World Pilot Rankings Update 30/08/00
Lausanne, 31 August 2000
The latest WPRS sees changes to paragliding, precision paragliding (accuracy), hang gliding and class 2.
The paragliding rankings see some big changes due to the addition of the European Championships, Finnish Open, Veltins cup (Austria), Canadian Nationals, Zimbabwe Open, and the PWC Mieussy (France). There has also been an amendment to the results of the South African PG Nationals due to one task being declared invalid.
Martin Brunn's (AUT) consistency has put him at the top of the paragliding rankings with 286 points, one point ahead of Steve Cox (SUI) who maintains 2nd place. New European Champion Kari Eisenhut (SUI) has climbed to 3rd place ahead of Masataka Kawachi (JPN) whose leaps up to 4th (from 31st) one point ahead of team mate Tsuji Tsuyoshi (JPN). Kaspar Henny (SUI, 6th), Jimmy Pacher (ITA, 7th) and Stephan Stieglair (AUT, 9th) return to the top 10. Christian Tamegger (AUT) drops to 8th (from 4th) and Andy Hediger (SUI) climbs to 10th (from 14th).
The female rankings are headed now by Louise Crandal (DEN) following her good result in the European Championships and she is in 41st place overall. Petra Krausova (CZE) and Andrea Joubert (RSA) are equal 2nd 66 points behind (82nd overall). There are currently 681 pilots ranked from 35 countries.
Results not received yet, and therefore not included:
- Norwegian Cup
- Ball/Ultra/FreeX Open, USA
The first Precision paragliding World Championships sees Simeon Klokocovnik (SLO) head the rankings with 69 points, 9 points ahead of Sluga Matjaz (SLO) with Jurij Vertacnik (SLO) in 3rd place on 55 points. There are now 66 pilots ranked from 5 countries.
Hang gliding sees the addition of the US Nationals, Dutch Open, German Open, British open, Norwegian Open and the Podbrezova Cup (Slovakia).
In the hang gliding rankings there are no changes in the top 6 places Oleg Bondarchuk (UKR, 1st), Richard Walbec (FRA, 2nd) Manfred Ruhmer (AUT, 3rd), Andre Wolf (BRA, 4th), Gordon Rigg (GBR, 5th) and Betinho Schmitz (BRA, 6th). Steve Cook (GBR) returns to the top 10 in 7th (from 20th), ahead of Ron Richardson (GBR) who climbs to 8th (from 15th). The top 10 is completed by Mario Alonzi (FRA, 9th) and Nene Rotor (BRA, 10th) who have both dropped two places.
Francoise Mocellin (FRA) still leads the female rankings in 33rd place overall (163 points). Kathleen Rigg (GBR) is 2nd (39th overall) and Kari Castle (USA) 3rd (69th overall) There are 610 pilots ranked from 37 countries.
Results not received yet, and therefore not included:
- Brazilian Masters
Class 2 sees addition of US Nationals and the German Open. 1st and 2nd positions (David Sharp (USA) and Brian Porter (USA) remain the same. Christof Kratzner (GER) moves up to 3rd (from 5th) displacing Marcus
Hoffmann Guben (GER, 4th) Hansjoerg Truttmann (SUI, 5th) and Davis Straub (USA, 6th) by one place. Bernd Weber (GER) climbs to 7th (from 9th) and Diego Bussinger (SUI) drops to 8th (from 7th), Johan Posch (AUT) drops to 9th (from 8th) and Toni Raumauf (AUT) moves up a place to 10th (from 11th). Niki Hamilton (GBR) is the only female ranked (27th overall). There are 44 pilots from 9 countries.
In Speed Gliding the results of the World Speed Gliding Championships are not yet included as the sanction fee has not yet been fully paid. Therefore there is no change to the rankings.
Country rankings:
In paragliding country rankings Austria has taken the lead with France moving up to 2nd (from 5th) and Switzerland has dropped to 3rd.
In hang gliding country rankings Great Britain moves up into the lead (from 3rd), Brazil maintains 2nd place and Austria moves up to 3rd (from 7th).
Full details of the country rankings (PG and HG) can be found on the World Pilot Ranking System website. Pilots should check that their personal record shows the correct nationality, particularly as there are 10 hang glider pilots and 24 paraglider pilots of unknown nationality.
All amendments should be e-mailed to Paula Bowyer (paula@fai.org).
Full details of the rankings can be found on the FAI/CIVL website at http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/.
Forthcoming hang gliding competitions (class 1 unless otherwise indicated) that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: French HG Open (class 1 & 2); Canungra Classic, Australia; X-Ceara 2000, Brazil.
Forthcoming paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: PWC Chamonix; Red Bull US Nationals; Polish Open, Italy; Takayama horm cup, Japan; Japanese Nationals; Canungra cup, Australia; X-Ceara 2000, Brazil; Korean PG Championships.
Details of these competitions can be found on the CIVL web page at http://events.fai.org/hgpg/civl-calendar.asp
Any queries/questions regarding the World Pilot Ranking Scheme should be sent to Paula Bowyer, e-mail paula@fai.org.
Information and an application form for CIVL category 2 sanctioning are available on the CIVL website at http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/ or from Paula Bowyer.
