Columbia Valley Pioneer staff
Australia is a beautiful place to visit this time of year, especially if you come back with a bronze medal.
Just ask Max Regitnig.
The Invermere resident and his team won third place at the World Team Disc Golf Championships that took place in Perth last month.
Team Canada was one of 22 teams competing at the event, starting in one of the more difficult round robin pools against Norway, Australia, Germany, Latvia and China.
Canada placed fourth in its pool and entered the main tournament of 16. It battled Finland ending with a draw, resulting in a sudden death tiebreaker. Regitnig played the hole cleanly, while Finland’s player threw a disc out of bounds. Canada won and proceeded to the quarter finals against Austria and handily beat them in all four matches, which sent the Canadian to the semi-finals against the host country Australia.
It was an exciting battle. South Surrey, BC’s Dave Ross almost gave Canada the win with a perfect putt that chained out at the last moment. Australia and Canada played to a draw and once again Canada headed to a sudden death tiebreaker on the same hole they played against Finland. This time, Cranbrook, BC’s Casey Hanemayer had the honours. Unfortunately, he threw out of bounds while Australia played clean.
The loss sent Canada to the bronze medal match against Norway and was subsequently awarded third place. Team Australia took the silver after losing to Estonia, who took the gold medal.
The bronze medal win qualifies Team Canada for the 2025 International World Games in Chengdu, China. Disc golf has not been at the International World Games since 2016. The hope is that this event will help disc golf to eventually become a sport in the Olympic Games.
