Multiple favorites took surprise losses on Tuesday!
July 14, 2026 by Aidan Thomas in Recap
An eight day tournament is a long time, and if you were making plans to maybe pass on watching some of the WJUC action, maybe you were planning on making Tuesday that day. It was the day before the conclusion of pool play in the mixed and women’s divisions, and the first of two days of power-pool play in the open division. It could have been a sleepy day in which not much was decided.
Before you read on, let this be your sign to go back and watch as much of Tuesday’s action as you can.
Welcome to The Thunderdome – the action heated up in a big way in Spain as the tournament reached its halfway point. Two of three USA teams suffered upset losses, casting doubt on their status as favorites the rest of the way. The women’s division saw three upsets by seed plus a universe-point clash, the mixed division featured four upsets by seed, and while the open division only had two upsets, it had five games decided by two or less points.
Let’s dive in.
Mixed Division
We’ll start with the one division where Team USA walked away unscathed. United States started the day with a tight win, 13-10 over Switzerland before a virtual walkover, toppling Austria 13-2. They moved to 5-0 in the tournament and clinched the top seed in Pool A. Against Switzerland, the Americans were broken first, going down 2-0, but they held and rattled off four straight breaks to seize control. Switzerland was tough to put away, twice pulling even at 6-6 and 9-9, but USA managed to notch two more late-game breaks to secure a 12-9 lead and see out the victory. USA had difficulty dealing with the Swiss star Nino Stauffer, who scored five times, but Ethan Austin-Cruise sparked the American D-line with one assist and three goals, with three of his goal contributions securing breaks.
Elsewhere in Pool A, China handled Hong Kong 13-4, and No. 5 France sprung a mini-upset over an underperforming No. 4 Singapore side, winning comfortably, 13-8. Later in the day, Singapore’s collapse continued, as they dropped a 13-3 decision to China, while Switzerland continued their impressive form and upset the French, 11-8.
Pool A is in a state of chaos entering the final matchday, with USA having clinched the pool and Hong Kong being eliminated, and the other five teams vying for three berths into the championship bracket. France will feel good with their 3-2 record and a clash with winless Hong Kong on deck. Singapore (2-3) needs to upset the USA, but the Americans may run more depth with nothing to play for. No. 12 Austria (2-3) will take on No. 7 Switzerland (3-2) in a critical final round clash. China’s pool play efforts are complete, and they’ll wait to see if their 3-3 record is enough to secure a top-four spot in the pool.
In Pool B, things have a lot more clarity. No. 2 Canada and No. 3 Hungary each won twice to set up a final-day clash for the pool’s top seed. Both teams are 5-0, as the Canadians beat Australia 13-5 and Spain 13-1, while Hungary shut out Ireland 13-0 and stormed past Mexico, 13-5. Mexico did beat Ireland by a 13-4 scoreline but both nations will be headed to the ninth place bracket.
In the pool’s most crucial result on Tuesday, No. 8 Australia toppled No. 6 Colombia 12-7, improving their record to 3-2. The Aussies started hot, going up 3-0 on a hold and two breaks, and Colombia only ever broke once in getting things back within a point in the second half. Australia responded with three straight breaks to bury Colombia, with Archer Shaw’s three-goal effort leading the way.
With Colombia (2-3) having already beaten Mexico (2-4), and Spain (1-4), there is no way for either Mexico or Spain to create a favorable tiebreaker with results on Wednesday, ensuring that Canada, Hungary, Colombia, and Australia will advance to the championship bracket.
Stauffer continues to take the division by storm, leading the way with 15 goals in five games to lead the field. Huaiqian Hu of China is the assist leader with 18 in six games, while Levente Molnár (15 assists in five games) will look to surpass that total in Hungary’s final pool play game tomorrow.
Open Division
In the open division, the original field of 19 contending teams has been whittled to 12 teams competing in power pools, while the other seven are fighting for pride and final ranking in consolation pools. In the power pools, which combined the top three teams from two different pools, no new matchups are played, so the initial pool play results hold.
In Power Pool E, things got off to a roaring start, as the No.3 Canadian side broke the Americans on double game point to take down the tournament favorites 13-12. The game was a thriller and Canada displayed remarkable resilience throughout the contest. They never led before their final break and they trailed 10-7 before the comeback.
After a hold, Canada took advantage of an unforced United States error, as Lucas Arial helped the offense chisel up the field before finding an unmarked Chase Alexander in the end zone, with three USA defenders pursuing an upline cut. If that ratcheted up the pressure, then Jack Ponton and Dominic McKinney combined to put USA’s advantage on life support. Ponton’s booming 360 backhand pull short-hopped in the end zone, and rolled out the back, forcing USA to start against a fully set Canadian defense from their end zone line. After USA went backwards on two passes, Ponton executed a perfect roll, shutting down a potential upline to USA center handler Blake Holt. A break throw made its way towards Owen Erdman, but it clanked off his hands, and McKinney was there to reel in a diving, one-handed callahan to level the score at 10-10.
Erdman made amends on the following point, securing one of his three goals for the hold, as both teams exchanged holds until universe point. James Foord-Kelcey ripped down a massive sky for Canada’s hold, Stefan McCall milked an upline for an American score, and Canada forced a double-game-point situation after an impressive two-minute clean hold.
The final point did not start well for Canada as they sent the pull out of bounds, with Blake Holt carrying the disc to center. But with strong defense downfield, and Ponto absolutely stifling the reset option, Canada left Holt with few options. He opted for a breakside reset attempt to McCall and Charlie Lumley blew it up with a massive layout block. Lumley took an injury substitute and Callahan McCullagh entered the game. USA did well to shut down Canada’s initial two options, but McCullagh delivered a vicious jab step towards the reset space and burst upline where Isaac Breton met him with a perfectly weighted flick to send Canada into jubilant celebration.
It was a balanced effort for the Canada squad, with six players getting involved on three or more goals. Ponton and Samuel Xie led with three assists, and McCullagh and Centeno notched the reverse statline, with three goals apiece. McCall led the USA with four assists and a goal.
A USA loss on the international ultimate stage will always garner headlines, but the silver lining is that this loss isn’t in the medal rounds, and they will have a chance to make amends as it would take several more shockers to eliminate USA in the power pool stage. Canada may need to replicate this upset again in order to find their way to a gold medal.
Elsewhere in Pool E action, No. 5 Japan pushed past No. 9 Czechia with ease 13-5, and No. 8 New Zealand doubled up No. 11 Singapore 12-6, with both victorious countries taking huge steps towards securing their berth in the quarterfinals.
Power Pool F had no upsets by seed, but three thrilling games took place. No. 2 Italy won a crucial battle, 13-11 over No. 4 Germany, relieving some pressure after their upset against Belgium yesterday. Speaking of No. 7 Belgium, they nearly did it again, but they faltered late and fell to No. 6 France on double game point, 13-12. Belgium went down 6-2 in the early going. After clawing back, Belgium served three O-line turnovers to hold and make it 10-9 before breaking to get to 10-10. Both sides held cleanly twice apiece to set up universe. After a nervy hold that involved one turnover from each side, two timeouts and nearly nine total minutes, France survived, virtually clinching their spot in the knockouts as they moved to 3-0 in power pool action. Noah Peschard hauled in the game winner, capping a three-goal, two-assist effort that led the French side. Belgium’s Pierjan Deforce led all players with five assists.
Finally, No. 10 Colombia edged out No. 14 Israel 12-10. While they’ll still need another upset to make the bracket, it was a big start for the Colombians. Israel is on the brink of elimination and need to stun both Germany and France tomorrow to have a shot at the championship bracket.
Deforce leads the division in assists per game, having piled up 15 assists in just four contests, although Colombia’s Tomas Lopez Hoyos is the overall leader with 18 assists over five games. Hoyos’ teammate, Juan Jose Ochoa Chaverra, is the division leader in goals, having found the end zone on 13 occasions.
Women’s Division
In the women’s division, Pool B was where the biggest stunner happened, and it wasn’t the only upset. While Singapore kept themselves alive (just barely) for the championship bracket with a 10-9 win over winless Sweden, the day’s earlier action proved to be chaotic. No. 6 Japan shocked No. 4 Canada, with the result being a mini-surprise, and the dominant scoreline of 12-6 being the more notable headline. Japan started fast, going up 4-1, and their O-line was perfect on the day, with seven holds in seven tries. Canada never got back in it and were indeed broken three more times, as the Japanese ran away with it. Yotsuba Anabuki starred with four assists for Japan.
But the biggest shock of the day, and arguably of the tournament, wasn’t on stream: the United States fell to Belgium. No. 8 Belgium had proven themselves a competitive and capable side when keeping things close with Canada during a 13-9 loss earlier in the tournament. But against the heavily-favored Americans, they weren’t expected to pose much of a threat.
Yet, Maiwenn Le Duc strung together a wonderful one-goal, five-assist effort, and Belgium, despite being broken first and again late in the game to fall behind, answered every American punch with two of their own, ending the game on a 3-0 run to claim the stunning 11-9 victory. Le Duc scored at some of the biggest moments for Belgium, contributing to both the offense and defense.
Her first goal converted a break chance to put Belgium up 4-2 the point after Team USA had taken a timeout. Her second came with the O-line, securing a key hold to help Belgium recover from a USA break and keep themselves ahead, 6-5. Her third and fourth goals also came with the O-line, with the latter being of similar importance, leveling the score at 9-9 after USA had broken to take a 9-8 lead. Then, with Belgium leading 10-9 and USA needing to hold to force universe point, Le Duc scored one more time, punching in a fourth and final Belgian break and sending Pool B into chaos.
Four teams – Belgium, USA, Japan, and Canada – now all stand at 3-1 entering the final day of pool play. Germany sits at 2-2 with games to play against both the USA and Belgium. Logic would say that Germany is a tier below those teams, and the aforementioned quartet of squads with 3-1 records remain in pole position for their quarterfinal berths, but there’s certainly some doubt as we head into the final matchday. And, even if they qualify, all four of Belgium, USA, Japan and Canada will want to finish strong and push for the Pool B top seed to get the most favorable bracket draw.
In Pool A, it was No. 7 Czechia making some serious noise. First they pushed the top-ranked Italian squad to the brink before falling 13-11 in their upset bid. Then they turned around and finished off their upset effort over No. 5 New Zealand, winning that game 13-11. It was a big-time result for the Czechs, who now just need a win (and a close loss would also likely suffice) against No. 12 Great Britain to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals. Against Italy, Czech Republic led at halftime and were up 8-7 before a three-break run by the Italians proved to be the dagger. Amélie Váchová was nothing short of marvelous for the Czech side, totaling four assists and three goals. Against New Zealand, Czech Republic actually trailed 7-6 at halftime, but they opened the second half on a 6-1 surge to take a commanding 12-8 lead. Things got dicey when New Zealand reeled off three straight points, but Czech Republic stabilized and, fittingly, Váchová caught the game-winner on the ensuing possession.
Gaétane Le Pézennec continues to lead the division with 24 total goal contributions, putting together a double-double with her 13 assists and 11 goals. She shares the lead in goals with Le Duc and Mariana Alzate Alvarez of Colombia. Alvarez is an assist short of the double-double, sitting at nine goals and 11 assists. The assist crown presently belongs to Lisa Arensmeier of Sweden who has dished out 15 of them in five games.
