With The World Games 2022 in Birmingham just days away, Alabama NewsCenter is providing snapshots of all the sports that will be played over the games’ 10 days of competitions. Today, we feature the immense variety of Trend Sports.

AIR SPORTS

Two disciplines of Air Sports are offered in The World Games: Canopy Piloting and Drone Racing.

Canopy Piloting

Canopy Piloting is one of the most exciting disciplines in Air Sports. The event tests a parachutist’s ability to control a canopy accurately at high speeds. After jumping out of an aircraft, competitors spiral downward toward a performance zone – a long stretch of water known as a “swooping pond.” There, as they descend across the swooping pond, they are scored on speed, accuracy and distance. In the freestyle round, scores are given for technical difficulty, presentation and landing.

This discipline requires a high level of skill and experience. Many of the top competitors are professional parachutists or work for parachute manufacturers on the development of new canopies.

Canopy Piloting tests a parachutist’s ability to control a canopy at high speed. (contributed)

Drone Racing

Drone Racing tests a pilot’s ability to race a drone around a specially built course, often flying through gates and around obstacles to reach the finish line in the fastest time. Fast-paced and exciting, it’s one of the fastest growing Air Sports in the world. The drones used in Drone Racing competitions are generally built by the pilots themselves and are designed for speed and agility. Radio-controlled with engines powered by electric batteries, they often travel at speeds of more than 100 mph. That’s why Drone Racing pilots wear headsets with a live-streamed first-person view of the action. This recording allows both pilots and fans to enjoy the illusion of flying at breakneck speeds, all without taking their feet off the ground.

• Country of origin: France.
• Also popular in: Germany, United Kingdom, United States.

CANOE

There are two disciplines of Canoe in The World Games: Canoe Polo and Canoe Marathon.

Canoe Polo

Canoe Polo, also known as kayak polo, is one of the competitive disciplines of canoeing/kayaking. Polo combines boating and ball-handling skills within a contact team game. Each team has five players on the pitch who compete to score in their opponent’s goal, which is suspended 2 meters above the water. The ball can be thrown by hand or flicked with the paddle to pass between players and shoot at the goal. The canoes/kayaks are specifically designed for polo and are faster and lighter than typical canoes/kayaks. This gives them superior maneuverability. The blades of the polo paddle have thick, rounded edges to prevent injury. Paddles are lightweight and designed with pulling power and ball control in mind.

Canoe Polo is classified as both a Trend Sport and a Ball Sport in The World Games. (Bartek Sadowski / The World Games)

Canoe Marathon

In Canoe Marathon, the competitor races over a long-distance course on water that is not subject to prescribed standards. The competitor must take the water as it is found and be prepared, if necessary, to carry his or her kayak around an impassable obstacle or between two waterways.

• Country of origin: England.
• Also popular in: Australia, Germany, Hungary.

DUATHLON

The World Games 2022 will include two disciplines of Duathlon: Standard Relay and Mixed Relay.

Duathlon consists of a running leg, a cycling leg and a final, second running leg. Duathlons are conducted at sprint, standard, middle and long distances. The time begins when the race is started and finishes when an athlete crosses the finish line.

• Country of origin: France.
• Also popular in: European countries, United States.

FINSWIMMING

Underwater has one discipline offered in The World Games: Finswimming. This event is a sport involving swimming with the use of fins (either monofins or bi-fins) on the water’s surface using a snorkel, or underwater with a monofin by holding one’s breath. There are three categories of Finswimming in The World Games: Apnoea, Surface and Bi-fins.

Apnoea

Apnoea swimming is underwater swimming using a mask and a monofin while holding one’s breath. Races are held for the distance of 50 meters. Swimmers’ faces must be immersed for the duration of the race or they risk disqualification.

In some categories of Finswimming, swimmers compete while wearing monofins. (contributed)

Surface

Surface swimming is swimming on the surface of the water using a mask, snorkel and monofins. Races are held for distances of 100, 200, 400 and 4×100 (relay) meters. Swimmers must remain on the surface of the water at all times for the duration of the race, except when starting or making turns at the end of the swimming pool (where an immersion over a distance of 15 meters is permitted).

Bi-fins

Bi-fins swimming is an event where athletes swim on the surface of the water with a mask, snorkel and a pair of fins using a crawling style. Races are held for distances of 50 and 100 meters. Swimmers must remain on the surface of the water at all times for the duration of the race, except when starting or making turns at the end of the swimming pool (where an immersion of a distance of 15 meters is permitted).

• Country of origin: European countries.
• Popular in: European countries.

FLYING DISC

Flying Disc has one discipline offered in The World Games: Ultimate.

Ultimate is a noncontact, self-refereed team sport played with a flying disc (or Frisbee). Two teams of seven players compete on a playing field roughly the same length as a football field, but narrower. At each end of the playing field there is an end zone. Each team defends one end zone. A goal is scored if a player catches a disc in the opposite end zone. The player holding the disc must keep one foot stationary. Stretching and kneeling with the other foot is allowed. A team can advance the disc to the opposing end zone with any number of passes, including one long throw to the end zone. If a pass is incomplete (not caught before touching the ground), caught out of bounds, caught by a defending player or knocked out of the air by the defense, it is a turnover and the opposing team immediately gains possession, playing to score in the opposite direction. Defenders cannot take the disc from an offensive player who has secured a catch. Contact is also not allowed for the defender marking the offense player with the disc, and the defender must allow the offense player a specified amount of space.

• Country of origin: United States.
• Also popular in: Canada, Japan.

LIFESAVING

Lifesaving is played in indoor swimming pools, in the same way that pool lifeguards are trained. The sport consists of a series of competition disciplines intended to develop and demonstrate lifesaving skills, fitness and motivation. Lifesaving tests an athlete’s skills in rescue, accident prevention and emergency care. The events of Lifesaving replicate common rescue techniques and include Mannequin Carry (an athlete swimming and diving to recover a submerged mannequin and carrying it back to the finish) and Mannequin Tow (an athlete swimming to a mannequin, affixing a rescue tube around it and towing it back to the finish).

• Country of origin: Australia.
• Also popular in: United Kingdom, United States.

Competitors in Lifesaving use lifeguard techniques to quickly and effectively “rescue” mannequins. (contributed)

ORIENTEERING

Orienteering combines racing with navigation. It is a timed race in which individual participants use a highly detailed map to select routes and navigate through diverse and unfamiliar terrain to visit control points in sequence. Courses can range from forests to urban environments. A standard orienteering course consists of a start; a series of control sites that are marked by circles, connected by lines and numbered in the order they are to be visited; and a finish. The control site circles are centered on the feature that is to be found. This feature is also defined by control descriptions (a list that orienteers receive along with their map). Out in the terrain, a control flag marks the location the orienteer must visit. To verify a visit, the orienteer uses an electronic “punch” using a finger stick with a chip inside that records the time at each control he or she visits. The route between controls is not specified and is entirely up to the orienteer.

The World Games 2022 will offer three disciplines: Middle Distance, Sprint and Sprint Relay.

Middle Distance

Middle Distance, often referred to as “Middle,” is a shorter cross-country race than the classic. With a winning time in the region of 30 minutes, it places an emphasis more on fine navigation rather than route-choice navigation.

Sprint

Sprint involves very short races, with winning times in the region of 12-15 minutes. They are held in city parks and other more urban settings with control sites that include benches, litterbins, sculptures and other objects common to urban parks.

Sprint is one of three categories in The World Games 2022’s Orienteering competitions. Competitors with maps must find the best routes between two points, hitting a series of marks along the way. (Bartek Sadowski / The World Games)

Sprint Relay

Sprint Relay is a relay race run by a team of competitors. Each individual runs the course, and the result is based on the collective time of the team.

• Country of origin: Sweden.
• Also popular in: Denmark, Norway.

ROLLER SPORTS

Roller Sports use human-powered vehicles that require rolling, either by gravity or through various pushing techniques. Three disciplines of Roller Sports are offered in The World Games: Artistic Skating, Inline Hockey and Speed Skating.

Artistic Skating

Artistic Skating is similar to figure skating, except done on roller skates. Combining artistry with refined strength and training, Artistic Skating is a dynamic and engaging sport. Two categories of Artistic are offered in The World Games. Free Skating incorporates jumps, spins and footwork into a program set to music. Couples Dance brings together two skaters performing innovative lifts and dance elements all set to music.

Artistic Roller Skating is one of three Roller Sports on The World Games’ menu. (contributed)

Inline Hockey

Inline Hockey is a team sport played on in-line skates, in which players use a hockey stick to shoot a plastic puck into their opponent’s goal to score points. It is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players (including the goalie) from each team on the rink at a time. Players skate across the floor trying to gain control of the puck and score a goal against the opposing team.

Inline hockey takes a familiar sport off the ice. (contributed)

Speed Skating

Speed Skating involves racing on in-line skates. There are two categories of Speed Skating: Track and Road. In Track, the race is held on a patinodrome (an arena for this sport) with banked curves that is 200 meters in circumference. In Road, races may be held on regular pavement. The tracks are marked by multiple pylons that create a road course.

• Countries of origin: Belgium, United States.
• Also popular in: Argentina, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy.

Speed Skating involves racing on in-line skates. (contributed)

SPORT CLIMBING

Sport Climbing is a form of rock climbing that takes place on artificial structures. Three disciplines of Sport Climbing are offered in The World Games: Lead, Speed and Boulder.

Lead

Lead involves climbers attaching themselves to a length of climbing rope and ascending a route while periodically attaching protection (quickdraws or traditional protection) to the face of the route and clipping into it. The lead climber must have another person acting as a belayer. Because a lead climber does not have an anchor point above while climbing, only the limbs and body of the climber are used to effect upward progress.

Speed

Speed is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Competitors climb a slightly overhanging wall with belaying from the top. It involves climbers competing on the same route.

Boulder

Boulder is performed on artificial rock walls, known as boulders, without the use of ropes or harnesses. Different holds are bolted onto the wall to create “problems” (the sequence of moves that a climber performs to complete the climb). The walls often feature steep overhanging surfaces that force climbers to employ highly technical movements while supporting much of their weight with their upper body strength.

• Countries of origin: Europe.
• Popular in: Japan, European countries.

Boulder is a challenging category of Sport Climbing featured in The World Games 2022. (contributed)

WATERSKI AND WAKEBOARD

Waterski and Wakeboard are towed water sports in which an individual riding skis or a wakeboard is pulled behind a boat.

Waterski has three categories: Slalom, Trick and Jump.

Slalom

In Slalom, skiers use only one ski with their feet facing forward, one in front of the other. Skiers must navigate around a six-buoy course in order to complete the pass. While the boat speed is fixed, the rope length is not – it is shortened after each successful pass. The turn buoys are positioned 11.5 meters from the center of the slalom course to ensure that as the rope is shortened, skiers are required to use the momentum generated through their turns to swing up on the side of the boat and reach out to get their ski around the next buoy. The skier who successfully passes around the most buoys on the shortest rope wins.

Trick

In Trick, skiers use small, oval-shaped skis. Skiers are given two 20-second runs, during which they perform a series of pre-selected tricks. One pass is for hand tricks, which includes surface turns, rotations over the wake and flips. The second pass includes toe tricks, which are performed by completing wake turns and rotations with only a foot attaching the skier to the handle. A trick cannot be repeated and each one has a specific point value. A panel of judges assesses which tricks were completed correctly and assigns a predetermined point value to each successfully completed trick. The skier with the most points wins.

Jump

In Jump, skiers use two long skis to ride over a jump ramp in an attempt to travel the longest distance. As a skier approaches the ramp, the skier will zigzag behind the boat in a series of cuts to generate speed and angle and will hit the base of the jump ramp at a near-right angle to the boat. The winner is the skier who travels the farthest calculated distance and successfully rides away.

Wakeboard is one of the most exciting sports featured in The World Games. (Chris West / The World Games)

Wakeboard has one category in The World Games: Freestyle.

Freestyle

In Wakeboard, the board is a small, mostly rectangular, thin board with very little displacement and shoe-like bindings attached. The sport is a mixture of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing. Using edging techniques, the rider can move outside the wake or cut rapidly toward it. Jumps are performed by riding up the wake and launching into the air. While in the air, the rider attempts to do tricks. The rider is permitted one fall during his two passes and the judges award points for three distinct elements – execution (technical difficulty), intensity (the scale of the trick) and composition (variety). The rider who gains the highest score wins.

• Countries of origin: United States (Waterski); Australia, New Zealand (Wakeboarding).
• Popular in: Australia, New Zealand, United States.

For schedules and ticket information for all sports featured in The World Games 2022, click here.

A version of this story previously was published by The Birmingham Times.