Battle of the Year 1vs1 in Braunschweig

For the time being it was the last time that the Battle of the Year (International) took place in the Schloss Arkaden in the inner city of Braunschweig (Germany). For the 1vs1 battle 16 world' best B-Boys stood in the midst of amazing scenery with arena-feeling. All these dancers, who either qualified in a national qualifying round or got a wildcard, took up the challenge under the strict eyes of the five-person jury. This year the jury members were Storm (Germany), Kujo (USA), Bootuz (Russia), Katsu (Japan) and Kareem (USA). All battles were hosted by Mario Walden aka Mario Bee (Netherlands), a great B-Boy host and IBE founder. DJ Smirnoff created a good mixture of old-known classics and new beats.

The favourites Menno (Netherlands), the last year winner Alkolil (Russia) and El Nino (USA) lived up to their reputation above all in the first round. Newcomer and shooting star Shigekix from Japan enthused the international audience with his blow-ups but in the TOP8 round, when battling against the later winner Menno, he had to abandon the field. Victor (USA) and Sunni from the Soul Mavericks (UK) worked their way into the next rounds but failed against the later finalists. In the final round Menno and Alkolil faced eachother. They both staged a thrilling battle full of energy. Round 1 ended in a tie decision, round 2 went to Menno and in round 3 Alkolil could decide the battle in his favour. In round 4 Menno won, but the decision was very close. After the last 5th round the decision was made. Menno wins with 3:1.

Mario Bee persuaded again with great animation and moderation and spread positive energy into the applauding audience. The group "Flowjob" from Potsdam delivered a very good message with their performance. Together with a group of asylum seekers and refugee children they presented a small show which they had created with their refugee project.

This year there were a lot of "tie"-decisions. Many battles could have been decided after 2 or 3 rounds already. However, due to the lack of security in the decision making, some jury members set deliberate ties which demanded further unnecessary rounds from the participants. This is also the point, which is very often critisized by the judge Kevin Gopie aka Renegade. With his slogan "No more ties" he calls on the jury to take their job seriously and to make a decision, cause this is what they are paid for.