Summary written by Ruth Jessop
After the storms last night today’s forecast was pessimistic, therefore a short 59km task was set taking the pilots on a triangular tour of the flats.
The weather turned out to be much better than expected, less wind and a higher base, 2200m. The clouds worked giving well marked lines.
The crux of the task was which route to take coming back from the first turn point.
Yassen SAVOV didn’t like the look of the big blue hole out in front over the flats. He preferred the little clouds over the hills to the west of the river and decided to stay high in the mountains. He watched other pilots ahead sinking out and went elsewhere to get lift, Simon joined him, and they climbed out together.
The crescendo finish was incredible, Simon METTETAL (Niviuk Icepeak X-One) racing neck and neck with Yassen (Ozone Enzo 3) at speeds of over 80km/h.
Simon clinched it by 5 seconds. The suspense continued as he then took 5 minutes (that seemed like 50 to those of us watching anxiously) to climb and make goal thus claiming his speed points.
For Yassen, it was mission accomplished as he reclaimed his crown of the pilot with the most task wins in this competition – 13.
With an excellent forecast for tomorrow and six tasks already in the bag, Stefan Bernhard summed up what many people are thinking, ‘This is like doing two World Cups back-to-back.’
The average speed of Simon METTETAL, the fastest pilot round the course, was 33.4m/s.
The first 95 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/time points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed/time points winners – the fastest pilots round the course:
01:24:43: Simon METTETAL
01:24:48: Yassen SAVOV
01:27:32: Stephan MORGENTHALER
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most:
160.5: Yassen SAVOV
146.6: Simon METTETAL
134.9: Charles CAZAUX
Top 3 in task 6
1st: Yassen SAVOV
2nd: Simon METTETAL
3rd: Joachim OBERHAUSER
Top 3 ladies
1st: Seiko FUKUOKA NAVILLE
2nd: Adel HONTI
3rd: Katalin JUHASZ
Top 3 teams
1st=: Niviuk
1st=: Chinese Taipei Gliding Sports Association
3rd: Air'G Products
On the eve of the last task the top 10 overall are: Jonathan MARIN, Ulrich PRINZ, Honorin HAMARD, Seb OSPINA, Russell OGDEN, Simon METTETAL, Julien WIRTZ, Krzysztof SCHMIDT, Baptiste LAMBERT, Joachim OBERHAUSER.
The top 5 leading ladies overall are: Seiko FUKUOKA NAVILLE, Nanda WALLISER, Constance METTETAL, Emanuelle ZUFFEREY and Katalin JUHASZ
The top 5 teams overall are: Chinese Taipei Gliding Sports Association, Air'G Products, Kortel Design, Woody Valley and Cross Country Magazine.
