World Pilot Rankings Update 30/09/00
Lausanne, 30 September 2000
As the northern hemisphere seasons draws to a close, the WPRS sees changes to paragliding, hang gliding, speed gliding and class 2. Bondarchuk (UKR) and Ruhmer (AUT) in top three of both hang gliding and speed gliding.
Hang gliding sees the addition of the Brasil Masters and the French Open and the deletion of the 1999 Venezuelan Open. There are no changes in the top 10 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, 7th), Ron Richardson (GBR, 8th), Mario Alonzi (FRA,9th) and Nene Rotor (BRA, 10th).
Francoise Mocellin (FRA) still leads the female rankings in 32nd place overall (169 points) only 12 pionts ahead of Kathleen Rigg (GBR) who is 2nd (40th overall) with Kari Castle (USA) 3rd (68th overall). There are 630 pilots ranked from 38 countries.
Class 2 sees addition of French Open, and again no changes to the top 10 places. David Sharp (USA) 1st, Brian Porter (USA) 2nd, Christof Kratzner (GER) 3rd, Marcus Hoffmann Guben (GER, 4th), Hansjoerg Truttmann (SUI, 5th), Davis Straub(USA, 6th), Bernd Weber (GER) 7th, Diego Bussinger (SUI) 8th, Johan Posch (AUT) 9th and Toni Raumauf (AUT) 10th.
Niki Hamilton (GBR) is the only female ranked (27th overall). There are 49 pilots from 9 countries.
In Speed Gliding the results of the World Speed Gliding Championships are now included. John Smith's (NZL) second place in the World Championships means he increases his lead of the rankings and is on 41 points, 13 points ahead of Oleg Bondarchuk (UKR, 2nd). Manfred Ruhmer's (AUT), the 1st Speed Gliding World Champion climbs to 3rd place overall (from 13th). Karl Ewing (AUS) drops to 4th (from 2nd) and GW Meadows' (USA) 4th place at the World championships takes him straight to 5th position in the rankings. There are now 39 pilots in the speed gliding rankings from 12 countries.
The paragliding rankings sees the addition of the PWC Chamonix, Ball/Ultra/FreeX Open, the Norwegian Cup and the Polish Open. The 1999 South African Nationals are deleted (over 18months). However the top 10 remain the same: Martin Brunn's (AUT) still leads with 286 points, one point ahead of Steve Cox (SUI) who in 2nd place, with Kari Eisenhut (SUI) 3rd, Masataka Kawachi (JPN), 4th, Tsuji Tsuyoshi (JPN), 5th, Kaspar Henny (SUI) 6th, Jimmy Pacher (ITA) 7th, Christian Tamegger (AUT) 8th, Stephan Stieglair (AUT) 9th and Andy Hediger (SUI) 10th.
Louise Crandal (DEN) still has a clear lead in the female rankings in 42nd place overall (185 points) 66 points ahead of Petra Krausova (CZE) and Noriko Mizunuma (JPN) moves up to 3rd place (from 4th). There are currently 698 pilots ranked from 35 countries.
Forthcoming hang gliding competitions (class 1 unless otherwise indicated) that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: Canungra Classic, Australia; X-Ceara 2000, Brazil; Rigid Wing Autumn Race, Japan (class 2).
Forthcoming paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: Japanese Nationals; Canungra cup, Australia; X-Ceara 2000, Brazil; Korean PG Championships, Mun Gyong Open Cup, Japan; Shikoku-Saboru Open Cup, Japan.
Details of these competitions can be found on the CIVL web page at http://events.fai.org/hgpg/civl-calendar.asp
Country rankings:
In paragliding country rankings the top 3 places have changed with France now leading, ahead of Switzerland who have moved to 2nd (from 3rd) and Austria has dropped to 3rd (from 1st). The reaminder of the top 10 have not changed.
In hang gliding country rankings the top 10 remain the same, with very few changes amongst the other countries.
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 33 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/.
List of qualified pilots
This will next be updated 01 Jan 2001. Any pilots wanting confirmation of their qualification for category 1 events should contact Paula Bowyer.
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.
