Japan and Australia secure top places in Lifesaving World Championships events

August 29, 2024

Aquatics / Events / Safety /

Lifesaving World Championships yesterday saw international teams compete in the Youth SERC (simulated emergency response competition), in the Open competition and in Surf Boat events.

The Lifesaving World Championships is supported by Experience Gold Coast and the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland.

Day one of the International Teams competition at the Lifesaving World Championships saw the Australian team come out on top in the Youth SERC before Japan sealed victory in the Open competition in the afternoon.

SERC is one of the most technical events on the program and challenges the emergency response, rescue skills and initiative of lifesavers in a staged emergency situation that is unknown to the competitors before they enter the pool area.

Chief Referee Rebecca Boyd was impressed with the number of countries competing in LWC2024 and the standard presented and shared “The level of competition has really gone up in the last several rescue competitions, our results alone show the strength of more nations now and that they have been working very hard to achieve better results in the SERC.

“The youth just came out of nowhere and they were very excited, lots of learning to be done, lots of learning was had and it was energetic to listen to the spectators cheer on every team, every victim right to the very last moment so it was invigorating.

“There have been greater efforts in reading the rule book and the understanding of the philosophy of SERC is evident in those nations that really rose to the top five, top ten versus the teams that have traditionally always done extremely well but struggled today.

“ The games changed a little bit, much like at the pool and at the beach there are nations that have worked hard to learn the program, learn the rules and this is just another venue for them to be showing their skills.”

The competition today turns its attention to National Team ocean, beach and pool rescue events from Thursday 29th August to Sunday 1st September.

Over at Kurrawa Beach, the Masters Ocean competition concluded yesterday with Surf Boat events kicking off with Masters before transitioning into the InterClub competitions over the weekend.

TEAM QUOTES:
Australia Youth Team: Jemma Holt: “We were all pretty nervous before it. Obviously first event of the World Championships and our hosting so we wanted to do well for our country. I think we worked together as a team really well and I think we did our country proud. It was really exciting and hopefully we can carry this moment throughout the rest of the competition.”

Canada Youth Team: Isaac Thibodeau: "Going into lock up everyone knew their jobs and going out on deck we did exactly that. We were acting controlled, we didn't run around like chicken's with our heads cut off, we just did our game plan and followed through with what we needed to do and it worked."

Japan Open Team: “This is awesome, a wonderful moment for us. We really trained for this time, so we are so happy to become World Champions. It is very meaningful for us because second is the highest score we have had so this is wonderful”

Ireland Open Team: Ryan Cotter: “It is a shock to be honest. Last year we had one of the worst SERC’s, like really bad. I think we played the game the way we were supposed to, sorry I am lost for words, I don’t think any of us expected this. Our Coach had us absolutely drilled so we all knew exactly what we had to do.

Open National Teams SERC Results:
1st: Japan, 2nd: Switzerland, 3rd: Ireland

Youth National Teams SERC Results:
1st: Australia, 2nd: Canada, 3rd: Great Britain & Northen Ireland

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