The Paragliding World Cup Super Final runs from 5-16 March 2024 in Baixo Guandu, Brazil. The competition is the final comp in the 2023/24 season.
A favourite World Cup destination Baixo Guandu is in the centre-west region of Espírito Santo, 186km from the state capital. The city has a hospitable culture and people that always make the pilots feel welcome. And the area offers beautiful landscapes, such as Pedra do Souza, and picturesque waterfalls.
In the north part of the flying area is Pancas, a scenic area full of huge granite spires and boulders. The legendary Pontões Capixabas Natural Monument, also known as “Jurassic Park”, is truly awe inspiring. The flying area has a wide variety of terrain: flatland, rolling hills, and low mountains, which provides many options for interesting, challenging tasks.
The thermals are relatively wide and not too strong, usually 2-3 m/s, and often marked by clouds. All of this adds up to lots of route options and decisions for pilots to make when making transitions.
With so many strong contenders among the 128 pilots, the action promises to be intense. The previous season winners, Honorin Hamard and Constance Mettetal, are back to defend their titles, but the field is full of skilled pilots – many of whom are often seen on World Cup podiums – who are here to challenge them over the 10 task days to come.
Mixing it up among the stars of the current era, one true blast-from-the-past will also be competing. Robbie Whittall was a legend in his own lifetime back in the 1990s, when he won the FAI Hang Gliding World Championships in 1989 and then went on to win the very first FAI Paragliding World Championships in 1991. He is one of only three pilots to have ever won world championship titles in both disciplines. Under the rules of the PWCA Super Final world champions and previous Super Final winners can enter the World Cup Super Final using a “legends” wildcard.
Follow him and all the other legends of the competition world – young and older – on live tracking throughout the 10-day competition.
