Freerunning and Parkour competition kicks off in Mardin

ISTANBUL

The southeastern Turkish province of Mardin will host the Freerunning and Parkour World Cup Series on May 12-13 under the auspices of the Turkish Gymnastics Federation.

More than 50 athletes, including 15 professionals, will attend the competition and the winners will get cash prizes ranging between $200 and $2,000, according to the schedule on the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation’s (WFPF) website.

Athletes including Joey Adrian, Erik Mukhametshin, Erick “Daer” Sanchez, Dom Di Tomasso, Bart Van Der Linden, Kirill Kolesnikov and Shawn Bautista are expected to join the competition alongside Turkish athletes.

Adrian was the champion of the WFPF “Jump Off” World Championships in Las Vegas of 2017. Mukhametshin, born in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand city, has been training parkour for more than 15 years. Erick “Daer” Sanchez is a former taekwondo practitioner from Mexico.

In the first day the athletes will compete against time in the “speed round” and “alive after 5” sessions. In the second day the “best skills” and “freestyle” finals will take place.

The competition will be broadcast to more than 1 billion people in more than 100 countries.

“The competition will make a huge contribution to the publicity of Mardin and southeastern Anatolia,” said Selim Kemahlı, the chair of Case Productions, the company that is a partner of the WFPF.

The event is supported by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Mardin Governor’s Office.