Final medals awarded to close inaugural World Urban Games in Budpaest

France and Russia met in both the men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball finals with the honours even between the two nations.

In the men’s final, France beat Russia 21-13 and seal gold, a result which also meant the USA finished top of the medal table. Defeated semi-finalists Ukraine beat Belarus 18-16 in the bronze medal match.

In the women’s final, Russia gained revenge for their male counterparts by beating France 17-13. China beat The Netherlands 21-9 to take bronze in the third-place play-off.

There was also good news for Russia in the men’s freestyle parkour as the jury awarded the gold medal to Evguenii Aroian, this after he finished on level score of 25 with Poland’s Krystian Kowalewski. The latter took away the silver medal, with Greece’s Dimitris Kyrsanidis also stepping on the podium by taking bronze.

Spain’s Stefanny Navarro won the women’s speed parkour to deny Russia’s Aleksandra Shevchenko a double gold. Shevchenko won the freestyle event yesterday but it was the Navarro, who was quickest in qualifying and fastest by more than a second in the final.

She claimed the first medal for her nation at the World Urban Games with a blistering run of 14.54 seconds, whilst Shevchenko had the consolation of a silver medal, with Stephania Zitis of Australia third and taking bronze.

Australia’s Brandon Loupos won the men’s BMX freestyle title in an Australian one-two. Loupos triumphed and took his gold with his score of 94.10 with compatriot Logan Martin coming in second. USA’s Justin Dowell had led the competition until the final two rides of the event but had to be content with a bronze medal after he finished on 93.20.

The final of the women’s BMX freestyle brought the expected with the gold medal going to USA’s Hannah Roberts. Her score of 93.00 was well in front of that of Japan’s Minato Oike finished second with 87.20 and Colombia’s Liszurley Villegas Serna in third with 83.00.

The laser run debuted as a showcase event at the World Urban Games 2019 providing spectators with the chance to try out this modern sport. Even though the Hungarian competitors of the laser run event did not quite do enough to make the podium, Sándor Kármán, the representative of the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association was more than satisfied their performance.

He said, “We are after the world championships, so every competitor sacrificed their rehabilitation time for this event. Of course, we did not have any high expectations on their performances.

“We are here as a demonstration sport, so we asked our competitors to be gentle with themselves and with the others. We did not want any injuries to happen.

“It would be great if we could increase the number of pentathlonists in Hungary. I am grateful that many people came to us and asked for information about laser run. When there is no competition going on, the track is full of families. Most of the people only try shooting, just some of them go for a run as well. But to be honest, the real difficulty of this sport is to be able to shoot with a high pulse, after running many rounds.”

Organised by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the inaugural World Urban Games was held at the Nagyvásártelep, a former market located in the south of Budapest.

Over the course of three days (13 to 15 September, the Games features six exhilarating competition sports – BMX freestyle, roller freestyle, parkour, breaking, 3×3 basketball and flying disc freestyle – to demonstrates the variety and excitement of urban sport.

Two sports – indoor rowing and laser run – were also featured as showcase events, with the Festival programme also including live music, street art and dance.

The final medal table saw USA come out on top with three gold medals, two silver and two bronze. They came just ahead of Russia in second who come away from Budapest with three golds, two silver and one bronze.