All the essential information you need to know to enjoy ultimate's biggest international event.
United States vs. Colombia, by Edward Stevens, with preview and commentary, August 26, 2024. Photo: Jolie Lang — UltiPhotos.com
Coverage of the 2024 World Ultimate Championship is brought to you by Spin Ultimate. Support the brands that bring Ultiworld to life and shop with Spin Ultimate today.
What is the World Ultimate Championship?
In other words, the WUC is our World Cup.
The WUC, often simply referred to by athletes as the “Worlds,” is the most prestigious and highest-level international competition organized by the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). It is held every four years.
Countries from around the world enter teams in three different competitive divisions: Women's, Open 1, and Mixed. Each competing nation brings together its elite club competitors to field a team of its best players, with the goal of winning a medal at the end of the week-long event. In the top countries, nearly every player on the roster is a bonafide club superstar, so seeing how well each country's best players work together is just as interesting as seeing how they compete against the rest of the world.
That being said, we must remain vigilant. The main reason to tune in is the heated battle for medals. Anyone who says they know how that battle will play out is lying. It has been eight years since the last WUC in London, where the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the Games scheduled for 2020. Since then, there have been major changes in the sport's ecosystem, with some of the sport's long-standing strongholds, such as Japan, Canada and Australia, potentially ceding ground to emerging nations. Germany, Colombia, France, Belgium and Italy all enter the Games with the potential to win medals in at least one category.
But they will all be competing against the U.S., the long-time dominant force in ultimate, winning gold in all three disciplines in 2016 and never giving up a chance in any of the finals. They then went on to win gold at the 2017 and 2022 World Championships (see below for a brief rundown of the World Championships), solidifying their status as the global standard in the sport.
But the United States' past successes do not guarantee more gold medals this time around. Colombia has already beaten the US women's team in key preliminary matches. In fact, even some of the aforementioned championships were uncertain. In two World Games, the US team was eliminated in the group stage. In 2022, they faced strong opponents in the semifinals (Colombia) and the gold medal game (Australia), winning each by two points. Although the scores were not as close, Japan pushed the US team to the limit in the 2016 gold medal game in the open division, widely considered one of the best games in the history of the sport.
And there are other signs that the gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is narrowing. Colombia's top women's club, Medellin Revolution (home to many of the players who will represent Colombia in the WUC), recently defeated San Francisco Fury at World Ultimate Club Championship IV. Clubs in other divisions from Australia, Great Britain, Belgium and Canada also faced off against top U.S. teams at the same tournament. How far has the gap narrowed? That question will be thoroughly examined this week.
Finally, the stakes aren’t just medals and bragging rights. They’re also qualifiers for next year’s World Games, an Olympic-like spectacle with dozens of competitions played out over several weeks. The World Games is the most selective of any global tournament in the sport, with only eight teams allowed to compete. With the host nation (in this case China, who have no chance of qualifying on merit this cycle) automatically qualifying, the world’s leading ultimate-playing nations will compete for just seven spots.5 This potential prize guarantees drama beyond the top-level medal race.
Candidates Favourites to win: USA Favorable contenders: France, Italy, Canada, Australia Medal contenders: Great Britain, Japan
In the mixed division, the USA is the clear favorite to win. It would be a shocker if the USA won anything other than the gold medal. That said, if the USA mixed team were to fail the tournament, any of the four teams ranked below the USA could easily win the gold medal.
Open favourites: USA Favourites: Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Belgium Medal favourites: Germany, Japan, Colombia, New Zealand
Once again, the U.S. is the favorite to win. The margins are much smaller, and any of the contenders have a chance to win, even against players who performed well at the U.S. Open. The medal contenders are probably not consistent enough to finish the race, but they are all clearly talented.
Women's favourites: Colombia, USA Favourites: Germany, Canada, Australia Medal favourites: Japan, Great Britain
Here are the two favorites. The Colombian women's team, led by twins Manuela and Valeria Cardenas, basically hits both the minimum and maximum levels that have long been dominated by the U.S. women's team. It will be hard to see either of these two powerhouses making it onto the medal podium. The favorites are right behind them, with a much lower minimum, but all with true gold medal maximums.
Number of medals won
A complete overview of past champions in each division.
Women's USA: 8 Japan, Canada: 2 Finland, Sweden: 1 Open USA: 10 Canada: 3 Sweden: 1 Mixed
Useful Links
It's a great resource to help you tune in, stay updated, and get excited.
National team video
Want to get to know some of the national teams before the tournament begins? Check out the matches that have already taken place this year in our warm-up tournaments.
US Open (Australian Open, Canadian Open/Women's/Mixed) Windmill (USA Open, Australian Mixed, Austrian Open, Canadian Open, French Open/Mixed, German Open/Mixed, British Women's/Mixed, Italian Mixed, Swiss Mixed) London Invitational (Australian Mixed, Belgian Open, Canadian Open, British Open/Mixed) TEP (USA Women's/Mixed, Canadian Women's/Mixed, Columbia Open/Women's/Mixed)
