Gibbon USA will host the the 2012 World Slackline Federation World Championships at The Boston Ski & Snowboard Expo in Boston Nov. 8-11. Held for the first time in the United States, the event is being sponsored by Th, which is being sponsored by Vibram USA, MadRock and Bridges Rock Gym.
You may have seen slacklining everywhere from the extreme sports lineup at the Dew Tour, to NBC’s “The Office” season nine premiere episode, but you haven’t seen the sport like this before. Alex Mason, who is just 15 years old, is the current top-ranked slackliner in the world and will be competing in Boston. As a teenager, Mason represents the sport’s fastest-growing demographic.
Andy Lewis, the slackliner famous for his Super Bowl XLVI performance where he shared the stage with Madonna, currently ranks number two worldwide. The following athletes that make up the elite eight are: Italy’s Lukas Huber, Benjamin Schmid from Germany, Toru Osugi from Japan, Timo Kurrle from Germany, Igor Zambelli from Brazil and Luis Meier from Germany.
The eight athletes are divided into two different groups by seed. Each athlete must compete head-to-head against all others in their group and will get one point for each win. The person with the most points from each group will move on to the semifinals.
A Slackline Jam with 12 other professional athletes will take place on Thursday and Friday, November 8 & 9 at 8 p.m. each day. On Saturday, the first round of the World Championships Group Preliminaries will happen at 1 p.m. and round two at 4 p.m. The culminating semifinal and final rounds where the World Champion will be determined will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“The World Championships is the event we’ve been looking forward to all year,” said Emilio Torres, vice president of sales at Gibbon Slacklines USA. “After hosting competitions all across the U.S., we’re honored to host the most important of them all, especially since it’s here in the United States for the first time.”
For those unfamiliar with the sport, slacklining is the act of balancing on a narrow, flexible piece of webbing which is low to the ground and usually anchored between two trees. Featured during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, slacklining has become a recent feature of Madonna’s current MDNA tour where three Gibbon athletes are performing with the Material Girl. Gibbon is the world’s leading slackline manufacturer and is rapidly building the sport with their top-level pro team and by hosting competitions across the U.S. Gibbon’s easy-to-use equipment makes the sport accessible for anyone, from athletes to families, and has evolved slacklining into a cross-trainer, backyard activity, fitness trend and sport all of its own.
