"sick line" is the perfect, smoothest and fastest line downriver. That's what the competitors have to find when racing the so-called "Wellerbrücke" rapids, a famous section of Tirol's glacier-fed Ötztaler Ache River, peppered with loads of natural obstacles. The section has the reputation of being the Eiger Northwall of whitewater kayaking, thus it offers the perfect setting to crown the World Champion in extreme kayak racing. The rapids are solid class 5 whitewater, both technically difficult and dangerous, so there are consequences to mistakes. Therefore the field of 150 international kayakers is filtered down in two qualification runs to determine the 45 best paddlers who compete in the actual World Championship race. The top 3 of the previous year - Sam Sutton (NZL), Mike Dawson (NZL) and Paul Böckelmann (GER) - are automatically qualified.