The third Roundnet World Championship starts tomorrow. Eight things the record already decided

The third world championship starts tomorrow at Parc du Tremblay, and before anybody serves, here are eight things the first two editions already decided:

1. The sweep that stopped being a sweep

In Belgium in 2022 the United States won all five divisions. Not most of them. All of them.

In the men's draw the Americans took the whole podium, Hammon and Marshall ahead of Cole and Hinkle, with Hamilton and Picone third. A fourth American pair, Abrams and Gross, finished immediately behind them.

Mixed was the harder one, because mixed ran with one team per nation. The United States had a single entry in that draw and won it, Gross and Hui.

Count the podium places across the whole championship. Five divisions, three places each, fifteen slots. The United States took eight.

Two years later in Guildford the same count came out at four.

Every individual title changed hands, and not one stayed in America. Eisenträger and Siemer took the men's for Germany, a set down against the Canadians Bosak and Cote before winning 14:21, 21:17, 21:16. Leybourne and Kadlec won the women's for Austria over the Stadlers, 21:19, 21:15. Kunzelmann and Felix won mixed for Switzerland, 21:19, 21:17.

The best American individual result in the whole tournament was one silver, Pierson and Rose in mixed.

Eight of fifteen, then four of fifteen. The federation's own medal count gives the United States twelve in total, and eight plus four is twelve, so two records compiled separately agree.

2. Nothing moved on the squad podium. Nothing at all

Men's squad, Belgium: United States, Canada, Germany. Men's squad, Guildford: United States, Canada, Germany.

Women's squad, Belgium: United States, Germany, Austria. Women's squad, Guildford: United States, Germany, Austria.

Six podium positions across two championships and two divisions, and not one of them changed hands. In the same two years, every single individual title did.

The format explains part of it. Five teams from a nation play the corresponding seed from another and three wins take the tie. The 2022 women's event ran with three a side, the only exception in the record. A tie like that does not turn on one pair having a great weekend. It turns on how many good pairs a country can put on court at once, and that changes on a timescale of years.

The individual draws are volatile and the squad table is set in concrete. Those are two different competitions sharing a venue.

3. Twenty-eight people already have medals from both championships

Because the squad podium never moved, the same names keep collecting.

Seven Americans, seven Germans, seven Canadians, five Austrians and two Swiss. Twenty-eight in total, out of ninety people who hold any medal at all.

4. Hui and Leybourne share the record, but not the colour

Silver in the women's draw in Belgium, mixed gold with Gross, then squad gold at both championships. Four medals, three of them gold.

Nobody has more. Leybourne has four as well, and hers came a different way: one gold, three bronzes. Same pile, different colour.

Her two Belgium medals came on the same day. Mixed has been played alongside the men's and women's draws at both championships, so a player entered in both is in two draws at once rather than one after the other.

Gross matches her on gold, three each: the mixed title he won with her, and both squad titles. Cole, Hamilton, Picone and Finocchi each carry two squad golds alongside an individual medal.

That is eleven people with more than one gold, in a sport where nobody has won two individual titles. Every one of those second golds is a squad medal.

5. Canada's zero, and the seven men who carry it twice

Three silvers. One bronze. No gold. No other nation has as many silvers without a gold.

Now put names on it. Bosak, Cote, Dean, Brown, Laurin, Babin and Mathieu were all in the men's squad that took silver in Belgium and silver again in Guildford. Seven men, two silvers each, the same colour both times, and the second one lost 3:2, which is as close as a squad tie can finish.

Bosak and Cote have a third, the men's individual silver in Guildford, lost to Eisenträger and Siemer from a set up.

Canada arrives in Paris with the longest wait in the sport, and it is a short sport. Four years.

6. Nobody has ever defended an individual title

Not one of the six athletes who won an individual title in Belgium was an individual champion again in Guildford. Not one. There is no two-time individual world champion in this sport.

Two of the six did come back and try. Gross and Hui, the 2022 mixed champions, both played in Guildford and both won squad gold there. Neither held the mixed title.

Set that against item 5 and the shape of it is clear. Squad golds repeat. Individual titles do not.

7. Five people improved between the two championships

Measured on their best medal of each edition, five athletes came back with a better one:

• Kunzelmann, silver and bronze to gold
• Felix, silver to gold
• Leybourne, two bronzes to gold and bronze
• Eisenträger, bronze to gold and bronze
• Siemer, bronze to gold and bronze

Leybourne's is the widest jump in terms of what she had to change. Mixed bronze in Belgium with Dziruni, then the women's title in Guildford with Kadlec: different division, different partner.

Kunzelmann and Felix made the tidiest one. They lost the mixed final in Belgium and won it two years later as the same pair. Kunzelmann has three individual medals, more than any other player, and two of them came out of a single day in Belgium.

8. France has exactly one medal, and it arrived at the last possible moment

Alt and Paysan took women's bronze in Guildford, beating the Americans Allen and Washburn 22:24, 21:18, 27:25.

Read that third set again. 27:25.

It is the only French podium finish in the history of the championship, and it happened in the last edition before France hosts.

What Paris has to break

Five titles go out this week. The record says two things about them, and they cannot both survive.

One of those patterns breaks first.

Preview follows: the draws, the seeds, and my guesses.

The record in full

Everything above is counted from the tables below. They are the complete medal record of the championship, both editions, all five divisions.

World champions, 2022 to 2026

Every champion in the history of the tournament, and the five titles still to be decided in Paris.

The full record

8-11 September 2022.

29 August - 1 September 2024.

The medal table

Quick guide: the world championship in brief

Who won the Roundnet World Championship?+

At the most recent championship, in 2024 in Guildford, England, Eisenträger and Siemer (Germany) won the men's division, Leybourne and Kadlec (Austria) won the women's, and Kunzelmann and Felix (Switzerland) won mixed. The United States won both national squad titles. At the first championship, in Belgium in 2022, the United States won all five divisions.

Who is the reigning roundnet world champion?+

The 2024 title holders remain champions until the 2026 championship in Champigny-sur-Marne near Paris, held from 2 to 6 September 2026.

Which country is the most successful in roundnet?+

The United States, with seven of the ten world titles awarded so far, including all four squad titles. Germany, Austria and Switzerland have one title each, all won in 2024.

Who is the most successful individual roundnet player?+

Two players share the record of four medals. Karah Hui of the United States has four, three of them gold: silver in the women's division and gold in mixed in 2022, plus a squad gold at both championships. Megan Leybourne of Austria also has four: the women's title in 2024, mixed bronze in 2022 and squad bronze at both championships. On gold alone Hui is level with her compatriot Ryan Gross, who has three. Laura Kunzelmann of Switzerland holds the most individual medals with three.

When and where is the Roundnet World Championship 2026?+

From 2 to 6 September 2026 at Parc du Tremblay in Champigny-sur-Marne, east of Paris, France. It is the third edition.

How often is the Roundnet World Championship held?+

Every two years since 2022. Paris 2026 is the third edition.

Is Spikeball the same as roundnet?+

Roundnet is the sport, Spikeball is a brand. Spikeball Inc. manufactures equipment and popularised the game. In international competition the sport is called roundnet, governed by the International Roundnet Federation.

What is the difference between the individual and squad divisions?+

Individual is the two-player competition, in men's, women's and mixed divisions. Squad is the national team competition: five teams per country play seeded matchups against the corresponding seed of the opposing country, and three wins decide the tie. The 2022 women's event used three teams a side.

Where can you find Roundnet World Championship results?+

Roundnet is a young sport: the first world championship was held in 2022, and the third takes place in 2026. Its records are kept by the national federations and the volunteers who run the tournaments, spread across the platforms each of them uses. This page brings the podiums from every championship so far together in one place.