France have swept the board at the FAI Paragliding World Championships 2023, winning first place in Overall, Women and Nations competitions.
Maxime Pinot launches during the final task of the FAI Paragliding World Championships 2023. Photo: Marcus King
In a closely fought competition Maxime Pinot won first place, taking gold in the overall competition. He finished just ahead of French teammates Honorin Hamard and Pierre Rémy. There were 149 pilots in the competition.
Women’s podium. Photo: Jean-Mi Ara / Flight-addict.fr
Meryl Delferrière won the Women’s class, keeping an early lead throughout the competition and finishing ahead of Constance Mettetal (FR) and Nanda Walliser (CH). Fourteen women took part.
The overall podium. Photo: Jean-Mi Ara / Flight-addict.fr
In the Nations, it was gold, silver, bronze for France, United Kingdom and North Macedonia. North Macedonia just squeaked ahead of fourth place Czech Republic by two points to take the bronze. There were 46 scoring nations.
The competition took place in Coeur de Savoie – the heart of Savoie – in the northern French Alps and used several take-offs over the two weeks. Despite some unsettled weather organisers managed to fit in nine race-to-goal tasks, ranging in distance from 53.9km to 99.5km.
Competing on home turf France was keen not to repeat the mistakes of previous world championships and competed with discipline and commitment from the start. All four members of Team France come home with individual medals as well as team medals.
Prize giving for the competition takes place on the morning of Saturday 3 June.
Overall
1. Maxime Pinot (FR, Ozone Enzo 3): 6,115
2. Honorin Hamard (FR, Ozone Enzo 3): 6,055
3. Pierre Rémy (FR, Niviuk Icepeak X-One): 6,002
Women
1. Meryl Delferrière (FR, Niviuk Icepeak X-One): 5,718
2. Constance Mettetal (FR, Niviuk Icepeak X-One): 5,587
3. Nanda Walliser (CH, Ozone Enzo 3): 5,500
Nations
1. France, 16,100
2. UK, 15,517
3. North Macedonia, 14,879
Full results
https://civlcomps.org/event/pgworlds-2023/results
