Russell Ogden won gold at the 17th FAI Paragliding World Championships in Tucuman, Argentina on Friday, after a final, nail biting task at the two-week long competition.
The British pilot finished top of the leaderboard after flying consistently well throughout the competition, including winning three of the six valid tasks that were flown.
An Ozone test pilot, Russell beat his professional colleagues, France’s Honorin Hamard and Luc Armant, into second and third spots, silver and bronze.
Russell Ogden flies the flag for Team GB on the podium at the Paragliding World Championships 2021. Photo: Ulric Jessop / FAI
The competition came down to the wire, with both Honorin and Russell potential winners as the last task started. The pair raced each other hard over the next three-and-a-half hours, at one point racing almost into the deck. However, both recovered and managed to make goal, with France’s Honorin coming in 10th and Russell in 29th.
However, it was not enough for the Frenchman to take the overall lead ahead of Russell, and Russell ended the comp with a total score of 3,852.9 points, well ahead of Honorin’s 3,818.9. Luc Armant was just 5 points behind Honorin, in third place.
Yael Margelisch took gold, with Seiko Fukuoka in second and Klaudia Bulgakow in third. Photo: Ulric Jessop / FAI
In the Women’s competition, Switzerland’s Yael Margelisch took gold. She beat two-time Women’s World Champion Seiko Fukuoka (FRA) into second place, with Klaudia Bulgakow (POL) in third. Yael, who won silver at the 2019 Paragliding Worlds in Krushevo, was first woman in two out of the six tasks.
UK team leader Jocky Sanderson leads the singing on the podium, with Team GB taking gold. Photo: Ulric Jessop / FAI
In the Nations competition Team GB won gold, with Switzerland and Czech Republic picking up silver and bronze.
Overall 148 pilots competed and 37 nations were represented.
The competition, which ran from 2-12 November in Tucuman, Argentina, was hit by some bad weather and weak conditions for parts of the competition, but pilots still managed to complete six tasks: 63km, 70.3km, 69.2km, 55.1km, 51.3km and 80.1km.
Among the unofficial manufacturers’ competition, Ozone swept the board. All three overall winners were flying Ozone Enzo 3s as were all the women.
On the Nations’ podium, 11 pilots were flying Ozone Enzo 3s, with three on Gin Boomerangs. Overall, more than 100 pilots flew an Enzo in the competition, with 17 in the top 20. The scale of Ozone’s continued domination of the competition scene with the Enzo 3, a three-year-old CCC competition win, is unprecedented and marks out Ozone as still the leading competition brand.
Compounding Ozone’s competition dominance, the top three overall medal winners are all professional pilots who work for Ozone. Russ Ogden, Honorin Hamard and Luc Armant all work in R&D and testing for the company and share an office in the south of France.
The competition finished on Friday 12 November and the medals ceremony was held on Saturday 13 November.
Find the full results here: pgworlds.live/scores
