The "2025 Battle of the Year World Final," hosted by Hwaseong Special City and the Korea Breaking Federation, concluded.
The competition, held over two days on Sept. 20 and 21 at the Hwaseong Sports Town indoor gymnasium, was the first time South Korea hosted the world's largest breaking dance international tournament with a 37-year tradition, drawing 1,000 dancers from 33 countries.
This tournament was held in the Hwaseong area, where the largest entertainer organization of the late Joseon period, "Hwaseong Jaeincheong," had been established, adding special significance. Once the center of traditional performing arts, Hwaseong became a symbolic venue for contemporary global art and culture to unfold.
The most notable figure on the first day was Phil Wizard of Canada, who dominated the "1-on-1 breaking" category. The 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist in the men's breaking event once again proved his legendary status in breaking by showing overwhelming skill at this tournament.
In the "2-on-2 open style" category, the France-Switzerland united team sponsored by Red Bull took first place. The duo of Jean Michel Cruel and Stala captivated the audience with perfect coordination and creative moves. In the "kids battle royal," Louis Shan of China lifted the winner's cup after showing exceptional skills that made his age hard to determine. This result is seen as a sign of a bright future for the Asian breaking scene.
In the tournament highlight, the "crew battle," the Netherlands' THE RUGGEDS rose to the top. Their victory, representing the European breaking scene, showed how diversely breaking has developed worldwide.
In the "crew performance" category, Japan's Body Carnival won the best show award. Their creative and artistic performance demonstrated that breaking is recognized as an art form beyond a mere sport. In addition, top domestic hip-hop artists and dance teams such as Yang Hong-won, Kid Milli, Don Mills, Noh Yun-ha, BewhY, and One Million delivered high-quality performances that further raised the energy at the venue.
Meanwhile, the Korea Breaking Federation, which holds the rights to host the Battle of the Year World Final through 2027, said it would "build on the success of this tournament to expand the base of breaking culture domestically and devote more effort to nurturing athletes," noting that "Battle of the Year," which began in Germany in 1990, being held in South Korea for the first time in 37 years is an achievement that established South Korea's status as a center of Asian breaking culture.
The "2025 Battle of the Year World Final" will be broadcast from the quarterfinal battles on the SBS Sports channel at 10 p.m. on the 29th.
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