World Championships 2025: What you need to know

The 19th FAI World Paragliding Championships are about to begin in Brazil where 130 pilots from more than 50 countries are preparing to do battle in the skies above Castelo.

At stake: gold, silver and bronze medals – as well as the coveted title of Paragliding World Champion 2025. Here’s the lowdown on everything you need to know – and how to follow the action.

When is it?

The FAI World Paragliding Championships run 2 to 12 September. The schedule is:
31 August: Registration day
1 Sept: Training day
2-12 Sept: Task days
13 Sept: Closing ceremony

What is it?

The FAI Paragliding World Championships are held every two years and last two weeks. Pilots compete for individual medals – gold, silver and bronze – and also national team medals. There are medals for Overall, Women, and Nations.

Individual countries pick the pilots who will fly for their national team. All the pilots taking part have been chosen to fly for their country, and in that respect it’s a great honour to be selected to fly in the Worlds, aiming to win gold for your country.

That said, there can be a thrilling tension between team pilots as they jockey for their overall position and the heat dials up on the pressure to be crowned the individual world champion.

Where is it?

This year’s world championships were originally planned to be held in Andradas, a well known site in the state of Minas Gerais, south Brazil. However, in March this year the competition was moved to Castelo in the state of Espirito Santo following discussions between the Brazilian Aerosports Committee (CAB), Brazilian Free Flight Organization (CBVL) and CIVL. No real public reason was given for the relatively late notice move, other than a short statement that said “CIVL have determined this is necessary to provide the highest quality event for all pilots”.

Situated about seven hours’ drive north of the famous beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Castelo is a stunning site that has previously hosted numerous national, international, World Cup and Pan-American championships over the years. The small town sits at just 100m AMSL and is surrounded by hills, with take-offs facing all directions. It’s Frank Brown’s local site – Frank is one of co-organisers of the competition, multiple Brazilian champion and a legend on the Brazilian and international competition scene.

Thanks to its proximity to the Atlantic coast Castelo has a complex aerology, with daily sea breezes and convergence lines, making for technical flying and task setting. The take off is big, about 50m wide and 850m long and faces N-NE and works like a ‘big sun collector’, according to organisers. Expect technical tasks that exploit the racing lines provided by those areas of convergence.

Who to watch

There are 130 confirmed pilots from 53 countries. All eyes will naturally be on the French, who have dominated international championships in recent years.

Their all-star lineup this year includes the defending world champion Maxime Pinot, former world champion Honorin Hamard, XC guru Baptiste Lambert, the legendary Julien Wirtz and current women’s European champion Constance Mettetal.

That said, it is not unknown for the French team to make mistakes. The thing about the world championships is it is a long competition – sometimes very long. It can become an endurance event, especially psychologically.

Expect strong showings from many other teams and pilots, including home nation Brazil and last year’s European champions, Team GB.

How to follow

Official info and results will be updated on the CIVL event subpage where you’ll be able to find daily results and day reports. (Currently under-populated).

You can also follow all the action and live updates via the competition’s Instagram channel. Remember to check the Stories.

At the time of publication there was no published link for official live tracking. We will add more links here as they surface.

If you need a primer on the competition scene – eg ‘What’s the difference between the World Cup and the World Championships?’ – then listen to Gavin McClurg’s podcast with comp guru Bill Hughes for an in-depth explanation.

Good luck and safe flying to all the pilots competing in Brazil.