Throwback to the winners of the first AWC in Liberec in 2012

The Agility World Championships will be held in the Czech Republic next week for the third time. Instead of the Czech capital Prague, the event will be held in Liberec in the very north of the country. The city, which has almost 100,000 inhabitants, is the fifth largest in the country. The premiere took place 11 years ago, before the World Championships were held again in Liberec five years later. Time to travel back in time to the year 2012. A time when runnings were still the exception and courses resembled pinball machines.

It was a time marked by names like Lisa Frick, Jenny Damm, Natasha Wise, Martina Klimesova, Pavol Vakonic and of course many more names. In the Large, however, there was inevitably no way around the young Austrian Lisa Frick and Border Collie Hoss. In 2009 the two won their first world title. A year later, the two proved that success was no flash in the pan. The duo was also one of the big favorites in Liberec in 2012. In the end, Lisa Frick justice the role and won her third individual title within four years. In front of Gregory Bielle Bidalot from France and Philipp Müller-Schnick from Germany. The fourth and so far last individual title followed in Luxembourg in 2014. An incredible achievement until this day.

Lisa Frick’s winning runs in 2012 (Video by DogSports Cz – YouTube)

The starting point in the Medium tournament looked similar back then. In recent years there has been almost no way around the British Natasha Wise. She won both the 2009 and 2010 World Championships with Border Collie Dizzy. The third title was to follow in 2012. Just like Lisa Frick and Hoss. 11 years ago a Medium border collie was an absolute exception. Even today the number of Medium Border Collies is limited. At that time, however, there was a fear that the starting field would be overrun by border collies in the future. But back to the competition. There, Natasha Wise and Dizzy achieved historic things. They were the first team ever to win three gold individual medals as a team. A few hours later, Lisa Frick would follow suit. Behind them were Petra Hamšíková with Lara and Silvia Trkman with La on place 2 and 3. After Jumping, the two were in the lead. A third place in the Agility run was enough to win the overall title.

Natasha Wise’s winning runs in 2012 (Video by DogSports Cz – YouTube & Agility Vision)

A tight battle was it back then at the Individual Small competition after the first Jumping. Tobias Wüst (yes, even 11 years ago Tobias Wüst was already omnipresent) led the rankings after Jumping with a time of 28.97 seconds. 0.11 seconds ahead of the Russian Elena Kapustina with Parson Russel Tekna. In the Agility run, however, the tide turned and the Russian got the upper hand. Both teams also remained clean in the Agility run. A run that is already very fluid and fast compared to other courses at this World Championship. For Elena and Tekna it remains the only medal at a world championship. All the better if it’s the golden one. Elena now lives in Germany under the surname Raatz. She has remained loyal to the terriers over all the years.

Elena Kapustina’s winning runs in 2012 (Video by DogSports Cz – YouTube & Ludek Milo)