Lausanne, 24 August 1999

CIVL World Pilot Ranking Scheme - latest Update

Following the hang gliding world championships, only 8 points now separate the top 5 ranked pilots. Gerard Thevenot (LUX) still leads the hang gliding rankings with 302 points, 4 points ahead of Manfred Ruhmer (A, 298). Steve Cook (GB) has moved up to 3rd with 297 points. Richard Walbec (F) has moved from 7th up to 4th. Oleg Bondarchuk (UKR) drops to 5th (from 2nd). Guido Gehrmann (D) and Alan Barnes (GB) maintains 7th and 8th positions position. Newcomers to the top 10 are Gordon Rigg (GB, 6th) and Betinho Schmidt (BRA, 9th). Andre Wolf (BRA) has dropped from 8th to 10th. In the females, Francoise Mocellin's (F) inclusion in the French Team and 63rd place at the World Championships, gives her a strong lead in the female rankings and puts her in 22nd place overall with 181 points. Kathleen Rigg (GB) is 2nd female on 88 points, with Marie Jo Rufat (F) 3rd on 70 points. There are now 458 hang gliding pilots ranked.

The inclusion of a Class 2 World Championships at Monte Cucco, means that the number of pilots ranked in class 2 has risen from 7 to 27 and is no longer dominated by the American pilots. Brian Porter (USA) now leads the Class 2 ranking with 33 points, with David Sharp (USA) 2nd on 30 points. Kristoff Kratzner (D), the new World Champion and newcomer to the class 2 rankings is in 3rd position with 23 points ahead of Johnny Carr (UK). Davis Straub (USA) and Hansjoerg Truttmann (CH) share 5th place. Nikki Hamilton (GB) is the first ranked female pilot in Class 2, and is ranked 16th overall.

The paragliding rankings have seen the addition of the PWC events in Piedrahita, Spain and Morzine, France with 8 points separating the top 5 ranked pilots and the Swiss dominating with 6 pilots in the top 10 places. However it is Austrian Christian Tamegger who currently head the paragliding rankings with 276 points. Hans Bollinger (CH) has moved up from 4th to 2nd with 275 points. Jimmy Pacher (I) maintains 3rd place with 272 points. Kaspar Henny (CH) is 4th (from 7th), Kari Eisenhut (CH) has dropped from 1st to 5th, Peter Von Kanel (CH) is now 6th, with Patrick Berod (F) and Peter Luethi (CH) sharing 7th. Steve Cox (CH) is now 9th with Stephan Steiglair (A) 10th. Claire Bernier (F) heads the female rankings and is 57th overall ahead of Sandie Cochepain (F, 66th overall) and Petra Krausova (CZE, 74th overall). There are currently 481 pilots ranked.

Full rankings can be found on FAI/CIVL website at www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/

Results not received :
- World Hang Gliding Series, Canada
- Jackson Hole, PG, USA

Forthcoming hang gliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: Pre Pan American HG, USA; WHGS, San Francisco, USA and WHGS, New Zealand.

Future paragliding competitions that qualify for WPRS points are:
Category 2: Jackson Hole, USA; Telluride Open, USA; PWC La Bresse,France; Red Bull Wings Over Aspen, USA; Snowbird Open, USA; Japanese Nationals, Japan and Coo PG fruit Cup, Japan.

Details on these competitions can be found on the CIVL web page at http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/competitions/comp_schedule.asp

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