NEXT YEAR THE WORLD’S BEST JUNIOR AND U23 CANOE SPRINT PADDLERS WILL HEAD TO AURONZO, ITALY, FOR THE 2023 ICF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. THE COMPETITION WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED LAST WEEK.
“Wherever there is high-level sport, there is the Veneto, as is in the case of the first canoe world championships on a natural lake instead of in an artificial basin, as will occur in Auronzo di Cadore in 2023.”
That was how the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, at a press conference held at Palazzo Balbi in Venice, presented the canoe sprint world championships for the junior and under 23 categories that will be held in the extraordinary surroundings of Lake Santa Caterina next year.
The event was attended by a large delegation of athletes and professionals from Auronzo, including Mayor Dario Vecellio Galeno, the President of the Province, Roberto Padrin, and the manager of the organising committee, Andrea Bedin.
The championships will see 1,300 athletes from 80 nations, 700 operators including managers and staff, and more than 50 journalists. An estimated television audience of 2 million viewers is expected, with live streaming in 43 countries, a presence of 200,000 spectators on the competition field, and more than 10 million contacts on the web.
An excellent deal, both on a sporting level and on the important image presented of the entire Veneto mountain area, and also on an economic level. The estimates speak of about one million in organisational costs compared to 3.5 million (by default) of income.
It was underlined during last week’s presentation that the World Championships in Auronzo will be the "bridge" to the future for world canoe sprint, hosting many athletes who over the coming years will become the protagonists of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028. It is also an event that brings Italian canoeing closer to the senior world championships in Milan 2025.
From the beginning of the candidacy for the world championships, the organising committee has put environmental sustainability at its centre. The basic philosophy is to make the most of existing installations, and to make sustainable, re-usable or reversible interventions at the end of the event.
The most significant logistical intervention is aimed at not congesting the centre of Auronzo, by setting up a parking interchange in the Cima Gogna area from where it will be possible to reach the competition area by shuttle buses.
The entire area surrounding the lake will also be reserved for pedestrians, with access reserved only for the organisation's vehicles and rescue services. Attention will also be paid to other environmental aspects: differentiated waste collection in the competition area and athletes' village, sustainable meal supply service thanks to the use of recyclable/biodegradable materials, public water distribution points, the water of the Dolomites, which is of high quality, using reusable water bottles and avoiding plastic bottles as much as possible.
The competition field is an alpine lake subject to the normal cycle of the seasons and to the influx of debris material from the surrounding mountains. This has made it necessary to carry out important preparatory and adaptation works on the Ansiei stream and of Lake Santa Caterina itself, in order to reach the international standards required for this discipline, including the depth of two metres respected throughout the competition field and in the area of arrival of the canoes.
