The Paragliding World Cup in Gourdon, France has concluded with an all French podium, with Julien Wirtz taking the win just two points ahead of Baptiste Lambert. Former French champion Luc Armant came third.
In the women’s class, which saw only four pilots competing, Austria’s Eli Egger won, Keiko Hiraki (JPN) came second and China’s XiaoYa Xie was third.
The PWC Gourdon attracted some of the best pilots from France and the rest of Europe. Six tasks were completed, ranging from 64km to 133.82km. Day one saw a low cloudbase that made for tricky flying close to ridge height. On the second, conditions improved dramatically for a 100km full-speed ridge race which most pilots completed within 2h 40m.
Over-development brought an end to the third task, but not before Arthur Moindrot had managed to secure the task win. Booming conditions returned for the fourth task before rain appeared affecting the back of the race.
The fifth task began with gusts of 20km/h and strong thermals, forcing pilots to stay high to avoid the turbulence. During this challenging period, an accident occurred, prompting the call for a helicopter, which led to the task being stopped for safety reasons. The pilot was rescued and will make a full recovery.
The final task took place right in front of Gourdon with a number of turnpoints that zig-zagged between Gourdon, Grasse and Tourrettes-sur-Loup.
“It was a very interesting week with various conditions which allowed us to measure our adaptive skills,” Baptiste Lambert posted afterwards. “Congratulations to @ju.wirtz who was the best at this game, it was a very tight race.”
Eli shared after the final task that it was “the best Austrian result and a good ending for a not always easy World Cup”.
Overall
- Julien Wirtz, FRA, Ozone Enzo 3/Submarine, 3,883.6 points
- Baptiste Lambert, FRA, Ozone Enzo 3/Submarine, 3,881 points
- Luc Armant FRA, Ozone Enzo 3/Exoceat, 3,871.1 points
Women
- Elisabeth Egger, AUT, Ozone Enzo 3/Submarine, 3,344.7 points
- Keiko Hiraki, JPN, Ozone Enzo 3/Submarine, 3,082.0 points
- XiaoYa Xie, CHN, Ozone Zeno 2/Submarine, 2,357.7 points
Teams
- Ozone
- Cross Country Magazine
- Air’g products
