The opening day of the World U24 Ultimate Championship has kicked off in Nottingham, beneath an overcast sky on green English grass. It was windy and wild, and some early pool play power dynamics are taking shape across the divisions. This was a day of no small heart break for our Australian teams, but still a day that has built plenty of hope and drive for Day 2. More on that shortly.
If you want to look at the cold hard data and stats yourself, visit this page on the tournament website. Some live streams are available through Ultiworld’s YouTube, but for the full cartel you’ll need a subscription. Tournament packages start from $16.99, you can see the full schedule here.
Since Day 1 doesn’t have major implications for the bracket and so forth, we will keep flow diagrams and wild speculation to a minimum with this recap.
Also worth noting that the Opening Ceremony march processions seemed to be led by a troupe dressed as Robin Hood and his band of merry men, which is a fun but sort of strange use of resources in IOU’s opinion.
Mixed
Based on Day 1 results, the Mixed division appears as evenly, tightly matched as it has for some time. Parity in the division and so on. With the exception of the North American powerhouses in USA and Canada, who won their games to 15 by 11 and 12 points respectively, all other opening rounds were pretty hotly contested.
Pool A:
Pool B:
Pool C:
Pool D:
Bluebottles
The Bluebottles started their WU24 with a universe point loss against Finland. With five breaks either way throughout the game in a tricky, trading game, Finland got a crucial run of four late in the second half to make it 14-12. An offensive hold, followed by a (presumably) excruciating eight minute point, with a timeout for each team, saw the Bottles break to take it to 14-all.
Double-game point lasted for five and a half minutes. The Finns launched a ‘dicey huck’ that WU24 tournament reports said ‘probably should have been a turnover,’ but ultimately got the disc back on a contested foul. Finland scored through their stat leader Saku Vintola to win 15-14.
Stats obviously don’t give a full picture, but it looks like Fyshwick’s Abdul Siddique had a game, with five assists and one goal. Sorry we couldn’t tell a more detailed story of the universe point, the Bottles are all asleep now and I don’t have any spies in their camp yet. I will put out my antennas.
Tomorrow they play South Africa, who lost to Singapore 15-10.
Womens
The two-pool system is always a bit of fun. In Pool A, USA ended the day on top with two wins and a goal difference of 17. In Pool B, Japan’s annihilation of Great Britain and Austria see them end the day with a goal difference of 25. Out of a maximum 30, remember. That’s a lot.
Results have largely gone as expected on the first day of competition, with global ultimate’s usual powers starting the first day strong.
Pool A:
Pool B:
Stingrays
The Stingrays were pumped about their matchup with the USA, feeling that Day 1 is as good a time as any to face off with the tournament favourites. And face off they did. Despite a 15-9 scoreline, the USA had barely any clean holds, with the Stingrays women applying high level pressure, world class energy, and a whole lot of noise. They earned blocks as a result, Fuse and Lunchbox superstar Sae Muduioa got one massive layout d and was a fingertip away from a second.
Ultimately, it was just a string of breaks that blew the scoreline out to 15-9. Except for two four-point runs for the USA in the first and second half, the Stingrays were competitive and trading with the reigning champs. Turnovers were generally wind-related, although Lucy Deller was instrumental for the offence, throwing as many as three completed hammers into 40 knot winds. May Lee Rickards-Tang looked absolutely at home in her debut at a World Championship, winning match ups consistently and moving the disc well. The Stingrays are a vibe-based team, and when they stopped the bleeding and found their voices, they went toe to toe with the 1 Seed. This is big.
Though there were very promising signs for the Stingrays in their opening round, the USA is a top-tier team that will punish any lapses in concentration. They face off against Germany tomorrow at 9 a.m. (UK Time), which will be a pretty interesting match up. Both teams play big, tall, bold ultimate, and of course Germany’s Ava Mueller is a two-time Stingray. She knows the tricks. Electric.
Opens
The Opens division, especially Pool B, looks like it’s going to be a tight one. With only one game played it’s too soon to speculate on how the Top 4 of each pool might look, but I suspect no opening day loss will be catastrophic. This is going to be a dog fight, a three-way tie sort of thing, a points difference nail biter. Every goal scored in pool play will count for something.
Pool A:
Pool B:
Goannas
There were some obvious nerves for the Goannas in their opening game, and fair enough. Their first offensive point took the better part of ten minutes to punch in, and the opening points were a high octane, high turnover, somewhat breathless spectacle. Ultiworld were kind enough to livestream it behind their paywall, and as long as you’re okay with, like, feeling your heartbeat in your eyeballs, it’s worth a watch. It’s a bit easier to write about them in depth than the other teams, because of the footage - yay for livestreams!
I have personally been afraid of Benjamin Oort for seven years, when he was WJUC tournament stat leader and approximately 15. He was the youngest player ever to play in the AUDL, is consistently GRUT’s MVP, and basically is just very, very good. He showed that in the game against Australia this morning, throwing four goals, catching seven, and doing any number of crucial connecting passes in between.
Though Oort and the Netherlands played at a level well above their seed, the Goeys, once settled, had passages of dominance. Of cylinder firing. Of ‘Oh that’s sick’-ing. They really do have all the ingredients of an excellent team - skill, brains, brawn. Olly Loughnan looks like he was born on an Ultimate field with a disc in his hands, and Lucien Noel and Jono Keyes are, as we have known for a few years in this country, superb young players. But make no mistake, the whole roster is contributing to Goey's performance. There are athletes everywhere, there are courageous throwers on every line.
Though it was heartbreaking to watch, and no doubt upsetting to be an actual part of, this game had me nodding and ‘Yes sir’-ing and yelling at the screen. The Goannas mean business. And it’s going to click for them in a big way on this biggest of stages, probably on Day 2.
Australia takes on Ireland tomorrow. Let’s go Goeys.