2019 WDSF World Championship Senior II Ten Dance 17/06/2019

It was an exciting day in Tirana (ALB) as 24 couples started the first round of the World Championship. A chore of four rounds, with ten dances on each round was waiting ahead for these wonderful and fit Senior II couples.

As it was predicted, the two couples who have been taking turns with the World Title for the past few years, were the strongest ones also on Saturday. Jordi Mayral Esteban – Eva Aguilera Llobera (ESP) returned to the top of the podium by winning all ten dances of the final. It was their third World Title in Senior II Ten Dance, as they have won the titles also in 2015 and 2017. The runners-up, Tomasz Kucharczyk – Rosa Kucharczyk (POL) had to settle for silver this year and hand over the reign to the Spanish couple. Johann Lavigne - Christelle Bruel (FRA) won the bronze.

The WDSF World Open Standard in Tirana was very tight and exciting as the couples improved their scores towards the end. After the last dance, Matteo Cicchitti – Simona Brecikova (SVK) were announced as winners. Marco Sirocchi – Dora Kilin (ROU) ranked second, and Kirill Pavlov – Kristina Shinkariuk (SVK) third. Aleksandru Miculescu Ionut – Andra Pacurar (ROU) won the WDSF World Open Latin. It was their second World Open title in a row. Andrea Bolzoni – Michelle Maritan (MNE) ranked second and Salvatore Bellavita – Milena Usanova (ALB) third.

Vila do Conde (POR) hosted WDSF World Open Latin and WDSF PD Open Latin. 51 couples started the World Open competition. The recent European Championship Ten Dance silver medalists, Semen Khrzhanovskiy – Elizaveta Lykhina (RUS) continued their excellent year as they won the World Open Latin before Mikhail Koptev – Alexandra Atamantseva (RUS) and Francesco Esposito – Svetlana Kostenko (ITA). The WDSF PD Open Latin had five couples on the starting list. Telmo Madeira – Vanessa Ferrao (POR) opened their season with a convincing win.

Szeged (HUN) hosted WDSF International Open Latin on Saturday. 32 couples started the competition and to the delight of the home crowd, Miha Zerjav – Laura Karcagi (HUN) were announced as winners. The WDSF International Open Standard took place on Sunday. 42 couples started the competition, and after four rounds Gabriele Cassai – Kristine Madsen (DEN) took their first win in WDSF International Open event.

Osaka (JPN) hosted WDSF PD Open Standard and Latin on Sunday. PD Open Standard had 30 couples on the starting list. Nikolay Darin – Natalia Seredina (MDA) have had a jump start to 2019, and they danced their way to the top of the podium. Alessandro Ilarioni – Aurora Sbardella (ITA) ranked second and Nikolaj Lund – Marta Kocik (DEN) third. WDSF PD Open Latin with 20 couples was dominated by Vincenzo Mariniello – Sara Casini (ITA) (in photo). Wang Jun – Jia Yiwen (CHN) ranked second and Alexey Birman – Uliana Pustovalova (RUS) third. There were also WDSF Open Standard and Latin organised in Osaka on Sunday. Andres Liiv – Kristin Vaha (EST) won the WDSF Open Standard and Vito Coppola – Oona Oinas (ITA) took home the brightest medals of the WDSF Open Latin.

Hanoi (VIE) hosted WDSF Open Standard and Latin, but so far there are no results available. Berlin (GER) hosted WDSF Open for Youth and Junior II. Egor Ionel – Rita Schumichin (GER) won the WDSF Youth Open Standard and Andrei Petcu – Nicole-Vanessa Barna (HUN) the WDSF Youth Open Latin. In Junior II, Tomasz Ruszkowski – Julia Mozdyniewicz (POL) won Standard and Oleg Kolesnikov – Alina Shadrina (RUS) won the Latin competition.

Congratulations to the World Champions, runners-up and the finalists! Many congratulations to the winners of the WDSF PD Open competitions, too, and also to the winners of the other WDSF events of the weekend!

Such a wonderful weekend it was, and there will be much more ahead this week! The 2019 WDSF PD European Championship Latin takes place in Karlsruhe (GER) on Saturday, and the 2019 WDSF World Championship Breaking takes place in Nanjing (CHN) on Sunday. In addition to these title events, Villafranca Veronese (ITA) hosts a WDSF International Open event with over 150 couples registered already for the International Open Standard and Latin. We are looking forward to all of it!