Kinga claims triangle record

Kinga Masztalerz has officially applied to have her 1 May 272.57km flight accepted as the new female FAI triangle record. If ratified it will break the 269.13km female world triangle distance record set by Brigitte Kurbel in 2019.

Kinga said that for years she had avoided chasing numbers, only seeking “beauty and adventure”. But the need for a new challenge – and perfect spring conditions – forced a change of heart and she decided to give the female triangle record a go.

After a 10-hour flight beginning and ending in Antholz, Italy, she landed ecstatic but exhausted. “To stay for 10 hours in the air with the absolute full focus on flying as efficiently as possible is freaking tiring!”

Although most of the flight was almost too easy – long stretches went by without needing to turn – the last hour was intensely challenging as she fought to close the triangle in katabatic air. “When I finally landed, I just put my glider down and collapsed on my knees,” she said.

Kinga explained that to set herself the challenge she had to first overcome her aversion to chasing numbers. “I spend a lot of time in the Alps now and was thinking about what big goal can you set in the European Alps in this area that will push me,” she said. “I’ve never been a competition pilot, flying as fast as possible. Even hike-and-fly competitions are mostly about staying in the air as much as possible and not necessarily pushing speed bar as much as possible.”

“But I thought, it’s a pretty cool goal to have. It might sound a little bit cocky to set the world record as your first distance goal in years, but you know, we have to dream big.”

Kinga’s was one of dozens of epic flights on 1 May, a day that saw three flights over 300km recorded on XContest, among them a 369km flat triangle recorded by Roger Aeschbacher. (Since it’s not an FAI triangle it doesn’t threaten the official 350.5km record set by Baptiste Lambert in 2023.) Perfect spring conditions between 28 April and 2 May saw a total of 88 flights exceeding 300km on XContest, 75 of which, including Roger’s, began in Riederalp.

Strong spring thermals, a high pressure system that kept winds calm across the Alps and a cloudbase of 4,000m brought perfect flying conditions – but that wasn’t all. In a rare alignment, the best day coincided with a public holiday.