Australia’s Rollers Dominate Italy for Third World Title
Australia’s Rollers didn’t just win a world championship in Ottawa. They owned it.
An 81–57 demolition of Italy in the men’s IWBF World Championships final in Canada sealed a perfect, unbeaten campaign and delivered a third world crown, adding 2024 to the golden chapters of 2010 and 2014. The scoreline flattered Italy. This was dominance from the opening tip.
Brown ignites, captain commands
Jaylen Brown set the tone and never let it drop. He poured in a game-high 28 points, punishing Italy from all angles and turning half-chances into scoreboard damage. Every time Italy hinted at a run, Brown snuffed it out with another basket.
Alongside him, captain Tom O'Neill-Thorne produced the kind of all-court performance that defines finals. Twenty points, 16 assists, seven rebounds. The numbers barely capture the authority he exerted. He dictated tempo, picked apart defensive schemes, and kept his team’s standards sky-high even when the result looked beyond doubt.
Bill Latham added the kind of hard-nosed support every champion side needs: 12 points, seven rebounds and two assists, constantly crashing the glass and doing the unglamorous work that tilts big games.
Italy arrive unbeaten, leave overwhelmed
Italy rolled into the gold-medal game undefeated and confident. They left chasing shadows.
The Rollers seized control in the first quarter and never surrendered it, leading at every break and steadily tightening the screws. Their ball movement carved open the Italian defence, reflected in a 29–19 edge in assists. When Australia attacked, it was with purpose and clarity; when Italy tried to respond, they ran into a wall of green and gold chairs.
On the boards, Australia owned the space that matters most, out-rebounding Italy 35–25. Second chances were scarce for the Europeans. One-and-done possessions became the story of their night.
Defence that suffocated a contender
If the offence was slick, the defence was ruthless.
Australia’s intensity without the ball strangled Italy’s rhythm. The Rollers forced 13 turnovers while coughing up only nine themselves, a gap that steadily drained Italy’s belief. Passing lanes closed, drives met resistance, and shots arrived a fraction earlier or later than they needed to.
By the time the final minutes ticked away, the contest had turned into a coronation. An unbeaten Italy had been outplayed in every department by a side that looks every bit the standard-bearer of international wheelchair basketball.
Three world titles. Another flawless campaign. The Rollers have made their statement again: who’s ready to take this crown from them?
