Australia is hosting the World Canoe Freestyle Championships in January 2005 (26-30).

Freestyle kayaking is one of the newest and most exciting canoeing disciplines. Similar to Freestyle Skiing, athletes perform tricks utilising the water to help manoeuvre themselves about.

Like all new sports Freestyle now encompasses exciting aerial moves and it is not uncommon to see athletes propel themselves into the air and rotate their kayak the same as gymnasts would with their body.

Inroads into the design of the boats utilised in Freestyle Canoeing, have meant an increased standard in moves/tricks created by competitors. Compared to standard river running kayaks, Freestyle kayaks have flat hulls and different volume displacement, which enables greater control.

Unlike the last four World Championships, Australia will be holding the 2005 World Freestyle Canoeing Championships on a completely artificial whitewater course.

This course, Penrith Whitewater Stadium (PWS) was built for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and is state of the art, with movable obstacles, which will enable PWS to get the best feature possible 2005 Worlds.

With the current stadium features we are seeing moves/tricks like Split Wheels, Aerial Loops, Blunts, Tricky Woos, Donkey Flips and the Rolex to name a few.

The channel has sloping banks, which makes for great viewing, on top of the banks is a flat area where food, drinks and a variety of canoeing displays equipment will be available.