10th day of Competition JWGC

The tenth day of competition of the Junior World Gliding Championships in Elchingen came to a close on Thursday evening with a German one-two finish. In the Club Class, Florian Kraja of Germany secured the day’s victory ahead of Tomasz Kurowski of Poland and his teammate Julia Walowska. In the Standard Class, a German pilot also took the lead: Patrick Benoist won the day’s competition ahead of Jakob Bogelund Lassen of Denmark and Jonas Busch of Switzerland. That set the stage for a particularly exciting final of the World Championships. After the tenth day of competition, two German pilots lead the overall ranking in the Standard Class. Max Maslak is in first place and thus has the opportunity to defend his world championship title. Patrick Benoist follows in second place, with Denmark’s Jakob Bogelund Lassen close behind. Actually, many of those involved had expected that another competition day would be possible on Friday. However, it became clear as early as that morning that the weather conditions were hardly suitable for that. Blue skies, extreme dryness, low humidity, and strong winds from the south left little hope for usable thermals. Therefore, it was clear early on that the Club Class would have to be suspended for the time being. The briefing was postponed from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. While the pilots and organizers waited to see how the weather would develop, two Eurofighters from the German Air Force based in Neuburg provided a special moment. The two fighter jets flew over the Elchingen airfield, paying tribute to the athletes, organizers, and numerous guests. It was a magnificent and impressive sight for all spectators, one that will remain in everyone’s memory for a long time to come. At 11am, there was still hope of being able to hold at least a small competition task. But the conditions did not develop as desired. By 3 pm not a single participant had taken off in a glider. Only a so-called “scout” was in the air: the Luftsportring’s two-seater Duo Discus, christened on Saturday, was testing the thermal conditions over the Ostalb. The result was sobering: too hot, too dry, and too few usable thermals. Under these conditions it would not have been possible to tow all participants safely while also ensuring a fair and competitive scoring day. At 3:15 pm, the decision was finally made: this scoring day would be neutralized. This means that Thursday was the last scoring day of this World Championship on which flights actually took place. Despite being cut short due to the weather, the organizers view the event as an overwhelming success. Over the past 14 days, an exceptionally large number of competition days were held in Elchingen—more than have been seen at a World Gliding Championship in a long time. As a result, the Junior World Championships in Elchingen provided excitement not only on the sporting front. The exceptional number of flying competition days also marks these championships as a special event in the history of gliding. Now all eyes are on the awards ceremony. On Saturday at 10 am, the new Junior World Champions will be honored in Elchingen. German competitors can hope for a successful outcome, particularly in the Standard Class.