Ami, Menno crowned 2019 World Breaking Champions

B-girl Ami (JPN) and B-boy Menno (NED) outlasted a strong international pool of 150 breakers to win the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship today in Nanjing, China, earning them the title of World Champions.

Dynamic styles and energetic flows punctuated the b-girl 1vs1 final at the Lishui Sports Park Gymnasium, where Ami sweep Sunny (USA) in four straight rounds.

Menno had a much tougher go of it against Issei (JPN) in the b-boy 1vs1 final. The two went toe to toe in a hard-fought battle that split the rounds 2-2. Menno was crowned champion thanks to a 17-11 overall vote count.

“I’m so happy because the odds were so big but I still won,” said Ami. “This was so different from normal Breaking jams. I feel like this was real competition so I tried to do many moves and I also tried to dance on a big stage.”

Menno, who said he was feeling agitated after struggling with jet lag in the preselection round, said: “I feel really happy because I trained really hard for it. It’s actually a really big relief because it takes a lot of sacrifice, all the time you put into this … Winning it is an amazing feeling for sure.”

Finishing third were B-girl Jilou (GER) and B-boy Lussy Sky (UKR), who defeated Ying Zi (CHN) and Lil G (VEN), respectively, in third-place playoffs.

Gold, silver and bronze medals were presented to the winning breakers by World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) President Shawn Tay.

The World Championship featured some of the world’s best Breakers from 66 countries in total, including eight Olympians who participated in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Buenos Aires last year. A list of all b-boys and b-girls who competed in Nanjing can be found here.

YOG gold medallist B-boy Bumblebee (RUS) finished fifth in Nanjing, while bronze medallist Shigekix (JPN) came in seventh.

The World Championship was streamed live on The Olympic Channel. All the battles from the Round Robin stage onward can be viewed on DanceSport Total.

The Championship doubled as a qualifying event for the first GAISF World Urban Games in Budapest, Hungary this September. A list of the 12 b-boys and 12 b-girls that qualified will be announced shortly.

B-girl Final

Ami (JPN) vs Sunny (USA) = Ami 4-0

B-boy Final

Menno (NED) vs Issei (JPN) = Menno 2-2

B-girl 3^rd place

Jilou (GER) vs Ying Zi (CHN) = Jilou 3-1

B-boy 3^rd place

Lussy Sky (UKR) vs Lil G (VEN) = Lussy Sky 3-1

B-girl Semis

B-girl Ami (JPN) vs Jilou (GER) = Ami

Ying Zi (CHN) vs Sunny (USA) = Sunny

B-boy Semis