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"World Cup Aksaray, Turkey 2023"
Summary written by Ruth Jessop
The forecast was for a strong northeast wind today, so the task was designed to keep the pilots out of the mountains. A 78.4km task was set going south via two turn points.
The task got off to a dramatic start with the competition leader, Stan Radzikowski, having to top land because he had a knot in his lines.
Before the start there were two gaggles, one on the flats, and one on the volcano.
The lift was very weak at the start, then the pilots went into an area of nothing around turn point 1. Those who were patient further back flew over their heads.
It was a very slow day in the beginning, with a low base, which then really opened up.
Halfway to turn point 2, the race split into three gaggles, from then on there were strong climbs and it was a full-on race to goal with the five possible winners in the lead gaggle!
Ferdinand Vogel, lying in second place this morning, arrived 2 minutes and 52 seconds ahead of overall winner, Stan Radzikowski, thus leaving the world of paragliding in suspense as to who had won the competition.
The race between Ferdinand Vogel and Stan Radzikowski was nail biting to the very end with Stan winning by 10.2 points after 7 fully valid, 1000 point days!
Throughout the competition, Stan frequently led out, taking his own innovative route. His win was very well deserved.
The ladies’ competition was much more straightforward. Alexia Fischer won the day again, bringing her tally to 6 out of 7 tasks, making her a very well-deserved ladies’ winner. Jenny O'Neil came 2nd again today, putting both leading ladies almost 900 points ahead of the others.
Team Jack & Jones touched down in fifth place today which secured them the top spot on the podium.
This has been a truly amazing week with seven taskable days and 59,000 km flown by the pilots, the equivalent of one and a half times round the World!
In recent Paragliding World Cup history we haven’t had a seven day competition where the same two pilots remained on the top spot, overall and in the ladies’ ranking, from day one.
One of the many notable achievements in this competition was Cristian Deacu taking one hour and twenty-six minutes to struggle from End of Speed to goal in task 6!
This competition will always be remembered for having a tremendous variety of tasks. Therefore, we would like to say a big thank you to the task committee: Umut Aslan, Martin Jovanoski and Idris Birch.
A big thank you to Abdullah Kahraman and his team here in Aksaray for organising such an amazing event, in particular for their friendly smiles and very efficient retrieval system.
But most of all, a big thank you to all the pilots, for being World class sports men and women and for flying safely.
In the words of Abdullah Kahraman, ‘In many of the tasks here in Aksaray, you have shown us that Mission Impossible, was indeed possible.’
Number of pilots in goal: 63
Top 3 speed point winners – the fastest pilots round the course
02:15:36: Ferdinand VOGEL flying at an average speed of 32.7 km/h
02:15:43: Matteo GIULIANI
02:15:44: Mike LESTER
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
156.1: Martin JOVANOSKI
154.1: Mike LESTER
150.0: Corentin LAMI SCHMIDER
Top 3 in task 7
1: Mike LESTER
2: Martin JOVANOSKI
3: Ferdinand VOGEL
Best newcomer: Corentin LAMI SCHMIDER (4th)
Top 3 ladies in task 7
1: Alexia FISCHER
2: Jenny O'NEIL
3: Yingyi CHEN
Top 3 teams in task 7
1: Gin Gliders
2: Nearbirds
3: Cross Country Magazine
Top 3 overall
1: Stan RADZIKOWSKI
2: Ferdinand VOGEL
3: Petr KOSTRHUN
Best newcomer: Markus ANDERS (17th)
Top 3 ladies overall
1: Alexia FISCHER
2: Jenny O'NEIL
3: Silvia BUZZI FERRARIS
Top 3 teams overall
1: Jack 8 Jones
2: Nearbirds
3: Chinese Taipei Gliding Sports Association
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