27 Aug 2018

1st day of Competition

27 August 2018 - Monday

All the results will be published immediately approved by the Chief Judge on this link :  WWFC 2018

Yesterday afternoon the various meetings were held, firstly to brief all the competitors on various aspects of the competition - and then the Official Opening Ceremony which ended with the raising of the FAI flag whilst the FAI anthem was played signalling the start of competition.  This morning we started at 8.00 with the first of the Training Jumps which are to be made before the actual start of the competition, as stated in the rules. 

Speech makers

Mgr. František Jura, Deputy governor for sport of Olomouc region, interpreter and Ladislav Okleštek, Governor of Olomouc region

The Opening Ceremony was conducted in the large tent with the big screen of which good use was made during the ceremony.   The Ceremony started with an energetic dancing display, speeches from local dignatories following a visual flag display of each nation represented at this World Championships.  The ceremony was kept short as were the speeches.

Large screen

Today we have the start of the TV coverage with live broadcasts three times a day at 10.00 : 14.00 and 16.00 - plus a half hour video summary of the day which will be available to 'TV companies around the world.  Regan Tetlow is here as the comentator.

16.00 27/08/2018

After the completion of the two Practice Jump runs for the Performance Flying event it became obvious to the judges that there was a serious problem with the Rule 3.5.4, which, had they been competition jumps, would have resulted in almost all the Fliers (bar a couple) ending up with a zero score and thus making a complete farce of the competion.  The Chief Judge brought this to the attention of the Jury, and following a short discussion the Jury recomended that a Competitors Meeting was called, the problem  explained, and the suggested solution - that the rule be ignored - put to the Competitors and depending on their reaction, referrred back to the Jury for a final decision.  This is a unique situation for any Jury to face at a World Championships, but this rule had never been applied before either at a World Cup or even a Nationals and was therefore untested.

The meeting was held and the competitors accepted the Judge's proposed solution - so it was referred to the Jury.  After a short discussion the Jury agreed to the propsal from the Judges and issued Jury Notice No. 2 allowing them to Judge the 2nd FAI World Wingsuit Flying Championships - Performance Flying without utilising Rule No. 3.5.4.

Competitors briefing - problemBuzz Bennett, Chief Judge briefs Performance Flying competitors of the rule problem

By 18.00 hours we had completed the first round of Speed and without sufficient time to complete the second round today, the competition was called for the day.

8.00 am wheels off start in the morning for the first Acrobatic Flying load.  The briefing had been held during the afternoon and then the Acrobatic Flying competitors - those not competing in Perforance Flying were released for the day.

Regan Tetlow has done his first live stream programmes - catch these on the Facebook page of JUMP-TANDEM/Dropzone Prostejov.