World Pilot Rankings Update 01/04/01
Firstly the rankings website has undergone a design update and now gives much better search facilities including searching for pilots by name or country, check it out at http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/
There are changes to the paragliding, hang gliding, speed gliding and class 2 rankings (no changes to precision paragliding).
There have been no recent competitions received for the paragliding rankings (the Coo Spring Cup in Japan was not valid and the results of the South African Nationals had not been received at the time of publication). The following comeptitions have been deleted: British Open, 99; German Open, 99; Snowbird, USA 99; Red Bull, USA, 99; Telluride, USA, 99; Norwegian Open 99.
There have been no changes to the top 5 places with Martin Brunn (AUT) still in the lead on 286 points, ahead of Masataka Kawachi (JPN, 2nd), Tsuji Tsuyoshi (JPN, 3rd) with =4th Kaspar Henny (SUI) and Andy Hediger (SUI). Christian Tamegger (AUT), Stephan Stieglair and Andrew Smith (RSA) all move up a place to 6th, 7th & 8th respectively, at the expense of Steve Cox (SUI) who drops to 9th (from 6th) and Jimmy Pacher (ITA) returns to the top 10 (from 12th).
Louise Crandal (DEN) still has a clear lead in the female rankings
moving up to 39th place overall (185 points) with Noriko Mizunuma (JPN) in 2nd place (81st overall) and Andrea Joubert (RSA) 3rd (86th overall). There are currently 680 pilots ranked from 36 countries.
The hang gliding ranking sees the addition of Bogong Cup (Australia) and the deletion of the Pre Pan-Am 99. The top 6 places are unchanged; Oleg Bondarchuk (UKR, 1st), Richard Walbec (FRA, 2nd), Gerolf Heinrichs (AUT, 3rd), Mario Alonzi (FRA, 4th), Gordon Rigg (GB, 5th) and Manfred Ruhmer (AUT, 6th). There have been a few changes of places amongst the remaining top 10 pilots with Andreas Ohlson (SWE) now 7th, having swopped places with Jon Durand Jnr (AUS, now 8th). Betinho Schmitz (BRA) is 9th with team mate Andre Wolf (BRA) dropping to 10th.
The top 3 women are now very close. Following some good results over the Australian season Kari Castle now leading the female rankings in 36th place overall (127 points) closely followed by Francoise Mocellin (FRA, 125 points) and Kathleen Rigg (GBR, 118 points). There 627 pilots ranked from 39 countries.
Speed Gliding sees the deletion of the 1999 WHGS New Zealand and Greece events. There have been no new competitions.
Speed gliding sees a new leader for the first time since the speed gliding rankings began. Manfred Ruhmer (AUT) now leads the rankings ahead of John Smith (NZL) who had dominated them from the beginning! Oleg Bondarchuk (UKR) moves down a place to 3rd. The remaining seven top ten places are dominated by the USA with only Michael Schrott (AUT, 8th) splitting them; 4th GW Meadows, 5th Ken Brown, 6th Chris Giardina, 7th M Vorhis, 8th Aaron Swepston and 10th S Alford. There are 23 pilots from 8 countries.
Class 2 sees the deletion of the 1999 Pre Pan-Am event and no new ones added as the Oshino Rigid Open was not valid. There are no changes to the top 5 places Diego Bussinger (SUI, 1st), Toni Raumauf (AUT, 2nd), Brian Porter (USA) =3rd with Marcus Hoffmann Guben (GER) and Christof Kratzner (GER, 5th). Bruce Barmakian (USA) moves up to 6th (from 7th), Mario Campanelli (BRA) and Hansjoerg Truttmann (SUI) both move up to 7th (from 9th) and the following six pilots share =9th position; David Sharp (USA), Jim Zeiset (USA), Davis Straub (USA), Johann Posch (AUT), Bernd Weber (GER) and Matrella Gaetano (ITA). There are 33 pilots from 8 countries.
Results not yet received ( and therefore not included in WPRS yet) South African PG Nationals and the Argentinian Open (PG).
Forthcoming hang gliding competitions (class 1 unless otherwise indicated) that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 1: World Air Games, Spain.
Category 2: Flytec championships, USA; Swedish Easter In Italy Internationl; Lithuanian HG Nationals; International Swiss Open;Millau classic, France; Nordic Open, Iceland; Test Europeans, Slovenia; Dutch Open, Laragne, France; German Open (class 1 & 2); Test Female Worlds, USA; Test class 2 Worlds, USA; UK Open national Championships, St Andre, France (class 1 & 2); Lone Star National Championships, USA (class 1 & 2).
Forthcoming paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 1: World Air Games, Spain.
Category 2: Polish Monte Grappa; Cornizzolo, Italy; Alpe Adria Open (Accuracy)Polish PG Nationals; Tateyama Raityou Valley Cup, Japan; Slovenian Nationals; Erzincan Open/Pre-PWC, Turkey; Bavarian Open; PWC Konitsa, Greece; PWC Simmenthal, Switzerland; Belgian PG Open, France; US nationals/Pre-PWC, USA; Swiss International Championships; Nordic Open , Piedrahita; Test Europeans, Slovenia; British Open, Piedrahita; PWC La Clusaz, France; PWC Castejon, Spain; Canadian PG Championships; Pre PWC Germany; PWC Kobarid, Slovenia; British International, St Andre, France; Mun Gyong Inernational, Korea.
Details of these competitions can be found on the CIVL web page:
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 http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/ or from Paula Bowyer.
Country rankings
In paragliding country rankings the top 3 places have changed again with Austria back in first place (from 4th)ahead of France (2nd) and Switzerland (3rd). Japan who have dropped to 4th(from 3rd) ahead of Germany 5th, Denmark 6th, Great Britain 7th, Italy 8th, Slovakia 9th and South Africa 10th.
In hang gliding country rankings there is little change with France maintaining 1st, but Australia (2nd) has swopped with Austria (now 3rd) with Great Britain 4th, Brazil 5th, USA 6th, Germany 7th, and Hungary (8th) and Spain (9th) have also changed places with Ukraine maintaining 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 a number of hang glider and 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/
WAG Qualification criteria
Please note that pilots still seeking qualification to compete in the WAG have until 31st May to qualify.
1. For hang gliding and paragliding
as per section 7 5.11 (and amendment which was passed at the Plenary meeting 22 - 25 Feb, 01)
2. IN ADDITION for paragliding either
a. Top two thirds overall place in a PWC competition, or
b. Eagle gold badge distance (i.e 100km or more)
See CIVL website for full details.
The list of qualified pilots was updated 01 April 2001. Queries regarding qualification for category 1 events should be addressed to Paula Bowyer.
