The World Freshwater Angling Championships is a
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...
competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...
. Participating countries fish in teams of five with titles awarded to the team with the least amount of points, the competition area is split into sections and the winner with the most weight will be awarded one point, two for second, three for third, at the end of the two days the team with the least points is the top team. Since its inception in 1954, the competition has been staged on
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
s,
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
s and
still waters from a selected host nation. Currently (to 2021), the world championships have not been held outside of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
The 68th event was held in September 2022 at
Bilje, in
Osijek-Baranja County
Osijek-Baranja County (, hr, Osječko-baranjska županija, hu, Eszék-Baranya megye) is a county in Croatia, located in northeastern Slavonia and Baranja. Its center is Osijek. Other towns include Đakovo, Našice, Valpovo, Belišće, and Beli ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
. Held at Lake Biljsko Jezero which holds prussian carp, dwarf catfish, grass carp, catfish, asp, bighead, red perch, silver bream, ide and carassius.
First-time world champions were
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, with Italy in second place and Czech Republic in third.
and the individual new world champion was Mihael Pongrac of Croatia.
Brief history
The inaugural world championship was held in West Germany in 1954 and won by team England,
with the first individual title going to Gino Vigarani of Italy.
In 1992, Dave Wesson, an
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n, became the only non-
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an to win the title.
The 2020 World Freshwater Angling Championships was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
but resumed in 2021.
The host nation have been team champions on 15 occasions, with the strongest nation at home being Italy who have won on their own waters 6 times, the others were Belgium 2, France, Luxembourg, Romania, East Germany, West Germany, England, Spain.
The host nation has produced a home grown individual world champion from just 9 events of the 67 fished (one in seven).
For a video history of this major angling event, see External links at the bottom of this page.
World Championship Nations Team Results
World Championship Individual results
Championship records
Team medal table
References
External links
Video of 49th World coarse angling championships in N.Ireland 1992Video of 51st World coarse angling championships in Belgium 2004Video of 56th World coarse angling championships in Netherlands 2009Video of 57th World coarse angling championships in Spain 2010Video of 58th World coarse angling championships in Italy 2011Video of 59th World coarse angling championships in Czech 2012Video of 60th World coarse angling championships in Poland 2013Video of 61st World coarse angling championships in Croatia 2014Video of 62nd World coarse angling championships in Slovenia 2015Video of 63rd World coarse angling championships in Bulgaria 2016Video of 64th World coarse angling championships in Belgium 2017Video of 65th World coarse angling championships in Portugal 2018Video of 66th World coarse angling championships in Serbia 2019Video of 67th World coarse angling championships in Italy 2021
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Freshwater Angling Championships
World championships
Freshwater Angling
Recreational fishing
Sport fish
Recurring sporting events established in 1954