The 2022 Athletes’ Commission nominations are now open. The Athletes’ Commission is usually elected each year during the World Rafting Championships (WRC), to represent the views of the Athletes within the IRF. With no WRC since 2019 no elections have been held and so the same Commission has been in place since then. Now that the 2022 WRC is coming up in May it is time to hold an election again. An Athletes meeting will be held during the WRC in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and during that meeting the election will be held.

2022 Athletes’ Commission Candidates

We are therefore looking for candidates to stand on this commission. The commission is made up of seven people from around the world, three representatives from the European Region, two from the Pan American Region and two from the Asia/Oceania Region They will be on the commission until the following WRC in 2023.

An athlete is eligible to vote, propose a candidate or be a candidate if they participated as a competitor in their country’s last IRF Race Rule compliant National Selection, or the previous or present IRF World Rafting Championship.

Proposed candidates for the Athletes’ Commission must approve their candidacy before they become a confirmed candidate.

If you are an IRF Athlete yourself (i.e. have competed in your IRF Race Rule compliant National Selections or IRF WRC in 2019 or 2022) and have a candidate in mind or wish to propose yourself, then send in the candidates first name, surname, and country to Athletes Commission Chair, Aleš Danek.

Candidates will then be approached to see if they wish to stand and accept the responsibility. Each candidate will then need to provide a photo and a short CV. The full candidate list will be sent out about three weeks before the WRC itself. Elections will then be conducted during the WRC.

You can see the current Athletes’ Commission here.

The duties of the 2022 Athletes’ Commission are:

• To represent the athletes in the sports related decision making bodies of the IRF
• To act as a mediator between active athletes and the IRF Organisms
• To represent the athletes in sport related meetings of the IRF Administrative Committees and Sub-Committees
• To form the official opinion of the athletes concerning actual issues and to pass resolutions of the athletes
• To work for the athletes’ representation in the IRF Member Organisations
• To appoint when necessary, a spokesperson to represent the athletes during IRF Competitions