World Pilot Rankings Update - 15 December 2000
The WPRS sees changes to paragliding, hang gliding and class 2. There are no changes to speed gliding or precision paragliding.
Firstly it is with great sadness that CIVL learnt of the deaths of Joel Rebbechi (AUS) and Jobst Baeumer (GER). These were both excellent pilots, who were extremely well respected and they will be greatly missed by all.
The hang gliding ranking sees the addition of the Canungra Classic and the deletion of the 1999 US Nationals and Wallaby. There are no changes in the top 10 places with 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 31st place overall (169 points) only 12 points ahead of Kathleen Rigg (GBR) who is 2nd (37th overall) with Kari Castle (USA) 3rd (66th overall). There 624 pilots ranked from 38 countries.
Class 2 sees the deletion of the 1999 US Nationals and Wallaby, and a few changes in the top 10 places. Brian Porter (USA) is 1st ahead of German pilots Christof Kratzner (GER) and Marcus Hoffmann Guben (GER)
who are equal 2nd. David Sharp (USA) has dropped to 4th (from 1st), he is followed by Hansjoerg Truttmann (SUI, 5th), Bernd Weber (GER) 6th, Diego Bussinger (SUI) 7th, Johan Posch (AUT) 8th, Toni Raumauf (AUT) 9th
and Davis Straub (USA, 10th).
Niki Hamilton (GBR) is the only female ranked (26th overall). There are 45 pilots from 9 countries.
The paragliding rankings sees the addition of Japanese Nationals, Korean championships, Canungra Cup and Xceara 2000. Deleted events (from 1999) are PWC Slovenia and Italy, Veltins Cup, slovenian Nationals and the Argentinian Open. Whils the names in the top 10 places have not changed there has been some position changes.
With all his high scoring events in 2000 season Martin Brunn (AUT) maintains the lead on 286 points. However the Japanese pilots Masataka Kawachi (JPN) and Tsuji Tsuyoshi (JPN) have moved up to take 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Pilots moving up the rankings are Kaspar Henny (SUI, 4th from 6th), Jimmy Pacher (ITA, 6th from 7th) and Stephan Stieglair (AUT, 7th from 9th). Those who have dropped places are Steve
Cox (SUI, 5th from 2nd), Kari Eisenhut (SUI, 8th from 3rd), Christian Tamegger (AUT, 9th from 8th) and Andy Hediger (SUI) has maintained 10th position.
Louise Crandal (DEN) still has a clear lead in the female rankings and is in 37th place overall (185 points) with Petra Krausova (CZE) and Noriko Mizunuma (JPN) in equal 2nd place (78th overall). There are
currently 654 pilots ranked from 35 countries.
Results not yet received ( and therefore not included in WPRS yet) are X-Ceara 2000 (HG class 1 & 2) and the Shikoku Cup (PG).
Forthcoming hang gliding competitions (class 1 unless otherwise indicated) that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 1: World Air Games, Spain.
Category 2: South African HG Championships; Australain Nationals; Forbes Flatlands, Australia; Bogong Cup, Australia; Millenium Cup, Mexico; Flytec championships, USA; Test Female Worlds, USA; Test Europeans, Slovenia.
Forthcoming paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 1: World Air Games, Spain.
Category 2: All Africa Open, South Africa; Mexican Open Champs; NZ Nationals; Millenium Cup, Mexico; Australian Open; Argentinian Nationals; Test Europeans, Slovenia.
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 Austria now leading, ahead of France who have dropped to 2nd and Swizerland has dropped to 3rd. 4th to 7th places remain the same (Japan, Germany, Denmark and Italy. Great Britain has moved to 8th, Slovakia dropped to 9th and South Africa moved up to 10th.
In hang gliding country rankings the top 5 remain the same, USA has climbed up a place to 6th, and Australia has dropped from 6th to 7th. Germany and Switzerland have dropped out of the top 10. Italy has moved up to 8th followed by Ukraine in 9th and Sweden in 10th.
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 14 hang glider pilots and 25 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 02 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 http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/ or from Paula Bowyer.
