The WPRS rankings are now updated at the beginning of every month.

This update sees the new Class 2 and 5 rankings as well changes to the other rankings.

CLASS 5
All competitions over the last 18 months have been added, to most recently include the Wallaby Open, the Flytec Championship and the Rigid Wings Nasa Cup.

Johann Posch (AUT) is in 1st place, Christian Ciech (ITA) and Alessandro Ploner (ITA) are equal 2nd. Davis Straub (USA) is in 4th, and 3 pilots tie for 5th place - Steve Elkins (GBR), Bruce Barmakian (USA) and Michael Huppert (SUI). Toni Raumauf (AUT) and Diego Bussinger (SUI) tie on 8th and Manfred Trimmel (AUT) and Heiner Biesel (USA) again tie for 10th place.

USA leads the nations rankings with Germany in 2nd and Switzerland in 3rd

CLASS 2
All competitions over the last 18 months have been added, including the Flytec Championships 02.

Brian Porter is in 1st, and there is a 4-way tie for 2nd place between Manfred Ruhmer (AUT) after his 1st competition in a Swift, Robin Hamilton (GBR), Stephen Partridge-Hicks (GBR) and Mark Mullholland (USA).

PARAGLIDING
The Korean National PG League competition has been added.
Deleted competitions are: Japanese Nationals 00, Korean Open 00. The Valadares PG results have still not been fully received so are not entered into the WPRS.

The top 10 remain the same, with Jean-Marc Caron (FRA) in number 1 slot, Alex Hofer (SUI) in 2nd and Steve Cox (SUI) in 3rd.

There is little movement in the nations ranking, with Switzerland, France and Japan remaining in the top 3 slots.

PARAGLIDING ACCURACY
The Yugoslavian Accuracy 02 has been added.

The top 10 is still comprised solely of Slovenian pilots. Matjaz Feraraic extends his lead over Simeon Klokocovnik (2nd) to 9 points, with Matjaz Sluga staying
closely behind in 3rd, only 2 points behind now. Franc Unuk regains 4th place, David Sluga stays 5th, Tomaz Gorisek move up a place to 6th but the biggest movers are Mitja Omahna in 7th (from 13th) Tone Svoljsak in 8th from 12th, Jurij Vertacnik drops to 9th (from 4th) and Stojan Klenovsek jumps 27 places to complete the top 10.

HANG GLIDING (Class 1)
Results added include the Wallaby HG Open, the Korean National League, the Swedish Open (Feltre) and Il Real Minas Open (Valadares) The Flytec Hang Gliding Championship results have not yet been added. No competitions were deleted.

Gerholf Heinrichs maintains 1st place but Manfred Ruhmer jumps 5 places to take the number 2 slot after his excellent showing in the USA meets. Rohan Holtkamp is in 3rd and the rest of the top 10 stay in the same order as before.

In the nations ranking, France remains top, but Australia regain 2nd from the USA in 3rd.

Full details of all the rankings can be found on the World Pilot Ranking System website: http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/

Pilots should check that their personal record shows the correct nationality, particularly as there are still a number of hang glider and paraglider pilots of unknown nationality.

QUALIFYING COMPETITIONS

Hang Gliding
Forthcoming hang gliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: Eva Meynhardt (Hungary); Alpen Open; Canadian Championships; Croatian Open; Millau Classic; Greek Open (3 separate comps); Upper Austrian; Open Dutch Champs; British National & Laragne Open; US Open Big Springs; Podbrezova Cup; Vikings Open; Brazilian Open;
Category 1; European Champs; Women's World Championships.

Paragliding
Forthcoming paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2 Champs: Alpen Open; Berchtesgarten Open; Ukraine Open; Hadong PG Open; Canadian Open; Swiss Open; Dutch Open Flatlands; Southern California Open; French Championships; Slovenian Open; Nordic Cup (Austria); Yugoslavian Open; Greek Open (3 separate competitions); Iberian Open (Portugal); PWC Monte Cornizzola; Portuguese Open; Iberian Open; PWC Morzine; PWC Turkey; PWC Mung Yeong; International German Open; South African Open.
Category 1; European Champs, Slovenia; PG Worlds (Portugal) 2003

Paragliding Accuracy;
Category 2: Green Dragons PLA (UK); Sky Lincs PLA (UK); Slovenian Open; Target Austria.

Rigid Wings;
Category 2; Alpen Open; South East Wales Open; Millau Classic; Dutch Open; US Open Big Springs;
Category 1; European Championships, World Championships, Chelan;

Details of these competitions can be found on the CIVL web page:
http://events.fai.org/hgpg/civl-calendar.asp

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 Howitt, paula@fai.org

All amendments should be e-mailed to Paula Bowyer (paula@fai.org)