For the third time in a row, the best slalom kayakers on the globe will meet the world’s best whitewater kayakers for a special kind of challenge: Between the 1st and 4th of October 2009, they want to determine the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champion on Austria’s legendary “Wellerbrücke” river section in the Ötztal valley. On Thursday evening, October 1st, the Extreme Kayak World Championship officially starts with the registration of all participants at the Race Office.

In total, only 100 competitors will be admitted to the World Championship. Last year’s Top 25 will be automatically seeded, when registered until the end of June. The remaining 75 entries will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis. The Top 3 of the previous year are automatically qualified for the finals at Wellerbrücke. In addition, 45 athletes can qualify on Friday to compete in the world championship race on Saturday, October 3rd.

Once again the organisers have come up with a versatile side events programme including hf safety practice, movie nights and parties. The perfect organisation and the all-around-service for athletes including complimentary physiotherapy was also highlighted by the media. With headlines like “the best kayak world championship ever” they praised organisers and sponsors as well as the performance level of the participating athletes. „I was absolutely thrilled about the performance of the athletes and the great vibes among the participants,” says Axel Burkhardt, Global Sports Marketing Manager for adidas Olympic Sports, Cycling & Outdoor. „We wanted to create an event for the kayak community and I think this is what we managed to do with the adidas Sickline Worlds. I am really pleased that this event has been so well accepted.”

From now onwards, kayakers can register here for the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship. After a successful registration, participants will have to sign up for the race either on Thursday between 17:00 and 20:00 or on Friday morning between 07:30 and 10:30 at the Race Office. The start fee is 99.00 Euros in cash and includes the authorization to participate at the event, an adidas Sickline event T-shirt, access to the adidas Reload Center, two dinners (Friday/ Saturday) and two lunches (Friday/ Saturday). Participants have to be verifiable at least 18 years old and master whitewater level 5.