, in consultation with our event organizers, our review of WHO and other international guidelines, the status of the distribution of a vaccine, and the advice of our medical team, WFDF has concluded that it will not be possible to run large-scale events in 2021 in a way that protects the health and safety of all participants, and it is not even clear that travel and other governmental restrictions will be lifted until late in the year.”

“Although large cross-border championship events will be slowest to return, we are hopeful on behalf of our national federations that local and national level competition can resume within the next six months. While athletes have been able to continue to participate in individual disciplines like disc golf, which grew exponentially this last year, we expect a gradual phase-in of team and large event activity, starting with personal training, socially distanced team practices, smaller local events, to full blown competitive events and tournaments.”

Both host countries for the Ultimate events, Ireland (WU24) and the Netherlands (WUGC) are currently under strict lockdowns with schools, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops closed and a restriction on the number of people allowed to gather, heavily impacting organized group sports. Sports events are not allowed at this time except in limited and highly restrictive circumstances and there are no certainties as to when these restrictions will be lifted.

At this time, WFDF has made the decision to postpone the 2021 World Beach Ultimate Championships, scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2021, to at least the second quarter of 2022, providing the teams and organizers extra time to select teams, and prepare for the event, and allowing continued vaccinations and the expected end of the pandemic.  More information on the World Beach Ultimate Championships will be forthcoming.

The World Overall Flying Disc Championships (WOC) to be held in the USA will not take place in 2021. WFDF Chair of the Overall Committee Rob McLeod has confirmed WOC will be postponed until 2022.

The WFDF Disc Golf Committee Chair, Charlie Mead, has confirmed that the bid process for finding hosts for WFDF’s regional 2021 Team Disc Golf events will continue as planned, capitalising on safe and permitted travel between some regions where travel bubbles have been set up. “Once bid proposals are received on the 23rd January, WFDF will evaluate the hygiene concepts put forward by the bid candidates and will only proceed with regional events if safe and responsible to do so.”

Brain Gisel, WFDF Vice President and Ultimate Chair, reminds member federations that the three WFDF 2021 Continental Ultimate Championships for the PanAmerican (PAUC), African (AAUC), and Asian-Oceanic (AOUGC) regions were previously canceled, as announced in the 26 May 2020 press release.

WFDF will announce today in a separate press release the tentative WFDF 2022 Event Schedule.

http://www.wfdf.org/news-media/news/press/2-official-communication/971-wfdfs-2020-world-championships-update

UPDATE WFDF: WUGC2021 CANCELED

WFDF Announces tentative 2022 Events Schedule

In Events, News, Press Release * Official Communication by WFDFJanuary 14, 2021

In a separate press release earlier today, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) announced that all WFDF World Championship events scheduled to take place in 2021 would be canceled or postponed due to the ongoing health and safety concerns in connection with the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainties around the resulting cross-border travel and other restrictions that continue to be imposed by governmental authorities.

2021 decisions taken

• WFDF 2021 World Ultimate and Guts Championships (Netherlands) (originally postponed from 2020) – CANCELED
• WFDF 2021 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships (Ireland) – CANCELED
• WFDF 2021 World Beach Ultimate Championships (USA) – POSTPONED
• WFDF 2021 Continental Ultimate Championships – CANCELED
  • All Africa (AAUC)
  • Asia-Oceania (AOUGC)
  • PanAmerica (PAUC)
• WFDF 2021 World Team Disc Golf Championships (Croatia) – POSTPONED
• WFDF 2021 World Overall Flying Disc Championships (USA) – POSTPONED

2022 tentative calendar of events

• WFDF 2022 World Beach Ultimate Championships (WBUC) held in April in the USA
• WFDF 2022 World Overall Flying Disc Championships (WOC) held in July in the USA
• WFDF 2022 World Masters Ultimate Club Championships (WMUCC) held in June or July
• WFDF 2022 World Junior Ultimate Championships (WJUC) held in July or August
• WFDF 2022 World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) held in July or August
• IWGA World Games (TWG) held between 7-17 July in Birmingham, AL, USA
• WFDF 2022 World Team Disc Golf Championships held in August in Croatia

WFDF urges all member National Federations and participants in 2022 events to acknowledge that the calendar remains tentative at this time. WFDF will continue to monitor the situation and effects of the pandemic, including without limitation, governmental and travel restrictions, and may make alterations or changes as it deems advisable to protect the health and safety of all people.

The mitigation of health and safety concerns, the resumption of Flying Disc sports activities within WFDF’s member federations, and the relaxing of restrictions on large cross-border sports events are all factors that WFDF will consider as it makes further decisions on the events calendar. WFDF will attempt to delay any registration and fee payment requirements until WFDF can reasonably expect that the health and safety of all participants can be protected for such events. Regardless, WFDF reserves the right to alter the schedule and/or cancel events at any time.

Announcements on specific events outlining the dates, venue and hosts will be made available shortly as details firm up, with detailed information bulletins becoming available by mid-year 2021.

Athletes should reach out to their Member Federation or go to the WFDF website for updates on the status of 2022 events. WFDF Member Federations should feel free to reach out to the WFDF Events Team to ask questions at any time at karina.woldt@wfdf.sport.

The World Games

The WUGC was to have served as the qualifying event for The World Games, currently rescheduled to take place in July 2022.

The WFDF Ultimate Committee led by WFDF Vice President Brian Gisel has considered whether a standalone qualifying tournament for TWG2022 would be feasible and it considered an early 2022 event proposal, but ultimately decided that it would not make sense. For that reason, and in light of the cancellation of WUGC 2020/21, the qualification of countries for The World Games 2022 will be based on Section 2 of the Qualification System for WFDF Ultimate World Games Events, Version 2008 – 1.1 (approved May 18th, 2008, and updated in 2019) which states: “The qualifying event for the World Games will be the most recent Ultimate World Championship event, which was held at least 8 months prior to the World Games.” In this case, the most recent Ultimate World Championship event is WUGC 2016. Using the World Games Qualification system, the teams qualifying for The World Games 2022 will be: USA (host), Australia, Canada, Japan, Colombia, Great Britain, France and Germany.

WFDF Congress 2021

With travel restrictions in 2020, WFDF’s first ever virtual Congress was hosted by video conference in August 2020 and resulted in the highest Congress attendance in WFDF’s history. With travel restrictions likely to still be in place and with no events in 2021, WFDF will plan again to hold
the WFDF 2021 Annual Congress virtually, on a date (likely in August) to be announced in the coming weeks.

https://wfdf.sport/2021/01/wfdf_announces_tentative_2022_events_schedule/

Ultimate

Ultimate or Ultimate (frisbee) is a tactical, dynamic team sport with characteristics from handball, korfball and rugby. It is played without a referee and holds sportsmanship in high regard, following the ‘Spirit of the Game’ principles typical for Ultimate and other disc sports. Ultimate is played in more and more countries worldwide and the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2015.

WUGC2020 Leeuwarden – The Netherlands

---

---