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ULTIWORLD




BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO 2024 WORLD ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

All the basics you need to know in order to enjoy the ultimate's biggest
international event.

AUGUST 26, 2024 BY EDWARD STEPHENS IN PREVIEW WITH 0 COMMENTS

USA v Colombia. Photo: Jolie Lang — UltiPhotos.com

Our coverage of the 2024 World Ultimate Championships is presented by Spin
Ultimate. Please support the brands that make Ultiworld possible and shop at
Spin Ultimate!

WHAT ARE THE WORLD ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIPS?

In short, WUC is our World Cup.

The WUC – often called simply ‘Worlds’ by players – is by far the most
high-level and prestigious of all the global international events organized by
the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). It takes place once every four years.

Countries from all over the world enter teams in up to three different
competitive divisions: Women’s, Open1, and Mixed. Each competing country forms a
team of their best players – often bringing together rivals from elite club
competition – with the hopes to win a medal at the end of a week-long event. For
the top nations, virtually every player on a roster is a bona fide superstar on
their club. As a result, it’s nearly as fascinating to see how well each
nation’s best and brightest find ways to work together as it is to see how they
stack up against the rest of the globe.

That being said, don’t kid yourself – the best reason to pay attention will be
the high-octane fight for the medals. Anyone who says they know how that fight
will play out is lying. Thanks to the Covid pandemic, which canceled the
scheduled 2020 edition of the event, it has been eight long years since the last
WUC in London. Massive changes have taken place in the sport’s ecosystem since
then, with some of the sport’s longtime hotbeds, such as Japan, Canada, and
Australia, potentially yielding ground to nations on the rise. Germany,
Colombia, France, Belgium, and Italy all enter the tournaments with legitimate
medal potential in at least one of the divisions.

They will all be measuring themselves against the United States, though. Long a
dominant power in ultimate, the US teams won gold in all three divisions2 in
high style in 2016, failing to give up so much as a single break in any of the
championship games. They followed that performance up with gold medal
performances at both the 2017 and 2022 World Games – see below for a quick World
Games explainer – to cement their position as the sport’s global standard.

The past successes of the US, though, do not guarantee more gold this time
around. Colombia have already defeated USA Women’s at an important warm-up
tournament.  Indeed, even some of the aforementioned championships were
uncertain. In both World Games, Team USA lost games during the group stage3. In
2022, they faced strong challenges in their semifinal (Colombia) and the gold
medal match (Australia), escaping each with a two-point victory. And while it
wasn’t as close in terms of the score, Japan pushed Team USA to the limit in the
2016 Open division gold medal match, widely considered one of the best games in
the sport’s history.

And there are more signs that the gap between the US and the rest of the world
is shrinking. The top Colombian women’s club Medellín Revolution (featuring many
of the players taking the field for Colombia at WUC) beat out San Francisco Fury
at the most recent World Ultimate Club Championships4. Clubs in other divisions
from Australia, the UK, Belgium, and Canada were also highly competitive against
America’s best at the same tournament. Just how narrow has the lead become? That
question will be tested extensively over the course of the week.

Finally, the stakes of the event are not limited to medals or global bragging
rights: it is also the qualification tournament for next year’s World Games, a
multi-week Olympics-style spectacle featuring several dozen sports. The World
Games is more selective than any other global event in the sport: there is only
space for eight teams. With an automatic bid for the host country – in this
case, China, who are not expected to qualify on merit this cycle – that leaves
every major ultimate-playing country in the world scrapping for only seven
slots.5 That potential prize ensures drama beyond the top-level medal
contention.

THE CONTENDERS

MIXED

 * Favorites: United States
 * Contenders: France, Italy, Canada, Australia
 * Medal Hopefuls: Great Britain, Japan

USA are the clear favorites in the Mixed division. It would be shocking if they
took home anything less than gold. That being said, any of the four contenders
below them could easily take it if USA Mixed slip up in the bracket.

OPEN

 * Favorites: United States
 * Contenders: Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Belgium
 * Medal Hopefuls: Germany, Japan, Colombia, New Zealand

Once again, USA are the favorites. The gap here is much smaller: any of the
contenders have a puncher’s chance against even a solid USA Open effort. The
medal hopefuls here probably don’t have the consistency to complete the run, but
all of them have clear talent.

WOMEN’S

 * Favorites: Colombia, United States
 * Contenders: Germany, Canada, Australia
 * Medal Hopefuls: Japan, Great Britain

Here there are two favorites, as Colombia Women’s, led by twins Manuela and
Valeria Cárdenas, have essentially matched both the floor and the ceiling that
were, for many years, the sole province of USA Women’s. It’s hard to see either
of those two juggernauts finishing off of the medal podium. The contenders are
not far behind: all of them have a true gold medal ceiling, although the floor
is much lower.

ALL-TIME GOLD MEDAL COUNT

A full run-down of each division’s past champions.

WOMEN’S

 * United States: 8
 * Japan, Canada: 2
 * Finland, Sweden: 1

OPEN

 * United States: 10
 * Canada: 3
 * Sweden: 1

MIXED

 * United States, Canada: 3

 

HELPFUL LINKS

Some useful resources to help you tune in, stay up to date, and get excited.

 * How to Watch & Streaming Schedule
 * Schedule and Results
 * Team USA Rosters
 * International Roster Announcements
 * Team USA Tryout Recaps (East Coast, West Coast, Player Perspectives)

VIDEOS OF NATIONAL TEAMS

Want a primer on some of the national teams before the tournament starts? Check
out games they have already played this year at warm-up tournaments.

 * US Open (Australia Open, Canada Open/Women’s/Mixed)
 * Windmill (USA Open, Australia Mixed, Austria Open, Canada Open, France
   Open/Mixed, Germany Open/Mixed, GB Women’s/Mixed, Italy Mixed, Switzerland
   Mixed)
 * London Invite (Australia Mixed, Belgium Open, Canada Open, GB Open/Mixed)
 * TEP (USA Women’s/Mixed, Canada Women’s/Mixed, Colombia Open/Women’s/Mixed)
 * Dream Cup (Japan Open/Women’s)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1. ‘Open’ is the term used by WFDF to refer to the division that is effectively
    the Men’s division ↩

 2. Actually five, counting Master’s Open and Master’s Womens ↩

 3. Colombia in 2017; Germany in 2022 ↩

 4. ultimate’s Champions League-style tournament ↩

 5. For a detailed look at the scoring system for World Games qualification, see
    WFDF’s in-depth explainer. ↩


 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

 1. EDWARD STEPHENS
    
    
    
    Edward Stephens has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. He
    writes and plays ultimate in Athens, Georgia.

TAGGED: International, Presented by Spin Ultimate

EVENTS: 2024 World Ultimate Championships




MORE FROM ULTIWORLD

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     PREVIEW

COMMENTS ON "BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO 2024 WORLD ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIPS"



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RECENT COMMENTS

 * Jeff
   
   Will the full schedule and results be posted somewhere on Ultiworld? I was
   able to find a link to a Google Sheets document from the 2023 CCC, and was
   hoping that the same would be available this year. Thanks.
   
   Classic City Classic 2024: Streaming Schedule, How to Watch, Tournament
   Preview · 19 hours ago

 * Ted
   
   On the bonus segment : the biggest controversy should be ‘nearly all
   prequarter winners running out of gas in the second half of their 11.45h
   quarter round against a well-rested team’.
   Why cant USAU on day 2 of Nationals change the format a little bit, having 4
   rounds of play on Friday (like on Thursday !) with 2 prequarter rounds and
   then 2 quarter slots. Thus these prequarter winners directly after their game
   can get some food in, have some rest and enter their quarter final on a bit
   more honest terms.
   That’s advantage 1. The other advantage is that the spectators (at site and
   at home) get another round of tremendous matches to watch.
   
   Deep Look LIVE: Nathan Champoux, College Small Ball · 1 day ago

 * disqus_lTCZn30qVA
   
   What game ended with someone having 2 or fewer points? I thought the lowest
   was 3.
   
   Club Championships 2024: Beat Charlie Challenge & #TheGame Results · 4 days
   ago

 * orangina
   
   Fisheads (1983 women's champs) were Michigan State / East Lansing-based.
   
   Club Championships 2024: Hybrid Power (Mixed Div. Championship Recap) · 6
   days ago

 * Aaron Schwieterman
   
   First club title for the state of Michigan, ever?
   
   Club Championships 2024: Hybrid Power (Mixed Div. Championship Recap) · 1
   week ago

 * Wes Chao
   
   McQuaide scored Fury's second goal (indeed, with a tremendous layout), at
   timestamp 17:48 on the stream. Von Doepp scored the first goal, at 11:59.
   
   San Francisco Fury are 2024 Women’s Division National Champions! · 1 week ago

 * Ted
   
   Wasn’t it rookie McKinley McQuaide who caught the first goal of the final
   with a tremendous layout ?
   
   San Francisco Fury are 2024 Women’s Division National Champions! · 1 week ago

 * Ted
   
   Rhino Slam! did not throw a turnover until their final offensive point at
   13-6 when they had two but got the disc back twice and held anyway. The
   Portland team relied on Raphy Hayes and Jack Hatchett to come away with hucks
   thrown by Mica Glass, Matt Rehder and Henry Ing, to take advantage of PoNY’s
   fronting defense.
   
   On the counterattack Dylan Freechild, Vinh Bui, David Sealand, Owen Murphy,
   Daniel Lee, and Felix Moren were lethal, moving the disc quickly and tiring
   out PoNY’s best players. This Rhino D-line scored eight breaks out of eight
   turnovers, something we have never seen in a national final.
   
   Portland Rhino Slam! are 2024 Men’s Division National Champions! · 1 week ago



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