PGA Worlds Vlora - 83 Zeros after 8 rounds!

9th FAI World Paragliding Accuracy Championship in Vlora (Albania) has made 8 rounds by now and has 3 more days to go. It remarkable that after 1176 flights in the competition to date, there have been 85 zero scores (actually landing on the 2 centimetre diameter central disc), with 776 scores on the electronic measuring ‘pad’ (landing within 16cms from the edge of the disc).

Here is the report of Andrew Cowley, FAI Jury President on the course of event.
“Despite a touch of overnight rain, superb weather conditions greeted the start of round seven on Wednesday morning. The meteorological conditions were exceptionally smooth and the flying so precise that the difference between the top competitors' total scores was very small.
For those who are not aware of the requirement to land accurately, try jumping from a 600mm high platform and see if you can consistently land on a small spot – for example a small Euro coin. Now imagine each competitor strives to achieve the same result after a flight lasting some ten minutes or more from a launch point on top of an adjacent hill. The stress of the competition is such that whilst awaiting their turn to take off, some pilots walk around the launch site practicing their foot placement precision by stepping on small stones”.

Thursday is a programmed rest day. Current top three leaders are as follows: Tzvetan Tzolovo (BGR) leads the competition overall, closely followed by Haiping Chen (CHN) and Matjaz Sluga (SLO). Only a total difference of 15cms in individual scores covers the first 14 places.
Nunnapat Phuchong (THA) is the leading woman, chased by Markéta Tomášková (CZE) and Rika Wuayanti (IDN). In the Team category, China is lying in first position, with Serbia and Indonesia close behind.

However, all this can still change with both individual and team results so close that just a one simple mistake of a slightly incorrectly positioned foot during one landing can still completely change these placings.

Results are on the competition website  https://paragliding.al/published-results/