AWC 2018: Gold for Sweden for one of the best AWC ever

We look a bit wistfully back with this comment on the Agility World Championship 2018 in Kristianstad. Sweden has enchanted us and many of our readers. Enchanted with the hospitality, an enormous willingness to help, the almost indescribable nature and an unbridled enthusiasm for the dog sport. And especially the last point provided a very special atmosphere in and around the arena. The athletic achievements of the dogs and humans contributed their part. Even if Sweden as the host could not get a medal in the end, we want to give them at least symbolically the gold medal for a successful alignment of the World Championship.

As already mentioned, from the sporting point of view, the Scandinavians actually did not live up to the high expectations this year. Of course, on one hand, they are always compared by the earlier years, on the other hand, the Czech Republic showed last year how to use the home advantage with a gold- and two silver medals. Despite all the failures during the four days, the audience was always fair and applauded to all the teams. Of course, it was a bit louder when a Swedish or a Scandinavian team took a position in the course. Who wants to blame them? Actually, the spectators in the arena deserve a medal too. And also a big applause goes to Lilly Leete, the so-called host in the arena. The young Swede led the event with great charm and gave the finishing touches.

Also, a medal goes symbolically to the producers and responsible of the livestream. Notably SGPlay.se. Throughout the transmission, there were no significant technical issues or even failures. Great camera shots with replays and close-ups also gave the viewer at home the feeling of being in Sweden. The sympathetic commentators with guest experts from the scene rounded off the already positive overall picture. It was just a pity that you never saw the commentators themselves. But that’s probably just the life of a commentator. Although there were already live commentators at previous World Championships, they just were rather dry and mostly the word scraps amounted to the names of the teams and where the mistake happened. Quite the opposite to Sweden, where the commentators felt and audible with the teams, sometimes even cheered as in the case of Ina Himle and Wii. All these little details made watching a pleasure. A big compliment at this point. Only the information gathered in advance on the individual teams was a bit overdone after a while, or better said, after the fourth time listening to the same information.

Thomas Juréhn, President of Svenska Agilityklubben & AWC project leader

Sweden and the Swedish Agility Club have now completed their first world championship in agility!

This would not have been possible without Paul Pettersson and Nalle Jansson, who worked really hard to bring the AWC to Sweden. We deeply appreciate this!

I also want to thank all 418 competitors and team leaders from 40 different countries who gave us an unforgettable championship. Also a big thanks to the Kristianstad municipality and the crew at Kristianstad Arena for amazing support and hospitality.

A huge thank you to the nine-person strong squad who planned and made this championship reality. The squad started their work two years ago and, by that time, consisted of some members of the former board of the Swedish Agility Club. This group of people laid the entire foundation of the AWC. The squad that eventually carried out the championship consisted of Ida Qvarnström, Mia Lundholm, Ulrika Pettersson, Joakim Persson, Håkan Ericson, Eva Persson, Charlotte Edberg, Ewa Lundin and myself.

Last but not least we want to thank the 150 crew members and 20 volunteers who made a brilliant effort during this whole event.

The one sad thing during our competition was the missing dog Leela, a member of the Colombian national team. She ran away from her owners during a walk on Wednesday. She is found but not captured when this is written. The Swedish Agility Club is working to get Leela back safely. We will not stop until she is back with her owners.

On the first day of the World Championship provided the partially small cabins for the team rooms for conversation. Especially Team Germany was excited about it. To some extent understandable, because Switzerland, for example, had a huge amount of space for itself, while Germany was quartered together with other nations in a small room. But the annoying topic of team cabins is a conversation which happens every year. In Liberec the year before, the high temperature and the bad air were chalked up. And what happened on the course? There, the two judges Nicolas Renaud and Andreas Silfverberg build interesting and especially they’re own courses. The guest from France built fast, extensive courses, while Andreas Silfverberg rather arranged nested courses with many changes of direction. Overall a sympathetic duo, who accompanied the teams with heart and passion through the courses. You may also overlook one or the other unseen mistakes.

The Swedes (and of course many other volunteers from other nations) showed they’re heartfelt while the search for the missing Sheltie Leela from Colombia near the Arena. Unfortunately, Leela is still not back to the owners, but the search continues even after more than two weeks. Thanks to many volunteers and a huge donation readiness of the entire agility scene. Even if you may not like one or the other, in such situations the agility community seems like a big family. You just help each other. Just a few hours after Leelas vanished, the organization did not hesitate long and set all sorts of levers and ways in motion. On the one hand, they also turned off some people to search, contacted regional newspapers and radio stations, and gathered more people over social media. What followed was an incredible wave of solidarity. Unfortunately so far in vain.

These and many other aspects have made the World Championships in Sweden a unique experience. An event that has set new standards and raised the bar for the next World Championship in Turku, Finland. The trailer for next year promises a similarly great tournament. We are excited and look forward to the Finnish hospitality. After all, the Finns are considered as the happiest people in the world.