PWCA Superfinal 2024: All you need to know

The Paragliding World Cup Superfinal 2024 kicks off on 4 February with 120 of the world’s best competition pilots heading to Roldanillo in Colombia for 12 days of high-level comp flying.

The competition will close the 2024 Paragliding World Cup season and crown individual overall and female Superfinal champions.

The venue

Roldanillo needs little introduction. A well known flying site in the heart of the Cauca Valley in Colombia it has hosted numerous big-ticket international competitions over the last 15 years. The site offers a mix of hill and flatland flying, with pilots flying one side of the valley early on in the day before transitioning into the flats of the valley and onto the hills on the other side.

Expect out and return and triangle tasks of 80-125km in good conditions – and expect it to be fast. Most, if not all, the top pilots will have flown here before and know many of its secrets.

Who’s flying?

A total of 120 pilots from 31 countries – 12 women and 108 men are confirmed, according to the pilot list on the PWCA website.

Of those, 25 pilots are French – all of them men apart from current European Women’s Champion Constance Mettetal (Niviuk Icepeak X-One). In the women’s competition she is surely favourite, although Violeta Jimenez (USA, Enzo 3) is the other top woman pilot to watch.

In the overall competition, a couple of top French names to watch include current European and World Champion Maxime Pinot (FR, Ozone Enzo 3) and former World Champion and last year’s Superfinal winner Honorin Hamard (FR, Ozone Enzo 3). The competition between the two can be intense and lead to some brilliant racing.

Amongst a strong field another pilot to watch is Seb Ospina (GBR, Enzo 3), who placed second in last year’s Europeans in Spain. Two younger pilots to keep an eye on will be Dylan Mansley (GBR, Enzo 3) and Marcelo Sanchez Vilchez (ESP, Icepeak X-One). Marcelo was last year’s winner of the inaugural Junior World Championships. In short, a host of pilots will be jostling for top 10 positions and in a long competition like this, where consistency pays, surprises can and do happen.

What are they flying?

In a word, the Ozone Enzo 3. Launched in April 2017 this CCC competition wing is now nearly eight years old, but it’s still the preferred wing of choice for a lot of pilots. The breakdown of wings looks like this:

Ozone Enzo 3: 89
Niviuk Icepeak X-One: 19
Gin Boomerang 12: 5
Plus: a handful of Ozone Zeno 2s (EN D), a Flow Spectra 2, a Flow XC Racer2 and a Gin Leopard

In harnesses, there is some diversity, with pilots flying the Woody Valley XR7, the Kanibal Race 2 from Kortel, Gin’s Genie Race 5, Niviuk’s Drifter and Ozone’s Exoceat, but the Ozone Submarine is the clear favourite with 82 pilots opting to fly it.

How to follow it

Pilots will start to arrive in Roldanillo en masse this weekend. The official practice day is on Tuesday 4 February with the first task on Wednesday 5 February. The last task will be on Saturday 15 February. Keep an eye on:

The official Instagram channel and Facebook page are the best place to get a sense of the daily action with pilot interviews and video.

The official Paragliding World Cup website is where to find live tracking and all the official results.

The French FFVL will be hosting a daily live commentary and livestream on their YouTube channel.