From 18 to 27 September the kickboxing world gathers in Jesolo on the Italian Adriatic coast. The World Championships are the biggest event of the season, and for the athletes who have been selected it is ten days in which everything they have built up over a whole year must answer one single question: will it hold today?
For most of us, this is a championship we follow from home. But it is worth looking at what actually goes on down there - because the requirements at a World Championships are the same requirements that filter down to Norwegian events a couple of seasons later.
What a WAKO World Championships is
A WAKO championship is not one competition, it is several running in parallel. The semi-contact disciplines take place on mats, the full-contact disciplines in a ring, and musical forms has its own area. That is why it lasts ten days: each discipline has its own days, and an athlete competing in two disciplines may have fights at both ends of the championship.
Selection is made by the federation, not by the club. This means nobody can enter themselves for a World Championships - you get there because your results in the cups and championships have singled you out. That is also why the Norwegian Cup is more than points in a table: it is the basis for qualification.
Jesolo is a sports town used to this kind of event, an hour and a half from Venice. That makes the championship unusually accessible for travelling families and clubmates - something you notice in the stands.
The equipment check at a championship
This is where the difference between a World Championships and a Norwegian event is greatest. At a championship the equipment check is a fixed station you pass on the way to the mat, with dedicated inspectors who do nothing else all day. They look for three things:
| Checked | What stops people |
|---|---|
| Approved model | Equipment that looks like an approved model, but is an older version or a copy. |
| Labelling | A label that is worn off, faded or torn off. On the helmet the label sits on a separate Velcro strap that can be lost. |
| Correct colour | The athlete has equipment in one colour and is drawn to the opposite corner. |
How to follow the World Championships from home
WAKO streams its championships, and draws, results and lists are published continuously during the event. Follow WAKO's own channels for the stream and results, and Norges Kickboxing Forbund (the Norwegian Kickboxing Federation) for the Norwegian team - that is where selections, fight schedules and results for Norwegian athletes appear first.
Is someone from your club competing in Jesolo? Let us know, and we will gladly highlight it here and on our channels. We prefer to write about people by name, not about «Norwegian athletes» in general terms.
What we at home can learn from it
It is easy to dismiss a World Championships as something that does not concern someone who trains two evenings a week. But two things from there are directly transferable.
The first is the routine around equipment. Athletes at this level do not pack their bag in the morning. They have a competition set that is not used for anything else, they check the labels before every trip, and they bring spares of anything that might break. That habit costs nothing to copy, and it is the reason they never get stuck at the check.
The second is how little separates the disciplines in terms of equipment. Look through a World Championships programme and the same athletes appear in several disciplines - and the difference in their bag is one pair of gloves. If you are unsure whether to try a new discipline this autumn, the equipment threshold is usually lower than you think. We have gone through what each discipline requires in the overview of the whole competition season.
The equipment used at this level
This is not special equipment. It is the same WAKO-labelled models used at the Norwegian Cup, and everything is in stock with us.
Helmet
1,490 kr. S, M and L in blue, red and black. We have compared it with the Fight model in a separate test.
The spare part
199 kr. Put it in your bag before you travel. It weighs nothing, and without it the helmet is not approved.
See all WAKO-approved equipment
Read more
- The 2026/27 competition season - the full calendar and what each event requires
- WAKO-approved equipment - rules for NM, the Norwegian Cup and championships
- Guide to WAKO kickboxing - disciplines, equipment and competition requirements
- WAKO rule changes 2026: everything you need to know about approved equipment
