Thousands of paddlers from 11 different countries descended on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, GA for the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships from Sept 12-16, 2018 to determine the worlds fastest Dragon Boat crew! Two of AZDBA’s finest and most dedicated paddlers, Adrian Sudjono and Laura Baack, represented both Arizona and Team USA for bragging rights to being the cream of the crop on this international world stage.
And they did not disappoint – Between the pair, they brought back 2 Golds, 1 Silver, and 4 Bronze medals. To top it all off, Team USA took home the Nations Cup Trophy for being the overall points leader!
In addition to the US, teams from Armenia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Philippines, Switzerland, and Ukraine, also represented their countries at the competition.
The USA Dragon Boat team arrived 3 days before the start of the competition for final tune-ups and roster determination for Team USA. “The practices were shorter than the camps – just under 2 hours. We did a lot of starts and the coaches were trying out a lot of different rosters,” Laura said. When asked if there was any difficult adjustments that she needed to make, she said, “We do the same the kick-off the back [as with our local teams], but the stroke rates are much higher – 104 spm at the start, and reaching 111 spm. I was very impressed with everyone.”
Adrian and Laura competed in Gender and Mixed Divisions, in both 10-seat and 20-seat boats, for 200m, 500m, and 2000m race formats. Both competed in the Senior (Open/All Ages) category, although there was also a Junior (<18 yrs), and Masters (40+) categories as well.
For 10-seater senior women, 5 countries competed: Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, and USA. Laura competed in the 200 meter and 500 meter races, and medals were awarded based on the cumulative time of two heats.
500 meter 10-seat womens results (Thursday): Czech Republic barely beat Team USA women for the silver – 0.287 seconds overall.
| Country | Heat 1 Time | Heat 2 Time | Total Time | Final Placement |
| Germany | 2:16.749 | 2:18.394 | 4:35.143 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 2:23.961 | 2:24.391 | 4:48.352 | 2 |
| USA | 2:24.006 | 2:24.633 | 4:48.639 | 3 |
| Canada | 2:26.995 | 2:31.990 | 5:01.491 | 4 |
| Hungary | 2:29.501 | Did not start | — | — |
200 meter 10-seat womens results (Saturday): Again, Team USA women were barely edged out of silver by Czech Republic, this time, by 1 second overall.
| Country | Heat 1 Time | Heat 2 Time | Total Time | Final Placement |
| Germany | 54.939 | 54.748 | 1:49.684 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 57.019 | 56.286 | 1:53.305 | 2 |
| USA | 58.009 | 56.362 | 1:54.371 | 3 |
| Hungary | 59.623 | 58.938 | 1:58.561 | 4 |
| Canada | 1:00.509 | 59.370 | 1:59.879 | 5 |
For 20-seater senior women, only 2 countries competed: Canada & USA. Laura competed in all distances in this division. 200 meter & 500 meter medals were awarded based on cumulative time of two heats, and the 2000 meter is a single race for medals.
200 meter 20-seat womens results (Sunday): Gold!
| Country | Heat 1 Time | Heat 2 Time | Total Time | Final Placement |
| USA | 53.903 | 53.308 | 1:47.211 | 1 |
| Canada | 56.235 | 55.088 | 1:51.323 | 2 |
500 meter 20-seat womens results (Friday): Gold – “This was definitely my favorite race!”, Laura added.
| Country | Heat 1 Time | Heat 2 Time | Total Time | Final Placement |
| USA | 2:14.657 | 2:17.066 | 4:31.723 | 1 |
| Canada | 2:21.043 | 2:26.302 | 4:47.345 | 2 |
2000 meter results (Sunday): Team Canada edged out Team USA for the Silver by a mere 1.249 seconds, which is a slim margin in a 2000m race. Laura said, “It was disappointing, but still a medal for Team USA women.”
| Country | Time | Final Placement |
| Canada | 10:00.872 | 1 |
| USA | 10:02.121 | 2 |
