LESS THAN 3 MONTHS ARE LEFT BEFORE THE OPENING

News • April 18, 2023

LESS THAN 3 MONTHS ARE LEFT BEFORE THE OPENING

Let’s take stock of the situation with the Deputy Mayor Daniela Larese Filon and the General Director of the Organising Committee Andrea Bedin.

Less than 3 months are left before the opening of the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Auronzo di Cadore, whose opening ceremony is scheduled for July 4th.
An event that saw the light in 2019 with the assignment by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), but made possible by the success of the 2018 European Championships, also held on Lake Santa Caterina, and by over 40 years of the presence of the International Flatwater Canoe Sprint race. The World Championships in Auronzo di Cadore are part of a competitive path, and will host many talents who, over the next 8 years, will become the protagonists of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028. An event that ideally takes Italian canoeing towards the 2025 Senior World Championships to be held in Milan. Let’s take stock of the situation with the Deputy Mayor Daniela Larese Filon and the General Director of the Organising Committee Andrea Bedin.

1958 – Auronzo – Camp. Italiani – Cesare Zilioli Campione Italiano K1 Junior e Senior

Andrea Bedin, how are you living this organisational experience?
“It is a fantastic experience. Since the assignment, we all knew that it would be a very complex World Championships. It is the first time that the canoe sprint World Championships have been held on an alpine lake and it is the first time that Italy hosts the canoe sprint World Championships in the Junior and Under 23 categories. Thanks to the Municipal Administration of Auronzo di Cadore and my invaluable collaborators, we are organising this event with continuous attention to detail in order to arrive at the beginning of July, ready to welcome the best young canoeists from all over the world”.

The Municipal Administration is playing a fundamental role being an integral part of the Organising Committee, whose president is the Mayor Dario Vecellio Galeno. The Deputy Mayor Daniela Larese Filon has been supporting the canoe sprint events in Auronzo di Cadore for many years.
“The Municipality has worked hard, in particular through the Councilor for Tourism Roberto Pais Bianco, to offer the maximum hotel availability to the national delegations, some of which will be here as early as June. As soon as the weather permits, the traditional excavation and adaptation works of the lake will begin, with the aim of making it available to athletes long before July 4th, for those who want to train and test the competition field in advance. The Municipality has also made the premises of Palazzo Poli available, where the staff of the Organising Committee will be able to remain when necessary between now and the beginning of the World Championships”.

Andrea Bedin, what do you think will be the strengths and weaknesses of this World Cup organised in the Belluno Dolomites, considered a UNESCO heritage site?
“Definitely a fantastic place. I still remember when I was a young Fiamme Gialle athlete the emotions as I paddled to get to the starting line in this beautiful blue lake. I think a strong point will be the perception of the sustainability of the event: today the lake still presents itself to citizens and visitors with its own natural banks, typical of an alpine lake. In three months it will become an open-air sports facility. In six months, everyone will have the opportunity to appreciate the landscape as they have always seen it. To achieve this “magic”, the Organising Committee incurs incredible costs to rent all the artifacts which in the other international competition fields are fixed and specially prepared infrastructures (finish tower, grandstands, sports facilities with services and spaces for the shelter of boats and the shelter of athletes, etc.). A weakness that we are trying to transform into an opportunity is the management of the spaces, distributing the services in the areas surrounding the finish area: the Pala Tre Cime sports hall will be used for the Secretariat and Accreditation while the area surrounding the unusable ice rink will host catering services and exhibition/recreational activities and collateral events for participants and passers-by”.

1984 – Auronzo – Campionati Italiani K4 ragazze 500

Another of the tasks of the Municipality is the involvement of its citizens, for whom the canoe is not exactly a “daily occurance”. Deputy Mayor Larese Filon, how will you bring your fellow citizens closer to the World Championships?
“Canoe sprint has been present here for over 40 years with the International Race, and even since the 1950s with various events, but it is certainly an unusual sport for many of our citizens. The Municipality will work to make citizens aware of and involve them in all the sporting events in the area, which are very important, starting with one stage of the Giro d’Italia on May 26, which, although not passing through the city center, will finish at the Tre Cime, passing through Misurina, consequently making Auronzo a host city”.

Director Bedin, what does this event represent for you and for Auronzo di Cadore?
“For me it represents maturity. When I was 18, I participated in the Junior World Championships in Racice in the Czech Republic. Today, after 30 years, I am the Director of the organisation of the same World Championships. Together with the Venice Canoe & Dragon Boat Association, we have been organising the classic international canoe sprint race since 2008 and this year’s World Championships are the result of 15 years of constant dedication to canoeing and the Cadore area. For the lake of Santa Caterina di Auronzo di Cadore, following the European Championships in 2015 and 2018, these World Championships represent the natural consecration towards canoe sprint, which has been a regular presence on these clear waters since 1958. In addition to this event, the Cadore community will end up with a great legacy of fame among athletes and technicians who will participate in the biggest multisport events of the next 10 years (European / Asian / American / Oceania Games, World Games, Olympic Games, Mediterranean Games, etc.) and who will bring their experience and testimony of Auronzo di Cadore to sporting world. Without considering that a successful event represents an excellent trailblazer for hosting other major national, continental and world canoeing events in Veneto and Cadore.”