Alvaro Camacho wins Junior World Championships

The second FAI Junior World Championships came to a conclusion at the weekend after seven tasks ranging from 51km to 100km in conditions described as challenging.

The Spanish pilot Alvaro Romero Camacho managed to claim the overall title, with Noe Court (SUI) second and Matthis Nedele (GER) third. Alvaro’s win tops quite a run in Krusevo – the previous week he came third at the Europeans, both in the overalls and in the nations.

In the female category Ivone Silva is the new junior female world champion, while Britain’s Kanan Thakur and Zoé Vanhersecke were second and third respectively. In the nations it was Switzerland who won, followed by the UK and Germany.

“The highlight of the week for all of us was dominating the first task,” says Kanan Thakur, who was first female pilot on the task. “Leading man was Dylan (Mansley) and leading nation was the UK. The same victory was achieved on the second to last task by Jacob Aubrey, myself and the UK in the nations.”

The championships were held in Krusevo, North Macedonia. Although organisers managed to lay on seven out of seven tasks, it was far from classic Krusevo conditions, says Eli Egger, the coach of the Austrian team.

“The weather was super difficult because we had a lot of wind, especially at first from south, which and then strong north-west. So the organisers at first weren’t even optimistic that we could fly all the tasks. But the youngsters proved to be very good to take off and very skilled with their gliders.

“I was also in the task committee and we had a difficult time designing tasks which were doable with these conditions because it was windy, but then we also had over-development. It was also a little tricky and stable conditions in the flats.”

“So we had different styles of flying,” she added. “Some days you were able to race, some days you had to slow down and be more tactical. It was overall very interesting flying.”
 The only dramas were a stopped task on the final day due to turbulence. The first task was also stopped due to rain.

In March it was announced that the 3rd FAI Junior World Paragliding Championships will be held in Pegalajar Spain. The proposed dates for the main event are May 14-22, 2028. The event will be organised by the Club Centro de Vuelo Pegalajar with the support of  the Royal Spanish Aeronautical Federation, together with the Pegalajar City Council and the Provincial Council of Jaén.

RESULTS

Overall

1. Alvaro Romero Camacho, Niviuk Iceapeak X-one | Niviuk Rocket R, 3,659.7
2. Noe Court, Niviuk Iceapeak X-one | Niviuk Rocket R, 3648.8
3. Matthis Nedele, Ozone Enzo 3 | Ozone Submarine, 3516.3

Female

1. Ivone Silva, Ozone Zeno 2 | Niviuk Drifter 2, 2778.9
2. Kanan Thakur, Ozone Zeno 2 | Ozone Submarine, 2643.1
3. Zoe Vanhersecke, GIN GTO 3 | Ozone Submarine, 2087.3

Teams
1. Switzerland
2. UK
3. Germany

Full results and live replays