Timo Leonetti’s records posthumously ratified

Timo Leonetti has been posthumously awarded four Junior world records by the FAI for two flights flown in October 2023 in the northeast of Brazil.

A 10 hour, 477.8km flight flown from a tow launch at Caicó on 16 October 2023 earned him the Free Distance Junior world record. The same flight was also ratified as the Free Distance Using Up To Three Turnpoints Junior world record – with a distance of 484km.

Twelve days later Timo foot-launched from Tácima and flew more than 500km, breaking the records he had set 12 days earlier.

The FAI ratified the new records as 526km for the Free Distance Junior world record, and 531km for Free Distance Using Up To Three Turnpoints Junior world record.

The Junior classification, for pilots under 26, is a relatively new category introduced by the FAI in May 2022. The age is determined by the calendar year in which the pilot was born. It was designed to encourage competition flying and record setting among younger pilots.

Tragically, Timo died on 14 June 2024, a day after suffering a serious accident while competing in the French Nationals in the northern Alps. He was just 22.

Timo was a talented and popular young French pilot who the worldwide XContest for the first time in 2022 aged 19. He won it again in 2023, and in 2024 still managed to come third with six flights over 300km.

See a full list of Timo’s record flights throughout his flying career.