Sailplane Racing News

Sailplane Grand Prix Gawler Finishes in Style

Pete Temple SGP Gawler Champion The weather on the final day of SGP Gawler After 6 Races on the final day Gawler provided magnificent soaring conditions. A trough crossed the task area bringing 12,000ft plus cloudbases and 10 kt plus climbs throughout the task area. The 313.9 km…

Sailplane Grand Prix European Qualifiers Conclude as Top Pilots Prepare for Finals

The last SGP in Europe took place at Vinon in France in September. See the winners of all the SGP Qualifying events below. The next event will be held at Gawler in Australia 2 - 8 of January 2023. Gawler was the host for the first ever SGP event and enjoys excellent soaring…

Giorgio Galetto Wins E4Glide at St Auban

Giorgio Galetto after winning e4Glide By Sean Young On the first two days of e4glide, the weather provided good soaring conditions. Matthew Scutter, the winner of the two previous eGlide competitions came 1st on Day 1. It was a good start to defend his title. Giorgio Galetto…

Sailplane Grand Prix Series 11 - Australia and South Africa

With the successful completion of the French National FAI SGP at Vinon the 11th series of the FAI SGP has now moved to the southern hemisphere events. The next event will be held at Gawler in Australia 2 - 8 of January 2023. Gawler was the host for the first ever SGP event and…

Giorgio Galetto

Giorgio Galetto talks to Sean Young about his flight on Day 5 E4Glide St Auban

Tilo Holighaus at E4Glide

Tilo Holighaus talks about e4glide with Sean Young during the contest at Saint Auban

Luka Znidarsic

Luka Znidarsic the creator of the Friint Engine System, FES, talks to Sean Young about the development of FES on Day 6 E4Glide St Auban

e4glide - Live Tracking

Follow the racing action at e4flide, St Auban with live tracking and commentary Live Trackinng and Commentary Day 5 Tracking Day 3 Tracking

e4glide Saint Auban September 2022

e4glide is the fourth eglide format competition is now underway at the Centre National de Vol à Voile (CNVV) in Saint Auban, France 11 - 17 September. The frst race was won by current the championship holder, Matthew Scutter flying a 160.34 km racing task. He was followed by…

Winners Declared at SGP Vinon

On the final podium of SGP Vinon Mike Young with 30 points took 1st place followed by Erik Borgmann 2nd with 29 points and Maximilian Seis 3rd with 27 points. The last SGP in Northern Hemisphere is over.Congratulations to Mike Young and Erik Borgmann for winning their ticket for…

Women's World Gliding Championships - New Champions Declared at Husbands Bosworth

After eight racing days WWGC Husbands Bosworth concluded with champions declared in 18M Standard and Club classes. 18 M Class1 Anne Ducarouge 2 Mélanie Gadoulet 3 Alena Netusilova Standard Class1 Cornelia Schaich 2 Sabrina Vogt 3 Jana Veprekova Club Class1 Petra Piskata 2…

Junior World Gliding Champions

After ten racing days JWGC Tabor concluded with champions declared in Standard and Club classes. New Junior World Gliding Champion, Standard Class, Simon Briel from Germany with Czechs Lukas Kriz in 2nd place and Jaromir Macoun in 3rd place. Finn Sleigh and Toby Freeland from…

WGC Hungary - New Champions in 18M, Open and 20M Multi-Seat Classes

New 18m World Gliding Champion Christope Abadie landing on the final day of WGC Szeged. 18M Class After an exciting final race at WGC Szeged, Christophe Abadie from France held onto his lead, coming home in 7th place on the day, but taking the 18m World Gliding Championship…

Gintas Zube Wins SGP Bosnia and Herzogovina

In an exciting final race at Livno Gintas Zubefrom Lithuania won with a very high speed of 162 kph. He beat Germans Matthias Sturm and Stefan Langer to the finish line. Gintas has now qualified for the final next year in Pavullo, Italy, congratulations! Thank you all organisers…

Fast Speeds on Day 11 WGC Hungary

Michael Sommer reigning World Champion in Open Class won the day but looks to be out of reach of a podium position at the end of the competition. Michael Sommer and German teammate Felipe Levin crossed the line together to each win 1000 points in Open Class at WGC Hungary. They…

Big Tasks Set for Day 10 WGC Hungary

Tilo Holighaus with the Australian 20m team, Allan Barnes and Harry Medlicott. The previous two days were affected by a low pressure system with srtong winds and difficult conditions. Day 10 at Szeged promissed to be an excellent soaring day with low winds and cumulus to over…

Windy Start to 2nd Week at WGC Szeged

After a rest day, tasks were set for Day 7 of WGC Szeged. The weather was affected by a front passing to the north, bringing windy and overdeveloped conditions. Current Open Class World Champion Michael Sommer from Germany said of the flying conditions, 'It's a bit windy but it…

SGP Germany Winners Declared

After a great racing week, SGP Germany at Eisenhutenstadt is now over and winners have been declared. The top three places were won by: 1 Dirk Windmüller AS33es 30 2 Robin Förster ASG-29E 18m 28 3 Andreas Kühl JS3 - 18m Jet 26 You can see the full race results at Crosscountry…

Nick Hannenburg Wins the 13.5 M World Gliding Championships

After five racing days Nick Hanenburg from Netherlands is the new 13.M World Gliding Champion. This championships was the 4th 13.5 M WGC to be held. He was joined on the podium at Pociūnai, Lithuania by Darius Gudžiunas in 2nd place and Linas Miežlaiškis in 3rd place. 1 Nick…

European Gliding Championships - Champions Declared in 15M - Standard - Club

After five racing days at Pociūnai, Lithuania, the 21st European Gliding Championships concluded with new champions declared in 15M - Standard - Club EGC 15m Class podium 1 Sebastian Kawa 2 Lukasz Grabowski 3 Oliver Springer EGC Standard class podium Jan 1 - Ola North2 Lucas…

Mario Kiessling Wins SGP Italy

After six racing days, Mario Kiessling, Ventus-3t, Germany increased his points total and won SGP Italy in a tense, low flying race. Italian Thomas Gostner won the day finishing the championships on 16 points. He completed the 209km course with a speed of just 62 kph which…

Łukasz Grabowski Wins SGP Poland

After seven racing days at Żar, the winner of SGP Poland is is Łukasz Grabowski. Marek Sawczuk took 2nd place, and Tilo Holighaus 3rd. Congratulations to the winner and all the competitors. Łukasz gained 40 points ahead of Marek on 26 and Tilo with 24 points. Łukasz will be…

Stefan Langer Wins SGP Sweden

Congratulations to Stefan Langer - winner of the Sweden Sailplane Grand Prix 2022. After three no flying days, SGP Sweden concluded with a low fast 257km race over the forests and lakes of Sweden. German Stefan Langer won the day giving him 21 points in total. This was enough to…

SGP Sweden Live Tracking 14 May

Follow Race 14 May Live Tracking View below or go to https://tinyurl.com/SGP2022livetrack https://tinyurl.com/SGP2022livetrack

SGP Sweden Winner Day 2 - Klaus Kalmbach - No Race 13 May

Due to weather, there is no race at SGP Sweden today. But you can still keep up with what is going on at the airfield at sweden22.sgp.aero After a slower more difficult race on Day 2 of SGP Sweden Klaus Kalmbach won the day finishing the 217km task at 97 kph. On Day 1 klaus…

Off to a Racing Start at SGP Sweden

After an exciting 289km race from Borås Hermann Leucker crossed the finish line in top position. Klaus Kalmbach and Clemens Berger finished close behind in second and third places. The contest got off to a good start with strong conditions to 5,000ft in good thermals. Herman…

SGP Sweden Ready to Race

Sixteen pilots are ready to race in the first SGP of Series 11 at Borås, Sweden, from 8 to 14 May. Pilots from Sweden, Germany, Czechia, Great Britain and Finland will compete with the top two finishers qualifying for the SGP finals at Pavullo in September 2023. You can watch…

SPG Series 11 All Set to Start in May

Ten Qualifying SGPs wil be held leading up to the final at Varese in August 2023. During the spring and summer 2022, seven Grand Prix will take place starting with Borås, Sweden in May and culminating at Vinon in the French Alps in September. You can follow the races here and on…

Sweden, Borås 8 - 14 May

Beautifully situated in the southwest of Sweden, along the river Viskan, Borås is a vibrant city with excellent cross country soaring conditions. Here is a run down of the conditions pilots can expect from Contest Director Kjell Folkesson Borås has an inland climate with…

Poland, Żar 15 - 21 May

Żar is famous for mountain soaring and is a beautiful landscape with varied conditions. SGP Żar promises exciting racing conditions and you can follow all the action at poland22.sgp.aero and here at SGP.aero.

World and European Championships 2022

The European summer has an exciting lineup of championships scheduled. The season starts off with the 13.5 WGC and European Championships in 15m, Standard and Club classes in Pociunai, Lithuania 2 -16 July egc2022wgc.pociunai.ltNext is 18m, 20m and Open class WGC in Szeged,…

Lithuania, Paluknys 29 May - 4 June

Soaring conditions are pretty standard, as for the flatland. Cloud bases are from 1,000 up to 2,000m, and usually stronger in May and June. July is still stable but cloud bases go lower and in August there are more cloudy days. Nevertheless, next to the Paluknys we have Varėna…

World 13,5M Class Gliding Championship - Pociunai, Lithuania 2 - 16 July 2022

Pociūnai has held many international competitions. The area is renouned for having variqable weather. There can be low cloudbase, strong winds, weak thermals and only four flying days during a competition.Or there could be with 600 km tasks, high speeds and fly 13 out of…

Italy, Varese 5 - 11 June

If you want to fly in the Alps, Calcinate del Pesce on the shores of Lago di Varese is one of the most beautiful airfields in Europe to glide from, especially in spring time. From mid March to mid June you can fly very long cross country flights, both to the east and to the…

Junior World Gliding Championships Tábor Czechia 31 July - 14 August 2022

12th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships - Tábor, Czechia 31 July - 14 August If you want to get a feel of how good the gliding weather gets in the Czech Republic, just look back at the tasks from WGC that took place in Hosín, CZ in 2018. That time it seemed like our European…

Germany, Eisenhüttenstadt 24 - 30 July 2022

Soaring conditions flying from Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt is located in one of the most thermally active areas of Germany. The reasons for this are the very sandy soil with dry pine forests, the already very good continental location on the border with Poland, many lakes…

Women’s World Gliding Championships, Husbands Bosworth, UK 13-27 August

The Gliding Centre is one of the key UK competition sites and usually hosts a UK National Championships and a Regional event each year, as well as aerobatic and informal contests. The club has successfully hosted two internationals – the Women’s Europeans in 1991 and the Junior…

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Livno 30 July - 6 August

Livno is situated on a 700 meter high grassland plateau called Livanjsko Polje just next to a 60km long, 1,800m high ridgeline. The land type where Livno is situated is a mixture of Dalmatic lands towards the south, Herzegovina lands spanning from southwest to southeast, and…

Series 11 of Sailplane Grand Prix Announced

The FAI International Gliding Commission has announced the venues and dates for the 11th series of the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix (SGP) national qualifying events and the 11th SGP World final. The 2021 10th series final at St Aubin in France was the 72nd contest in the FAI/SGP…

SGP Finals St Auban Brings Gliding to the World

The 10th FAI SGP Finals took place in spectacular style at St Auban 5 - 11 September. After the uncertainty of the past year, it was wonderful that 20 of the top glider pilots in the world were able to meet and fly together safely. At the end of six racing days, watched by…

Sebastian Kawa Wins 10th FAI SGP World Championships after Electrifying Final Race

After five race days, the weather for the final race looked excellent, and the pilots are refreshed after a rest day yesterday. The excitement was building, but the competitors looked relaxed. Who would end up on thepodium? Ahead of the race, Brian Spreckley who, with Benjamin…

Sebastian Kawa Wins Race 5 at SGP Finals St Auban

Sebastian Kawa Displays His Champion's Skills to Win Race 5 On a difficult overcast day, Sebastian Kawa once again displayed his mastery of the sky and won Race 5 at St Auban. A cold front approached St Auban with a large mass of cloud covering the area. At briefing,…

Boštjan Pristavec Wins Day 4

Boštjan Pristavec from Slovenia takes first place from Sebastian Kawa on a 'tricky' day at St Auban. The weather today brought moist southerly flow with high cloud and soft thermal conditions. The wind from the south was moderate but strong enough to complicate the task and the…

Super Mario Keissling Wins 3rd Day for Clean Sweep 3 days in a row

Mario Keissling makes a spectacular comeback after falling away from the leading pack to beat Sebastian Kawa across the line for his 3rd Day win. Now with 30 Grand Prix points, 'Super Mario' is nine points ahead of Kawa with four more race days to go. Mario is having a great…

Mario Keissling Wins Second Day in a Row

Mario Keissling on the podium after winning two out of two races. After a fast race in excellent mountain thermal conditions to 2,700m, Mario Keisslig from Germany finds his own path to beat the competition to a 1st place win on Day 2 of the SGP at St Auban. Maximilian Seis from…

1st Race Winners

Congratulations to Mario Kiessling for winning the 1st race of the 10th SGP Final. Sebastian Kawa and Gilles Navas complete the podium. Katrin Senne, Maximilian Seis, Phillipe de Pechy, Werner Amann, Thomas Gostner and Oscar Goudriaan are scoring points today. You can watch…

1st Race in the 10th FAI SGP 5 September

On the 5th of September the first of seven days of racing in the 10th FAI Sailplane Grand Prix World Final will take place at St Auban in France. The 10th FAI/SGP series began in 2019 at Livno in Bosnia with the 10th World Final scheduled to be held at Inonu in Turkey as part of…

Thomas Gostner Wins SGP Chile

After six great racing days, Thomas Gostner snatched 1st place in the Chile qualifying Grand Prix 2020. Marius Pluscauskas, from Lithuania came in 2nd and local pilot René Vidal, raced into 3rd place. The first two place holders will compete in the 10th SPG World Final, taking…

SGP Chile Race 3

The weather for the 3rd race of SGP Chile was much improved compared to the previous days with climbs in the mountains above 3,500m. A 349km task was set, but according to today’s winner Rene Vidal, it was the launch sequence that set the day up for the top pilots. Rene said,…

SGP Chile - Club De Planeadores De Vitacura Santiago

The third SGP in Series 10, 2019-2020, has begun with great pilots and amazing terrain for racing at Vitarura on the edges of Santiago de Chile. Located in the country’s central valley just an hour from the Pacific Ocean, Vitacura is surrounded by the Andes, a classic mountain…

Tilo pulls away from Kawa and rest of field

The low pressure system was turning into a summer storm and heading north. For Cerdanya at altitude, this meant wind. Above 3,000m the winds increased to 60–80kts at 5,000m. This brought the probability of severe turbulence, rotor and wave above 3,000m. Otherwise, conditions…

Sebastian Kawa and Tilo Holighaus battle for first place on Day 4 SGP Cerdanya

The airfield on the morning of 6 June After a rest day due to forecast thunder showers in the Cerdanya valley, the 19 competitors gathered at briefing to see what the weather had in store for Race Day 4. A low pressure system still dominated the region bringing moist…

Tilo Pulls ahead to win Day 3 at La Cerdanya

The airfield at La Cerdanya At briefing, the weather looked challenging with areas of high cloud threatening to move into the area and cut off the sun. If the high cloud stayed away it looked as though it would be a blue day, but strong winds from the south brought the…

Difficult Day 2 at SGP Finals La Cerdanya

The low pressure system continued to develop and was forecast to bring rain in the region. Looking out the window from briefing, low and high clouds could be seen hanging over the mountains and it was uncertain whether or not a task would be possible. In the end, conditions…

Tilo pulls away from Kawa and rest of field

The low pressure system was turning into a summer storm and heading north. For Cerdanya at altitude, this meant wind. Above 3,000m the winds increased to 60–80kts at 5,000m. This brought the probability of severe turbulence, rotor and wave above 3,000m. Otherwise, conditions…

Race to the finish line on last day of SGP Finals

9th FAI Sailplane Grand Pxix World Champion Tilo Hiloghaus after landing on the final day of the competition. He sadi, 'I am exhausted but very happy.' For the final race day at the 9th FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix Finals, the low pressure system had moved north and the wind…

Ingo Renner Four Times World Gliding Champion Remembered

Ingo and Judy Renner at the Southern Riverina Gliding Club in February 2021. I had the honour and pleasure of meeting Ingo several time over the years. His achievements as a competition glider pilot and four-time world champion are world renowned, and he has instructed hundreds…

Series 11 of Sailplane Grand Prix Announced

The FAI International Gliding Commission has announced the venues and dates for the 11th series of the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix (SGP) national qualifying events and the 11th SGP World final. The 2021 10th series final at St Aubin in France was the 72nd contest in the FAI/SGP…

36th World Gliding Championships Montluçon-Guéret - France 2021

The World Gliding Championships in Standard, 15M and Club Classes at Montluçon-Guéret has concluded. There were nine racing days all flown under challenging weather conditions. World champions have been declared in all three classes. Congratulations to all the competitors who…

WWGC Lake Keepit Concludes With New Champions Declared

The closing ceremony of the WWGC Lake Keepit saw the French team receive the gold medal for their combined peformance followed by Great Britain with silver and Italy receiving the bronze medal. France dominated the 18m Class with a consistent performances by top class pilots…

E Glide Concept Contest Pavullo

Markus Uhlig flew in the E-Glide Concept Contest in September. Here are his impressions of this new type of glider contest where engine use is allowed. Major advances have been made in the technology of electro mobility recently, not just for the automotive industry but also in…

EB29R ELEGANT NEW WING at WGC BENALLA

Oliver, nephew of Walter Binder who founded the company to make self launching gliders said, “We started ten years ago with the EB gliders. At that time the maximum weight for gliders was increased from 750 to 850kg, so we made a complete new Open Class 850kg self-launcher.”The…

RAPTURED JS3 TAKES TO THE SKY

Magnificent people in their flying machinesThirty years have passed since a WGC has been held in Australia, and I wanted to capture some of WGC2017 Benalla for posterity. Numerous present and past World Gliding Champions were participating at Benalla, some flying in the…

NEW WING IN THE WIND VENTUS 3

Tilo Holighaus CEO of Schempp-Hirth went to WGC Benalla in January to see how the six Ventus 3s that ewere entered would perform in their first major competition. On the first official practice day Tilo cycled out to the launch point to show me and Lisa Trotter the Ventus 3,…

Anne Ducarouge

The 2017 Women’s World Gliding Championships will be held at Zbraslavice in Czech Republic 17 May - 4 June. Entries to the three classes of competition are now being received, including the current 15m Women’s World Champion Anne Ducarouge. For the first time, the Women’s WGC…

WGC Hosin Concludes after 12 Exceptional Racing Days

The new World champion in 18m class is Wolfgang Janowitch from Austria, second place Mario Kiessling from Germany, third place wastaken by Jean-Denis Barrois France In 2o M Class the World champions are Sebastian Kawa and Christoph Matkowski from Poland followed by Steve Jones…

IGC Rankings 2018

After a busy Northern summer now is the time to check your IGC Ranking and see how you are placed. Login at sgp.aero/igcrankings/pilots/login and make sure that your information is correct and up to date. Is your IGC number showing you as the pilot? Have you received the correct…

New contest concept for sailplanes with electric power

New contest concept for sailplanes with electric power The success of the FES electric MoP has encouraged significant growth in the number of sailplanes equipped with an electric motor and the development of new systems and installations. The ease of use and reliability of…

20th European Gliding Championships Champions Declared

20th European Gliding Championships StalowaWola, Poland After a competition punctuated by much wet weather, five competition days were flown. New European Champions have been declared in Open, 18m and 20m Multi-seat Classes. In Open Class Petr Tichý took first place flying an…

Race to the finish line on last day of SGP Finals

9th FAI Sailplane Grand Pxix World Champion Tilo Hiloghaus after landing on the final day of the competition. He sadi, 'I am exhausted but very happy.' For the final race day at the 9th FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix Finals, the low pressure system had moved north and the wind…

The European Gliding Championships Prievidza Slovakia

The European Gliding Championships Prievidza Slovakia After 12 Flying Days Champions in Standard, Club and 15 m classes were declared at the 20th EGC. In Club class Tom Arscott from Great Britain beat his teammate G Dale into to take the championship title. G came 2nd and Uwe…

11th FAI Junior World Gliding Championship 2019, Szeged, Hungary

The JWGC Hungary is now over and the winnerd declared Standard Class1 Simon Schröder Germany LS-8-15 7,4222 Simon Briel Germany Discus 2B 7,262 3 Tomasz Hornik Poland LS-8-15 7,000 Club Class1 Jake Brattle Great Britain ASW-20 8,453 2 Finn Sleigh Great Britain ASW-20 8,306 3…

E Glide Concept Contest

The 1st E-Glide Contest Pavullo Italy took place 31 August - 7 September 2019. The scoring was very successfully conducted remotely by Andrej Kolar from Naviter and Seeyou in conjunction with the local scorer. The results were calculated correctly according the FAI scoring…

Race 1 at Sailplane Grandprix Finals La Cerdanya

Contest Director and live comentator Brian Spreckley A low pressure system was developing in northern Spain as briefing on the first competition day took place. The forecast was for good conditions earlier in the day with the likelihood of over development and areas of rain…

Invasion of Ukraine by Russia

FAI Gliding Awards 2022