SGP News

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Sailplane Grand Prix Gawler Finishes in Style