BREAKING: CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES DANCE ON PARIS 2024

Both countries won gold and direct berths to the Olympics.

Canada and the United States won gold in their break debut at Santiago 2023 and earned a direct trip to the Paris 2024 Olympics thanks to their impressive dance moves. The event awarded a place in the women’s category to Sunny of the United States, while in the men’s category the winner was Canadian Phil Wizard. Both competitors are at the top of the world rankings, but failed to secure their Olympic berth.

In an impressive three-round match, Sunny faced Colombian Luma. The American was the favorite for seventh place in the world break rankings, while Luma won the Pan American of this discipline organized this year in Chile, where she left Sunny in second place that time. The match became a revenge for Sunny, crowned absolute champion 3-0.

“I am very happy to have won this place for the Olympic Games. When I arrived, I focused on enjoying the experience and came with the intention of being myself and that definitely made a difference. I was focused on having a good time and felt very comfortable being myself. I hope people were able to enjoy the competition,” Sunny said.

The men’s gold medal was contested between Phil Wizard of Canada and Jeffro of the United States. The Canadian won the gold medal and secured a place at Paris 2024. At this year’s Breaking World Cup in Belgium, Wizard came close to winning gold and an Olympic place. Even though he was number one in the rankings at the time, he won silver and Santiago 2023 was an opportunity for him to redeem himself and get his ticket to Paris.

“Obviously, I wanted to win and I fought for victory until the end, but beyond that, I always wanted to be able to show the world what breaking is. I want more boys and young people to get involved in this sport that I have dedicated my whole life to and I will use the 2024 Olympic Games to let more people know about breaking,” Wizard said.

The silver medals went to Colombian Luma and USA Jeffro. The dispute for third place among the men was the big surprise of the day, since the Chilean world number 86 Matita managed to beat the ninth in the world ranking, the North American Gravity. After a 2-1 score, he won bronze for Chile.

Dancers not qualified for Paris 2024 will nevertheless be able to compete for one of the seven places per gender which will be allocated during the Olympic qualification series which will take place from March to June 2024.

SECOND DAY COUNT

The dance floor exploded at 5 p.m. as the competition’s nine judges representing different countries around the world, including Japan, France and Italy, performed an exhibition of the best break moves to commemorate 50 years of hip hop, which they completed in August 2023.

From the start of the event, the audience showed their support by shouting and clapping for their favorite contestants. The lighting and visual production highlighted every move of the B-boys and B-girls, creating a captivating experience for attendees.

The first quarterfinal was women’s and pitted Tiff of Canada against Isis of Ecuador, where the Canadian competitor won 2-1. A few minutes later, it was the turn of Sunny from the United States and Swami from Mexico. The American team dancer won. Other qualifiers for the women’s semifinals were La Vix of the United States and Luma of Colombia, who beat Mini Japa of Brazil and Emma of Canada.

The men’s quarter-finals began with the duel between the Colombian Alvin and the American Gravity, where the New York native won. The second battle was won by the Canadian Phil Wizard against the Brazilian Leony, 2-0. The surprise occurred in the third duel of the best eight with the victory of the local dancer Matita who beat his Venezuelan competitor Lil G. The last qualifier for the semi-finals was the American Jeffro who beat the Brazilian Rato.

The first finalist of the afternoon came from a North American duel between the United States and Canada, where Canadian Tiff lost decisively to her American team rival Sunny. The Colombian Luma and the last representative of Latin America still present in the women’s competition obtained her place in the final by beating the American La Vix, who had to settle for the bronze medal.

World number one Phil Wizard had no problem reaching the final, beating American Gravity 3-0. While the Chilean Matita had to be content to compete for bronze after losing to the American Jeffro.

Written by Jorge Guzmán M and Diana Vargas Domínguez