This page lists the official World Champions – Professional Latin of the World Dance Council (WDC). The championships are authorized and organized under the auspices of the WDC, and held annually in the last quarter of each year. The competition comprises five dances: rumba, samba, paso doble, cha-cha-cha and jive, as defined in ballroom dancing terms.

Official World Championships have been held in the Latin section of ballroom dancing since they were organised by the ICBD in 1959. The ICBD was renamed WD&DSC and has been renamed again to its present title. The WDC represents all the major professional DanceSport countries. Unofficial world championships were held, usually in Paris, by several organisers pre-World War II. Some of these events included one or two Latin dances in the same competition as ballroom dances. As these events had no official standing, they are not noticed here. There is one earlier international Latin dance championship; it started in 1953 at the Elsa Wells International Dance Championships in London (see International Latin American Dance Champions). Both series have continued annually.

World Champions

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Year Couple Country
Professional Latin World Champions
1960 Roger & Micheline Ronnaux France[1]
1961 Bill and Bobbie Irvine Scotland
1962 Walter Laird & Lorraine Reynolds England
1963
1964
1965 Walter & Marianne Kaiser Switzerland
1966 Bill & Bobbie Irvine Scotland
1967 Rudolf & Mechthild Trautz Germany
1968 Bill & Bobbie Irvine Scotland
1969 Rudolf & Mechthild Trautz Germany
1970
1971
1972 Wolfgang & Evelyn Opitz
1973 Hans-Peter & Ingeborg Fischer Austria
1974
1975
1976 Peter Maxwell & Lynn Harman England
1977 Alan & Hazel Fletcher
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982 Espen & Kirsten Salberg Norway
1983
1984 Donnie Burns & Gaynor Fairweather Scotland/England
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997 Hans-Reinhard Galke & Bianka Schreiber Germany
1998 Donnie Burns & Gaynor Fairweather Scotland/England
1999 Bryan Watson & Carmen Vincelj South Africa/Germany
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008 Michał Malitowski & Joanna Leunis Poland
2009
2010 Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko USA
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020 Title not held — COVID pandemic
2021 Dorin Frecautanu and Marina Sergeeva Great Britain
2022 Dorin Frecautanu and Marina Sergeeva Great Britain
2023 Dorin Frecautanu and Marina Sergeeva Great Britain
2024 Dorin Frecautanu and Marina Sergeeva Great Britain

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Dance Sports - World Latin Championship". Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)