Here is the list of UNICON XV World Champions!

Individual Freestyle
Billette, Pierre‐Yves France
Sakaino, Satomi Japan
Pairs Freestyle
Maillard, David and Saudan, Gilles Switzerland
Standard Skill
Mortensen, Philip Denmark
Matsunaga, Satoko Japan
Group Freestyle
Danish Freestyle Team Denmark
Street Comp
Huriwai, Christian New Zealand
Pellmann, Sophia Germany
Flatland
Delecroix, Adrien France
Pellmann, Sophia Germany
Overall Racing
Kobayashi, Seisuke Japan
Yazawa, Saori Japan
100m
Kobayashi, Seisuke Japan
Deguchi, Mayuko Japan
400m
Kobayashi, Seisuke Japan
Yazawa, Saori Japan
800m
Kobayashi, Seisuke Japan
Yamamoto, Natsume Japan
50m One‐Foot
Shoji, Kaito Japan
Yazawa, Saori Japan
30m Wheel Walk
Shoji, Kaito Japan
Kawamura, Mami Japan
Obstacle Course
Rodler, Simon Germany
Lips, Mirjam Switzerland
Slow Forward
Albert, Baptiste France
Theiss, Sonja Germany
Slow Backward
Niedner, Sebastian Germany
Jensen, Signe Denmark
High Jump
Schulze, Maxwell USA
Pellmann, Sophia Germany
Long Jump
Jorgensen, Jonas Denmark
Pellmann, Sophia Germany
Relay
J&S Japan
Track Coasting
Dierkes, David Germany
Gajowczyk, Carina Germany
Downhill Gliding
Holme, Thim Denmark
Kawamura, Mami Japan
10k Unlimited
Wilton, Scott USA
Jense, Signe Denmark
10k Standard
Henestrosa, Philipp Switzerland
Yamamoto, Natsume Japan
Marathon
Dunn, Corbin USA
Jense, Signe Denmark
MUni Uphill
Charrier, Martin France
Genelin, Irene USA
MUni Downhill
Weichenberger, David Austria
Lehnart, Jana Germany
MUni Cross Country
Charrier, Martin France
Genelin, Irene USA
Trials
Schulze, Maxwell USA
Ryon‐Rojbek, Galina Denmark
Basketball
Woom France
Hockey
Swiss Team Switzerland

Wellington’s Ken Looi won New Zealand’s third medal in the Unicycle World Championships marathon held in Wellington. On the very tough multi-lap course on the Miramar peninsula Looi took an early lead but had to bow to the superior strength of American Corbin Dunn and France’s Martin Charrier in to the wind.

Thirty knot winds buffeted the unicyclists for much of the course and maintaining balance on the unicycle proved to be too much on some of the more exposed sections. Already billed as the most gruelling unicycle marathon ever, the course included climbing up to Mt Crawford prison four times followed by a steep descent in to Karaka Bay.

Looi was satisfied with his effort and delighted with the result.

“I put everything in to the race and could not have goner any faster” Looi said. “Corbin and Martin were just too strong heading back in to the wind”. Looi was the 2006 world champion and responsible for bringing the event to Wellington.

Corbin broke away from Charrier on the fourth lap to win in 2 hours 5 minutes 39 seconds. This is well off the usual times that are normally well under two hours.

The Unicycle World Championships concluded with an awards ceremony in the TSB Arena and the next world championships will be held in Italy in 2012.

World Championship Co-ordinator, Lynne Klap, said that the ten day Unicon XV was a special event to have organised and that the response from the public has been extremely positive.

“We have had big crowds come to most of the events and the public are always amazed at the skill levels on display and the range of ages competing. I have really enjoyed the mixture of pure sport with the artistry of the freestyle events and the daring of the street and trials unicyclists.”

Unicycle World Championships Marathon Results

Expert Men

1.Corbin Dunn (USA) 2hr 5min 39sec, 2. Martin Charrier (France) 2hr 8min 35sec, 3. Ken Looi (New Zealand) 2hr 10min 41sec

Expert Women

1. Signe Jensen (Denmark) 2hr 30min 27sec, 2. Sheila Rasmussen (Denmark) 2hr 38min 12sec, Mirjam Lips (Switzerland) 2hr 47min 58sec

Kaikohe’s Christian Huriwai pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the Unicycle World Championships by winning the men’s final in the Street competition. New Zealand has never before won a medal in Street let alone a gold medal. Just as surprising was the failure of defending champion, Frenchman Adrien Delecroix, to make the top three.

Huriwai scored well across each of the three sections while Delecroix spent a considerable amount of his available time trying to perfect a front flip off one of the ramps. This cost him valuable points as he never successfully landed a flip.

Unicycle street freestyle is very similar to skateboarding with tricks such as style grinds, drops and flips are attempted but on one wheel instead of four. Street freestylers put the ‘extreme’ into unicycling as they perform tricks on urban obstacles such as ledges, handrails and stairs with technical proficiency, style and creativity.

The venue for the World Championships was Waitangi Park on Wellington’s waterfront.

New Zealand’s only previous Unicycle World Champion is Ken Looi who won gold in the marathon in 2006.

Unicycle World Championships Street Results

Expert Men

1. Christian Huriwai (New Zealand), 2. Loic Baud (France), 3. Maxwell Schulze (United States)

Expert Women

1. Sophia Pellman (Germany), 2. Irene Genelin (United States)

Seventeen year old American Scott Wilton upstaged his older rivals by winning the Unicycle 10km World Championships on Wellington’s waterfront. In one of the tightest finishes in the 30 year history of the championships three Americans and one Germany swung around the final corner for the 20m sprint to the finish line under the sails on Queens wharf.

From the outset a fast pace was set on the very tight, 3 lap course with Wilton joined by fellow Americans Corbin Dunn and Beau Hoover, German Jan Longemann, Sam Wakeling from the UK, and the New Zealand duo of Ken Looi and Tony Melton. Drama followed on the narrow bridge by Te Papa when a rider went down and took out the New Zealand trio. The crash resulted in one of the riders ending up hanging precariously over the edge of the bridge.  He was able to get back on to the course.

The crash effectively ended the New Zealand challenge early as it allowed the Wilton group of four to jump clear. Unfortunately for Looi and Wakeling the chase back up to the four leaders proved to be too much and they had to settle for the minor placings. Looi pipped Wakeling and David Cox from Canada in another sprint finish.

Wilton’s win was a triumph for the purists as he was the only one of the leading riders to not be riding a geared unicycle. Most of the leading unicyclists now ride a two-geared unicycle but on the tight course this did not prove to be an advantage.

The women’s 10km was a more open affair with Denmark’s Signe Jensen a clear minute in front of Switzerland’s Mirjam Lips and fellow Dane Sheila Rasmussen.

An estimated crowd of 2,000 lined the waterfront for the racing in warm and calm conditions.

Unicycle World Championships 10km Results

Men

1. Scott Wilton (USA) 22min 11sec, 2. Corbin Dunn (USA) 22min 12sec, 3. Beau Hoover (USA) 22min 13sec, 4. Jan Longemann (Germany) 22min 14sec, 5. Ken Looi (New Zealand) 22min 41sec

Women

1. Signe Jensen (Denmark) 23min 40sec, 2. Mirjam Lips (Swtzerland) 24min 40sec, 3. Sheila Rasmussen (Denamrk. Also, 8. Kirsten Henderson (New Zealand) 28min 12sec.

Matsuka moved smoothly between the different elements within his programme but could not match the technical variety of Billette. He was though delighted to have imporoved upon his fourth placing in the pairs on Wednesday night.

Swiss David Maillard backed up his gold in the pairs with a bronze medal performance. Based upon Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat it’, Maillard’s routine combined a high level of acrobatic manoeuvres and unicycling skill with a well choreographed routine. Unfortunately a few uncharacteristic errors marred his performance.

In a format that is very similar to ice skating, the unicyclists are given four minutes for their routines and they are judged on a combination of fluidity of movement, the variety of movements, level of difficulty and audience interaction.

For those new to unicycling it was very easy to forget that the competitors were cycling on a single wheel as their movements seemed to be as smooth as those of an ice skater. The most pleasing for the competitors’ was the excellent support given by the Wellington public.

“Who would have believed that we could pack out a TSB Arena for a unicycling event” said Event Co-ordinator Lynne Klap. “It gives me incredible pleasure to see the surprised look on the faces in the audience when they witness the beauty and sheer skill of these athletes. We are unlikely to ever see the best ice skaters in a competition in Wellington yet here we have the unicycling equivalent. And all for free”

The artistic freestyle unicycling concludes in the TSB Arena with the group freestyle at 7pm on Saturday January 2nd. The programme then moves on to more of the outdoor events including the 10km criterium, the trials and the cross country.

Unicycle World Championships Results

Freestyle Men

1. Pierre-Yves Billette (France), 2. Ryohei Matsuda (Japan), 3. David Maillard (Switzerland).

Freestyle Women

1. Satoni Sakaino (Japan), 2. Rina Tachibana (Japan), 3. Yuka Sakaino (Japan).

The second half of the Swiss routine had the crowd calling for more as the Swiss stripped off items of clothing while performing unicycling manoeuvres that were technically extremely difficult. Maillard and Saudan were the reigning champions having also won in Denmark in 2008.

The Swiss were the clearest example of a difference in style between the very fluid balletic style of the Japanese and the European focus on the technical unicycling skills.

In unicycling mixed, women and men pairs compete against each other rather than in separate divisions. In a format that is very similar to ice skating, the pairs are given four minutes for their routines and they are judged on a combination of fluidity of movement, the variety of movements, level of difficulty and audience interaction.

For those new to unicycling it was very easy to forget that the competitors were cycling on a single wheel as their movements seemed to be as smooth as those of an ice skater.

The artistic skating continues in the TSB Arena with the individual expert on Friday January 1st and the group freestyle on Saturday January 2nd. The organisers are expecting to again fill the TSB Arena after the success of the pairs competition.

Results

Artistic Expert Pairs

1. David Maillard and Gilles Saudan (Switzerland) , 2. Kaito Shoji and Yuka Fujimoto (Japan), 3. Satomi and Yuka Sakaino(Japan).

Kaito Shoji and Yuka Fujimoto

Seisuke Kobayashi 800m Final. Photo by roadcycling.co.nz

Multiple world champion Seisuke Kobayashi, from Japan, was the star on the track at the Unicycle World Championships in Wellington today. Seisuke won the 800m, 400m and 100m though he had to work hard to hold on to his 800m title. An unexpectedly bold challenge from young Swiss unicyclist, Philipp Henestrosa, looked like causing an upset after he led the field after the first lap of 400m.

An aggressive start by Henestrosa quickly stretched the field and had Kobayashi, German Niklas Wojtek and Henestrosa in a tight group in front down the back straight. Round the corner at the 200m mark Henestrosa grabbed the lead by two metres and the possibility of a major upset seemed on. However, Kobayashi re-assumed control down the back straight on the second lap as the young Swiss rider’s legs started to tire. The superior strength of Kobayashi enabled him to hang on to win by 2.5 seconds from fast finishing Wojtek. Seventeen year old Henestrosa managed to hold on for fourth.

Kobayashi also won multiple gold on the track at the past two world championships held in Switzerland and Denmark.

In the women’s track events only a silver medal by German Laura Gienapp prevented a clean sweep of all medals by the Japanese. The 100m provided the closest finish of the day with only nine hundredths of a second separating Japanese unicyclists, Mayoko Deguchi and Anna Misawa, with Gienapp in between the two.

Results Women:

800m: 1. Natsume Yamamoto (Japan) 2min13.70sec, 2. Yui Sugahara (Japan) 2:14.23, 3. Minami Watanabe (Japan) 2:14.86; 400m: 1.Saori Yazawa (Japan) 1min 1.19sec, 2. Natsume Yamamoto (Japan) 1:01.90, 3. Minami Watanabe (Japan) 1:02.68; 100m: 1. Mayuko Deguchi (Japan) 14.27sec, 2. Laura Gienapp (Germany) 14.32sec, 3. Anna Misawa (Japan) 14.36sec

Results Men:

800m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 2min 5.60sec, 2. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 2:08.15, 3. Masataka Seto (Japan) 2:09.36; 400m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 56.39sec, 2. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 58.51sec, 3. Hiroaki Okayama (Japan) 58.75sec; 100m: 1. Seisuke Kobayashi (Japan) 13.09sec, 2. Hiroaki Okayama (Japan) 13.62sec, 3. Niklas Wojtek (Germany) 13.67sec.

The 1m 15cm record is shared with Joe Hodges from the UK.