The ILS World Life Saving Championships are the world championships for lifesaving sport events. They are sanctioned by the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), conducted every 2 years, and formerly marketed and known as the ‘Rescue’ series, for example – Rescue 2008.
The World Life Saving Championships incorporate - National Teams World Championships, Interclub Teams World Championships, Masters World Championships, Surfboats World Championships and IRB World Championships. Additional championships can include additional events such as March Past, Long distance Race and 2k Beach Run. The World Championships typically attract between 3,000 and 5,000 competitors and officials, and are conducted over a period of 12 to 14 days.
History Prior to the amalgamation of WLS and FIS in 1993 to create ILS, both WLS and FIS conducted World Championship events in Life Saving Sports. Founded in 1971 WLS conducted ocean and beach based world championships for National Teams in South Africa in 1974 and Interclub World Championships in 1981 and 1983. The 1988, 1990, and 1992 Rescue series of World Championship events were also organised by WLS. Rescue 88, the 1988 World Championships were the first international championships to conduct both ocean and pool events. In 1956 prior to the advent of WLS, as part of the 1956 Olympic Games celebrations Surf Life Saving Australia (a founding member of WLS) hosted an International Lifesaving Championships at Torquay Beach in which teams from several countries competed against each other. It could be argued that this was the first World Lifesaving Championships for ocean and beach events. Founded in 1910, member nations of FIS agreed to conduct World Championships in pool life saving events. The first such championships were conducted in Paris, France in 1955 and were held sporadically over the next 40 years until the final FIS Championships in 1995. These contests were strictly for national representative teams only. Since 1996, World Life Saving Championships have been conducted solely by ILS every two years.
In 2014 the word “Rescue” was replaced with the term “Lifesaving World Championships” (LWC) to better describe the ILS LWC and to delineate from the biennial ILS World Conference on Drowning Prevention.
List of competitions NumberYearChampionshipLocationCountry11955 FIS Paris, France 21956 FIS Mulhouse, France 31956 International contest Torquay Beach, Australia41957 FIS Bordeaux, France 51958 FIS Châlons du Marne et Reims, France 61959 FIS Wiesbaden, Germany 71960 FIS Madrid, Spain 81961 FIS Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg 91962 FIS Rome, Italy 101963 FIS Paris, France 111964 FIS Alger, Algeria 121966 FIS Rabat, Morocco 131967 FIS Salzburg, Austria 141968 FIS Trier, Germany 151969 FIS Rome, Italy 161972 FIS Vittel Neufchateau Contrexville, France 171974 WLS South Africa 181974 FIS Barcelona, Spain 191976 FIS Berlin, Germany 201978 FIS London, Great Britain 211981 WLS Interclub Bali, Indonesia 221981 FIS Sofia, Bulgaria 231983 WLS Interclub Hawaii, United States 241983 FIS Warsaw, Poland 251987 FIS Warendorf, Germany 261988 Rescue 88 Gold Coast, Australia 271990 Rescue 90 Lübeck/Travemünde, Germany 281991 FIS Jönköping, Sweden 291992 Rescue 92 Shimoda, Japan 301994 Rescue 94 Cardiff/Newquay, Great Britain 311995 FIS Valenciennes, France 321996 Rescue 96 Durban, South Africa 331998 Rescue 98 Auckland, New Zealand 342000 Rescue 2000 Sydney, Australia 352002 Rescue 2002 Daytona Beach/Orlando, United States 362004 Rescue 2004 Livorno/Viareggio, Italy 372006 Rescue 2006 Geelong/Lorne, Australia 382008 Rescue 2008 Berlin/Warnemünde, Germany 392010 Rescue 2010 Alexandria, Egypt 402012 Rescue 2012 Adelaide, Australia 412014 Rescue 2014 Montpellier and La Grande-Motte, France422016 LWC 2016 Eindhoven and Noordwijk, The Netherlands 432018 LWC 2018 Adelaide, Australia 442022 LWC 2020 Riccione, Italy 452024 LWC 2024 Gold Coast, Australia 462026 LWC 2026 Port Elisabeth – Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa 472028 LWC 2028 TBC 482030 LWC 2030 Perth, Australia
References
External links http://www.ilsf.org/