Honorin Hamard took the top step of the podium at the Paragliding World Cup in El Yelmo in June 2024. Next to him were his Ozone colleague Russ Ogden, and Dylan Mansley.
The competition, which was held in El Yelmo, Spain from 22 – 29 June, will be remembered by anyone who was present for the virulent stomach bug that took out a large number of competitors in the middle of the week, several of whom were hospitalised.
The PWCA described the competition as a “rollercoaster”. It had started really well, with some of the biggest tasks ever set in a PWC (145.99km and 115.94km). Day three saw an 88.43km task set, but several competitors went down with the mysterious bug over the course of the day. For reasons of safety as well as fair play, the next two days were cancelled as more and more pilots went down with the illness.
On the last day, Saturday 29 June, a 62.34km task was set which turned out to be an exciting one. At the start of the day some 30 pilots were in with a chance of winning overall, so it was a real fight for the podium.
Honorin Hamard took the lead for the second half of the race, finishing second in the task to Jacques Fournier who was flying a Zeno 2. It gave him the overall competition win.
Only two women took part in the event: Capucine Deliot of France won ahead of Brazil’s Marcelle Uchoa. Capucine said of the last task, “The tailwind made racing super fun even with a smaller wing, and I was able to keep up with the gaggle!”.
RESULTS
OVERALL
- Honorin Hamard, FR, Ozone Enzo 3, 2946.6
- Russell Ogden, GB, Ozone Enzo 3, 2903.7
- Dylan Mansley, GB, Ozone Enzo 3, 2899.6
WOMEN
- Capucine Deliot, FR, Ozone Zeno 2, 2464.5, 57th overall
- Marcell Uchoa, BR, Ozone Enzo 3, 1175.1, 113th overall
TEAMS
- Ozone (Honorin Hamard, Russell Ogden, Felix Rodriguez, Baptiste Lambert)
- Beyond Real Estates (Andy Tallia, Ivan Haas, Adrien Radisson, Nicolas Dinh)
- Niviuk 1 (Marcelo Sanchez, Tim Rochas, Tanguy Renaud-Goud, Francisco Javier Reina Lagos)
