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Scenes From the 2025 World Games in Chengdu
The 12th World Games just concluded in Chengdu, China, after hosting thousands of athletes competing in a wide variety of sporting events, including canoe polo, tug-of-war, wushu, drone racing, cheerleading, disc golf, and much more. August 19, 2025, 1:11 PM ET Italy's team competes in the mixed aerobic group final during the 2025 World Games at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Function Gymnasium in Chengdu, in China's Sichuan province, on August 15, 2025. Taiwan's Chang Yu-Hsin ( center ) competes in the women's 15,000-meter speed-skating-road elimination final during the 2025 World Games at Shuyue Park in Chengdu on August 13, 2025. Jan Erik Haack of Team Italy controls the ball in the men's canoe-polo gold-medal match between Germany and Italy at the Jianyang Cultural and Sports Center Natatorium in Chengdu on August 16, 2025. Romania's Andra Pacurar ( left ) and Ionut Alexandru Miculescu compete in the couple's Latin-dance final at the Chengbei Gymnasium on August 8, 2025. China's Zhang Maozhu ( front ) competes in the men's powerboating motosurf heat during the 2025 World Games at the Sancha Lake Ma'anshan Arena on August 16, 2025. Liu Zhongjun / China News Service / VCG / Getty Li Tianxing of China competes in the drone-racing mixed-qualification round on day eight of the 2025 World Games at Dong'an Lake Sports Park Athletics Field on August 14, 2025. During the races, pilots wear FPV (first-person view) goggles to control their drones from a cockpit-like perspective. They must complete three laps of a 500-meter course within three minutes, navigating more than 40 obstacles, such as single gates, double-decker gates, cross gates, and slalom gates. Tenzin Nyida / Xinhua / Getty Gabriel Petry Heck, of Brazil, competes during the men's fistball gold-medal match between Brazil and Germany on August 13, 2025. Ukraine's team competes in the men's acrobatic group-qualification match at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Function Gymnasium in Chengdu. Team Taiwan competes against Team Switzerland ( not pictured ) in the women's outdoor 500-kilogram tug-of-war gold-medal match on a rainy day at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Central Square. Chen Xinbo / Xinhua / Getty Marissa Gannon of Team USA competes during the mixed-doubles final of the disc-golf event on August 10, 2025. Allison Hoeft and Sydney Martin of Team USA perform during the cheerleading pom doubles final at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Function Gymnasium on August 16, 2025. China's Royal performs during the B-girls' gold-medal breakdance match in Chengbei Gymnasium on August 17, 2025. Xu Suhui / Xinhua / Getty Lu Zhuoling of China competes during the women's wushu taijiquan-taijijian final event at the 2025 World Games. Sun Fanyue / Xinhua / Getty Marques Brownlee ( front ) of Team USA vies with Mao Quan of Team China during the ultimate-flying-disc mixed-preliminary-round group-A game on August 14, 2025. Du Zixuan / Xinhua / Getty Alexey Glukhov and Anastasia Glazunova of Moldova compete during the standard finals of the DanceSport event in Chengdu on August 9, 2025. Players in action, seen during the flag-football match between Team China and Team USA on day nine of the 2025 World Games, at Chengdu No. 7 High School Eastern Campus Athletics Field on August 15, 2025 Bulgaria's Kseniya Momchilova and Argentina's Sara Banchoff Tzancoff compete in a women's parkour speed qualification run at Xinglong Lake Hubin Arena on August 12, 2025. Zhang Liyun / Xinhua / Getty Members of the delegation from Belgium pose with the mascot 'Shubao' during the closing ceremony of the 2025 World Games on August 17, 2025. Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
