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"12th World Cup Superfinal ::: Mexico (Valle de Bravo)"
Summary written by Ruth Jessop
A 75km task was set for today’s grand finale.
The inversion looked similar to yesterday, or so we all thought! Climbs turned out to be strong, 3-4m/s and a handful of brave pilots started to glide towards the Tejupilco-ridge, for a better start position. Pretty quickly the majority followed, but not everyone made it in time for the start opening at 12.45.
There was a bit of cirrus, occasionally killing the thermals, which required some patience. The route back to takeoff and entering the convergence from there seemed to be the fastest, compared to optimized over the canyons of Temascaltepec.
In general, the task was pretty straightforward; those who stuck to the gaggle managed to fly fast, and those who pushed a little bit too hard in the beginning and ended up low, got to enjoy a bus ride, or a solo flight back to goal.
Today’s race was all about the five pilots who could become this years Super Final champion: Honorin Hamard, Philipp Haag, Maxime Pinot, Baptiste Lambert and Seb Ospina.
Honorin, Philipp and Baptiste stuck together. Seb sadly landed early and Maxime tried a different route, so the race went wing tip to wing tip right to the end between three of the most amazing pilots we have ever seen. After 75km they crossed End of Speed within 45 seconds of each other! Honorin landed in goal after a few laps of honour as the new Super Final Champion. He is the only pilot ever to have been European Champion, World Champion and Super Final Champion.
Congratulations to Constance Mettetal who is no stranger to being on the ladies’ podium. Today she won her first ever Ladies’ Super Final Champion title.
Congratulation to team Alas del Hombre also winning their first Super Final title.
A big thank you to Miguel Gutierrez, Claudia Gómez Palacios and all the staff at Alas del Hombre who have made this one of the best ever World Cup Super Finals. A true celebration of 30 years of competition flying.
This competition has been a real showcase for new equipment. We’ve seen more Ozone Submarine harnesses than ever before, the popular new leading edge on Gin Gliders, Kortel’s new prototype harness and Niviuk’s Drifter 2 harness up close.
A big thank you to Meet Director Jacques Fournier and his task setting committee who made the most of every thermal over the past 10 days of blue skies and sunshine. Estefano Salgado, Manuel Quintanilla and Felix Rodriguez designed 10 incredible tasks, with pilots flying a grand total of 101,566 km: the equivalent of two and a half times round the planet!
Well done to everyone, who took part and made this such a legendary Super Final.
The first 78 pilots made goal, and thus all flew the same distance, and gained the same distance points. Today’s winner is therefore the one with a combination of the best speed points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed point winners – the fastest pilots round the course
01:40:32: Baptiste LAMBERT flying at an average speed of 35.3 km/h
01:40:56: Julien GARCIA
01:41:02: Joachim OBERHAUSER
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
159.4: Baptiste LAMBERT
156.7: Francisco Javie REINA LAGOS
156.4: Joachim OBERHAUSER
Top 3 in the task
1: Baptiste LAMBERT
2: Joachim OBERHAUSER
3: Pierre REMY
3: Loïs GOUTAGNY
Top 3 ladies in the task
1: Keiko HIRAKI
2: Johanna HAMNE
3: Constance METTETAL
Top 3 teams in the task
1: Niviuk
2: Alas del Hombre
3: Çameli Municipality
In the team competition the top two pilots in each team are scored and the second one gives the ranking. The highest placed second team pilot was Tim ROCHAS flying for team Niviuk.
Top 3 overall
1: Honorin HAMARD
2: Philipp HAAG
3: Baptiste LAMBERT
Top 3 ladies overall
1: Constance METTETAL
2: Keiko HIRAKI
3: Yael MARGELISCH
Top 3 teams overall
1: Alas del Hombre
2: Çameli Municipality
3: Niviuk
Video: https://youtu.be/yR2O-xuAVKg
Photo Gallery including podium photos (click on the comment icon for a description of the photo and pilot's names): https://photos.app.goo.gl/gB5DxDqCbT7i32uQ9
Instagram: officialparaglidingworldcup
