HG Worlds 2023 - 5 champions were crowned!
The hang gliding Worlds Championships in Krushevo, North Macedonia has successfully come to an end. 130 pilots (106 Class 1, 27 Class 5, and 7 in Class 1 Women ) from 22 countries competed. Pilots of Class 5 had 9 valid tasks, pilots in Class 1 - 8. Summing up all tasks in Class 5 pilots flew 1183 km and 935 km in Class 1.
In Class 1 Overall Alex Plomer won the gold thus becoming the 4th-time world champion. In nations, Italy was the winner, having the 7th gold medal for the Worlds in a row since 2009.
The silver medal was won by Marco Laurenzi from Italy; both Alex and Marco won two tasks during the championships, thus securing their victory.
The bronze medal in overall belongs to Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli from Brazil, more known as Nene Rotor. Nene was always in the lead on every task and each day he sent commentaries and reports to the Brazilian audience.
The silver medal in Nations goes to the United Kingdom, who climbed the ranking in the last 2 tasks overtaking Brazil (who gained Bronze ) and pushing Australia down.
After an interval of 9 years, FAI Women HG Class 1 Worlds have returned to the stage. The 14th World Champion became Sasha Serebrennikova from Austria. In the tough battle, she managed to beat Corinna Sweigershausen from Germany - the previous world champion and now the silver medalist. The third place belongs to Chisato Nojiri from Japan.
In Class 5 the gold medal belongs to Anton Ramauf from Austria. Initially, Dirk Ripkens from Germany was leading but after a series of mistakes he left the top three overall and managed to climb there only by the end thus getting a silver medal. Andreas Sand from Austria got the bronze in the hard battle with Spanish and Japanese pilots.
In Nations the leading of Austria was obvious. However, Germany also performed very well as a team which allowed them to get the silver medal. The most successful pilots in Class 5 from Germany were Dirk Ripkens and Markus Baisch. The third place and the bronze went to Japan. Its team pilot Naoiki Itagaki was frequently noticed in the top 3-4 of each task.
Congratulations to the winners!
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