After a weekend of intense racing on the legendary Wellerbrücke rapids in Austria’s Ötztal valley, 27-year old Gerd Serrasolses from Sort in Spain outpaddled a field of the world’s finest kayakers in every single round of the competition, claiming his first and well deserved adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champion title, ahead of David Bain from Great Britain and triple World Champion Sam Sutton from New Zealand.
35-year old paddling queen Mariann Saether from Norway won the female title ahead of Great Britain’s Jennifer Chrimes and Alona Buslaieva from the Ukraine.
For the eighth time in a row, 150 of the world’s best whitewater kayakers from 27 different countries meet in Austria’s Ötztal between the 1st and 3rd of October to determine the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champion on the legendary “Wellerbrücke“ rapids.
A “sick line” is the perfect, smoothest and fastest line downriver. That’s what the competitors have to find when racing the so-called “Wellerbrücke” rapids, a famous section of the glacier-fed Ötztaler Ache River, peppered with loads of natural obstacles. The course has the reputation of being the Eiger Northwall of whitewater kayaking, thus it offers the perfect setting to crown the World Champion in extreme kayak racing.
This year has been particularly harsh for shark attacks.
North Carolina shores were terrorized by an unprecedented spate of shark attacks early in the summer. Surf hotbed Réunion Island has continued its alarmingly high rate of shark attacks, and an increase in attacks on surfers on Australia’s Gold Coast have locals calling for a shark cull. Top all that off with Mick Fanning having fight off a great white at the 2015 J-Bay Open in South Africa.
Experts say that the real reason shark attacks have been on the rise is an increase in beachgoers and ocean temperatures. Luckily, one Australian inventor has taken measures to preventing further attacks on surfers … More