World Life Saving Championships

The ILS World Life Saving Championships are the world championships for lifesaving sport events. They are sanctioned by the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), conducted every 2 years, and formerly marketed and known as the ‘Rescue’ series, for example – Rescue 2008.

The World Life Saving Championships incorporate - National Teams World Championships, Interclub Teams World Championships, Masters World Championships, Surfboats World Championships and IRB World Championships. Additional championships can include additional events such as March Past, Long distance Race and 2k Beach Run. The World Championships typically attract between 3,000 and 5,000 competitors and officials, and are conducted over a period of 12 to 14 days.[1]

History

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Prior to the amalgamation of WLS and FIS in 1993 to create ILS, both WLS and FIS conducted World Championship events in Life Saving Sports. Founded in 1971 WLS conducted ocean and beach based world championships for National Teams in South Africa in 1974 and Interclub World Championships in 1981 and 1983. The 1988, 1990, and 1992 Rescue series of World Championship events were also organised by WLS. Rescue 88, the 1988 World Championships were the first international championships to conduct both ocean and pool events. In 1956 prior to the advent of WLS, as part of the 1956 Olympic Games celebrations Surf Life Saving Australia (a founding member of WLS) hosted an International Lifesaving Championships at Torquay Beach in which teams from several countries competed against each other. It could be argued that this was the first World Lifesaving Championships for ocean and beach events. Founded in 1910, member nations of FIS agreed to conduct World Championships in pool life saving events. The first such championships were conducted in Paris, France in 1955 and were held sporadically over the next 40 years until the final FIS Championships in 1995. These contests were strictly for national representative teams only. Since 1996, World Life Saving Championships have been conducted solely by ILS every two years.

In 2014 the word “Rescue” was replaced with the term “Lifesaving World Championships” (LWC) to better describe the ILS LWC and to delineate from the biennial ILS World Conference on Drowning Prevention. [2]

List of competitions

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Number Year Championship Location Country
1 1955 FIS Paris, France  France
2 1956 FIS Mulhouse, France  France
3 1956 International contest Torquay Beach, Australia  Australia
4 1957 FIS Bordeaux, France  France
5 1958 FIS Châlons du Marne et Reims, France  France
6 1959 FIS Wiesbaden, Germany  Germany
7 1960 FIS Madrid, Spain  Spain
8 1961 FIS Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg  Luxembourg
9 1962 FIS Rome, Italy  Italy
10 1963 FIS Paris, France  France
11 1964 FIS Alger, Algeria  Algeria
12 1966 FIS Rabat, Morocco  Morocco
13 1967 FIS Salzburg, Austria  Austria
14 1968 FIS Trier, Germany  Germany
15 1969 FIS Rome, Italy  Italy
16 1972 FIS Vittel Neufchateau Contrexville, France  France
17 1974 WLS South Africa  South Africa
18 1974 FIS Barcelona, Spain  Spain
19 1976 FIS Berlin, Germany  Germany
20 1978 FIS London, Great Britain  United Kingdom
21 1981 WLS Interclub Bali, Indonesia  Indonesia
22 1981 FIS Sofia, Bulgaria  Bulgaria
23 1983 WLS Interclub Hawaii, United States  United States
24 1983 FIS Warsaw, Poland  Poland
25 1987 FIS Warendorf, Germany  Germany
26 1988 Rescue 88 Gold Coast, Australia  Australia
27 1990 Rescue 90 Lübeck/Travemünde, Germany  Germany
28 1991 FIS Jönköping, Sweden  Sweden
29 1992 Rescue 92 Shimoda, Japan  Japan
30 1994 Rescue 94 Cardiff/Newquay, Great Britain  United Kingdom
31 1995 FIS Valenciennes, France  France
32 1996 Rescue 96 Durban, South Africa  South Africa
33 1998 Rescue 98 Auckland, New Zealand  New Zealand
34 2000 Rescue 2000 Sydney, Australia[3]  Australia
35 2002 Rescue 2002 Daytona Beach/Orlando, United States[3]  United States
36 2004 Rescue 2004 Livorno/Viareggio, Italy  Italy
37 2006 Rescue 2006 Geelong/Lorne, Australia[4]  Australia
38 2008 Rescue 2008 Berlin/Warnemünde, Germany  Germany
39 2010 Rescue 2010 Alexandria, Egypt  Egypt
40 2012 Rescue 2012 Adelaide, Australia[5]  Australia
41 2014 Rescue 2014 Montpellier and La Grande-Motte, France  France
42 2016 LWC 2016 Eindhoven and Noordwijk, The Netherlands[6]  Netherlands
43 2018 LWC 2018 Adelaide, Australia[7]  Australia
44 2022 LWC 2020 Riccione, Italy[8]  Italy
45 2024 LWC 2024 Gold Coast, Australia[9]  Australia
46 2026 LWC 2026 Agadir, Morocco[10]  Morocco

References

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  1. ^ "Lifesaving World Championships (LWC)". International Life Saving Federation. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  2. ^ "ILS Rulebook" (PDF). International Life Saving Federation.
  3. ^ a b Edwards, Allan; Gilbert, Keith; Skinner, James (2003-01-01). Some Like It Hot: The Beach As a Cultural Dimension. Meyer & Meyer Verlag. p. 197. ISBN 9781841260983. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  4. ^ "'Dream team' off to Australia". Independent Online. 16 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Rescue 2012". Surf Life Saving Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Lifesaving World Championships 2016 - Netherlands - Eindhoven - Noordwijk". Lifesaving2016.com. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  7. ^ "2018 Lifesaving World Championships". International Lifesaving Federation (ILS). Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  8. ^ "2022 Lifesaving World Championships". International Lifesaving Federation (ILS). Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  9. ^ "2024 Lifesaving World Championships". International Lifesaving Federation (ILS). Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  10. ^ "2026 Lifesaving World Championships". International Lifesaving Federation (ILS). Retrieved 6 November 2021.
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