WORLD CHAMPIONS 2020

Report on the 44th World Goldpanning Championships 2020 at Nový Knín, Czech Republic,
from WGA Board Member Frank Hartmann, Germany

The small town of Nový Knín, situated approximately 40km from Prag in the Czech Republic,
hosted the 2020 World Goldpanning Championships. 266 competitors from 13 different countries
participated in the event. Due to Corona pandemic, several competitors from overseas were not
able to travel to the event this year, so most of the competetitors came from European countries.

The competition site was located in the southeast of the town next to a tennis court, which itself
was equipped with a small restaurant and a playground for kids. The camping area offered lots of
space for caravans and mobilhomes and a fenced area for tents. Showers and toilets were in place
in a sufficient number and were maintained several times a day. The center of Nový Knín could be
reached in a ten minutes foot walk and offered restaurants and grocery stores.

The event was an entire open air event, the main tent was fully opened every day and several
additional Corona measures were adopted, allowing the competitors to keep social distance at
almost every time. No case of Corona infection has been reported subsequent to the event.

An arena inspection was made before the start of the competition, no technical or organisational
deficiencies have been detected. The alluvial gold used was very flat and this lead to a very
challenging competition with an obvious physical treshhold in panning speed. The event was very
well organized and due to the big number of staff members the competition went very smooth.
No official protests were made.

The WGA Annual General Meeting took place on 19th August 2020 at
the prestigious Czech Mining Museum in Příbram.

Many thanks to the organizers and the town of Nový Knín for a perfect event!
Bröckel, Germany, September 2020,
Frank Hartmann