Pierre Rémy won the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal in Baixo Guandu, Brazil at the weekend, following a two-week long competition that saw nine scored tasks.
Pierre (FR), who is the current FAI Paragliding World Champion, was a mere two points ahead of second-placed Julien Wirtz (FR). Pierre scored 6,351 points over the whole competition, while Julien finished with 6,349. Russell Ogden (GB) was third with 6,311.
Posting to Facebook after his win Pierre wrote: “I don’t know what to say. After [winning] a world championship title by 5 points, I win the [Superfinal] by just two points.”
He paid tribute to his team mate Julien: “The value of the opponents makes the greatness of the victory. Julien was really impressive on this final, without any doubt the most robust opponent of this competition.”
In the Women’s class, Méryl Delferrière (FR) was a clear winner, ahead of second place Yael Margelisch (CH) by more than 200 points. Kari Ellis (AU) was third.
Méryl placed seventh overall.
All six podium pilots were flying the Ozone Enzo 3.
The competition in Baixo Guandu started with tricky conditions and shorter tasks, before the weather turned on for the second week.
Tasks of 57.2km, 57.3km, 63.8km, 85km, 85.3km, 79.3km, 100.1km, 98.2km and 98.8km were flown.
The competition was the 10th Superfinal in Paragliding World Cup history and was billed as the highest calibre paragliding competition ever.
Twenty-five pilots who flew in the first Superfinal took part in this one, and seven out of the former eight PWCA Superfinal winners took part. The field also included six FAI World or European Paragliding Champions.
While the majority of the competition pilots were flying the Enzo 3 or the Gin Boomerang 11, a smattering of pilots were on new wings. Making an appearance at the Superfinal was the new Niviuk Icepeak Evox, the Spectra from Flow and the Guru from UP.
The competition marks the end of the 2018/19 PWCA season. The 2019 season kicks off in Coeur de Savoie, France, from 25 May to 1 June 2019.
Dates in the PWCA diary then include Linzhou in China, Manteigas in Portugal, Pico do Gaviao in Brazil and Loma Bola in Argentina. The date and location of the Superfinal for the 2019 season is still to be confirmed.
