Breaking new ground
Before it even makes its debut on the Youth Olympic Games stage at Buenos Aires 2018, breaking already made history earlier this year with the launch of the first-ever online qualification pathway for an Olympic event.
The World DanceSport Federation received more than 1,000 video submissions in the first round of digital qualification. The 45-second video entries came from 81 different countries across five continents, and the high quality of entrants made it a tough shortlisting decision for the judges, who are all legends from the breaking community.
The first digital phase, which ended on 31 July, has shortlisted 395 b-girls and b-boys, who will now have the chance to compete in the Continental Qualifiers, taking them one step closer to their Youth Olympic dream.
The three Continental Qualifiers will take place in Philadelphia, USA (Americas), Essen, Germany (Europe and Africa), and Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Asia and Oceania) over the next four months. From each of these events, 20 b-boys (making a total of 60) and 10 b-girls (30) will continue to the WDSF Breaking Youth World Championships in May 2018, where 12 athletes of each gender will make the final qualification for Buenos Aires 2018, subject to selection by their respective National Olympic Committees. Follow their journey on breakingforgold.com.