The launchers will be able to have a field day in Gironde.

The boomerang world championships start this Wednesday in Gradignan, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, for ten days of competition, after an edition canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For this 19th edition, nearly 100 throwers, including 25 French, will compete in six team events and as many individually from August 17 to 25, on the Château de Moulerens wine estate, in Gradignan.

"We have a solid, experienced French team, and will try to repeat the feat of 2004", where France finished in 2nd place during an edition organized at home, says Olivier Chelmas, member of the National Boomerang Committee. (NBC).

An object that can reach 100 km/h of instantaneous speed

This unusual outdoor sport, born in the United States in the 1970s, currently has between 200 and 250 licensees in France for whom it is the main sporting activity, and nearly 1,000 in leisure, and depends on the French Federation of free flight (FFVL), which also oversees hang-gliding, paragliding, kitesurfing and even kite-flying clubs.

In the shape of a "banana" (two-bladed), three-bladed or multi-bladed, made of colored plastic, sometimes carbon or fiberglass, a boomerang can reach "100 km / h of instantaneous speed" on certain events, according to Olivier Chelmas.

"It's not an easy sport, you need a lot of experience to 'perform' and there's also a lot of frustration, because you're not in control of the elements: the wind moves, varies, the conditions are different from one day to another”, warns this reigning European champion among the over 50s.

An environment that is also "masculine and aging", however, it is the pitcher Marie Appriou, a 24-year-old Bordelaise, who is world champion in the senior women's category, in the six individual events combined.

The absent Japanese

In total, thirteen nations will be represented: France, but also the United States, Brazil, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, England, Spain, Italy, or even India and Indonesia, nations "emerging".

Japan, among the favorites of the competition, was however unable to travel given the health restrictions still in force on the archipelago.

In 2018, the events took place in Albuquerque, in the State of New Mexico in the United States.

The next organizers of the European and World Championships will be decided during the week.

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