#1 Svetlana Platonova; #2 Olly Gotel (Manager); #4 Sarah McGarrity; #6 Christine Plenge; #7 Stephanie Schnorr (Captain); #8 Carson Chruscicki; #9 Myrna Lewis; #10 Tarika Thienapirak. Coach Tina Seklener.
#1 Andrew Irvine; #2 Gavin Hu; #3 Marcos Fourquet; #5 Sam Reifsnyder (Co-Coach); #6 Peter Hargreaves (Co-Coach); #7 Sami Khalil (Manager); #8 Mark Poindexter; #9 Sasha Izmailov (Captain); #10 Adam Hu
2022 ICF CANOE POLO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Olly Gotel
Less than one month after competing in the 2022 World Games the USA Men and Women’s Kayak/Canoe Polo National Teams headed to Saint Omer in France to compete in the 2022 ICF Canoe Polo World Championships . While the World Games is a 3,500 athlete multi-sport event held every 4 years, where Canoe Polo is but one of 34 non-Olympic sports represented and where only 8 teams are selected to compete, the World Championships is the broader international event for all Canoe Polo playing countries to compete and gain their World Ranking. The ICF Canoe Polo World Championships is held every 2 years and 26 countries participated in 2022, the first World Championships held since 2018 due to Covid.
USA Women
The 6-day August competition started with a round robin, the brackets formed from the 2018 World’s Rankings. The USA Women found themselves in a bracket with the recent Champions of the World Games, France, along with The Netherlands and Japan. After losing 2 hard fought games, the USA played a tight game to tie with Japan (2-2). With Japan having also lost tough round robin games, the ranking in the initial bracket came down to goal difference. Finding the USA and Japan identical on goal differential, the USA Women edged out Japan with more goals scored to make the top 12. This positioned the USA to play another round robin, this time with France, Germany, Spain, Denmark and Singapore. Five games later, the team was in play offs for 8th-12th position, eventually ranking 12th, equaling their record 12th place earned in 2018. The USA Women would like to thank the dynamic and talented Tina Seklener from Austria who stepped in last minute to coach the team while in Europe.
USA Men
In a bracket with Spain, Hong Kong and Taipei, the USA Men pulled out a convincing win against Hong Kong (9-3) and played well to gain a hard-earned tie against a strong Taipei team (3-3). Despite these promising matches, a loss to eventual medal winners Spain and a large field of 21 teams meant that the needed goal differential coming off their tie did not land in their favor, and the USA Men were placed in the 13th-21st position bracket for their following games. In their second bracket, the USA Men played Japan, Austria and a close game with Malaysia, and then found themselves facing Hong Kong once again for their final game. The USA Men pulled off another win (6-1), ranking 19th overall. This saw the USA Men advance one place in their World Ranking from 20th in 2018 to 19th in 2022.
Germany claimed Gold in both the Men’s and Women’s divisions. Spain took Silver and Italy Bronze in the Men’s, and France took Silver and Italy Bronze in the Women’s.
Upcoming
The next World Championships will be held in Huzhou City, Deqing County, China in 2024. The USA Women are automatically qualified to compete with their current 12th place ranking. The USA Men will be looking to retain Gold at the next Continental Cup (PanAms) to secure their qualification.
Both USA Teams would like to thank their supporters, the ACA, and all the Kayak/Canoe Polo Clubs within the USA for providing homes to practice, promoting the sport and fostering new talent. Find out more about Canoe Polo and the ACA here.