Comps and Events

Baptiste Lambert wins PWC Feltre

Event sees five tasks, challenging weather and fast times

15 July, 2025, by Cross Country | Main photo: Martin Scheel

After a week of dynamic mountain flying, tactical decision-making, and constantly evolving weather, the Paragliding World Cup in Feltre, Italy finished with Baptiste Lambert (FRA) and Sarah Zimmermann (SUI) atop the podiums. Seb Ospina (GBR) came second, Tilen Ceglar (SLO) third, while Johanna Hamne (SWE) and Joanna Kocot (POL) placed second and third respectively in the women’s category. The podium for the teams saw Ozone Paragliders in first place, Flymaster in second, and Cross Country Magazine in third place.

The event saw five scored tasks in conditions that varied from the strong to the stable, challenging pilots to make the most of narrow weather windows. Flying was “fast, technical and memorable,” organisers said.

The week began with an 82km task in strong conditions which was won by Seb in spectacular fashion, coming in extremely low and just managing to glide over the goal line, earning the top score at the finish.

PWC Feltre podium 2025 — PWC Feltre overall podium. Photo: Martin Scheel / PWCA

Day two was cancelled after 23 minutes due to overdevelopment. The third task saw pilots battling stable conditions – with many bombing out – as well as a looming threat of thunderstorms and the day was ultimately stopped early, but not before Xavier Laporte and Johanna Hamne were able to emerge as task winners.

Those stable layers remained on Task 4, but strong thermals awaited the pilots who were able to fight through – as well as turbulent lee side flying thanks to the easterly winds. As a result, many avoided the lower flats and instead chose to follow longer mountain routes, often veering far off the optimised task line to tag turn points with better lift and safety.

One of the day’s boldest moves came from Hippolyte Melo (FRA) who chose to fly entirely alone along the opposite mountain range. His line worked incredibly well but in the end, it was Tilen Ceglar who took the task win, moving up to second place overall behind Seb. Johanna Hamne meanwhile continued her consistent form with another category win.

The fifth task was initially predicted to be one of the most difficult, with a strong inversion until 2pm forecast and overdevelopment expected not long afterwards, presenting the narrowest of windows. A 58km task was set, which was completed in just 1h 35m by Arthur Moindrot (FRA). For the final task everyone moved to Bassano in search of flyable conditions but this had to be cancelled due to the threat of overdevelopment.