PGA Worlds 2023 - 7 rounds - a first knockout
The second day of the championship began with overcast skies and high clouds and calm winds at the target area. As a consequence many pilots achieved low scores, landing precisely on the 2cm dead centre spot at the centre of the electronic target. Mid-morning, the unpredictable winds returned and increased at the launch area such that the organisers had to pause the flying until at 15:00 hours. Fortunately, the third round was completed albeit the scores are to be made official the following day.
Currently in the overall category, the pilot positions and scores are provisionally as follows:
1. Yang Chen CHN 01
2. Jirasak Witeetham THA 07
3. Valery Tzvetanov BUL 08
In the women's event
1. Rika Wijayanti IND 20
2. Nathalia Pinxon Gomez COL 73
3. Lucie Martikova CZE 84
In the Junior category:
1. Linus Schubert GER 11 (and fourth overall!)
2. Jihun Yoo KOR 14
3. Lennard Schubert GER 15
In the team event, China leads Germany and Indonesia with the total scores being, 20, 41 and 43 cms respectively.
20 pilots of completed their flights in the fourth round at the end of the second day with the predicted weather forecast hopefully allowing completion of the 4th and 5th rounds.
The third day of the event started with much better weather with wind speeds of less than 2 m/s at the target and less thermic activity than the previous day. However, this changed as the thermals grew stronger during the day and the competitors challenged the judging team by arriving from all directions. Fortunately, towards the end of the day conditions improved considerably, associated with the improvement of scoring including several less than 5cms and only a few relaunches.
Rounds four and five were successfully completed and a significant number of flights in round 6. It is hoped looking forward that the sixth round will be finished tomorrow as this will complete the team category of the event as well as leading into the first knockout stage of the competition for individuals only - overall, women and juniors.
At the end of Round 5, in the overall category, the pilot positions and scores are provisionally as follows:
1. Yang Chen CHN 01
2. Jihun Yoo KOR 09
3. Jirasak Witeetham THA 09
In the women's ranking
1. Rika Wijayanti IND 36
2. Donghwa Yang KOR 37
3. Eunyoung Cho KOR 76
In the Junior category:
1. Jihun Yoo KOR 09
2. Linus Schubert GER 15
3. Lennard Schubert GER 16
In the team event, there were big changes with Indonesia jumping into the lead, closely followed by Czechia and South Korea with their total scores being: 99, 128 and 186 cms respectively.
It is anticipated that tomorrow will be crucial with the potential for some very close finishes in all categories of the event.
The fourth day of the event arrived with excellent weather for paragliding accuracy with low wind speeds of less than 2 m/s at the target and little thermic activity.
Round 6 was successfully completed meaning that the final team results were achieved.
The winning team was Indonesia closely followed by Czechia and South Korea. The teams were:
1st: Indonesia: Rizky Maulana, Aris Afriansyah, Rika Wijayanti and Purnomo Alamsyah
2nd: Czechia: Vlastimil Vachtl, Vlastimil Kricnar, Lucie Martinkova and Radek Václavik
3rd: South Korea: Taesoo Lee, Eunyoung Cho, Donghwa Yangand Jihun Yoo.
The new knock-out system then kicked in with pilots in the first 60 places continuing into the next two rounds.
The organisation managed to run rounds seven and eight, which led to a further knockout whereby only the leading 40 pilots plus an additional 4 places in the women’s category go forward into tomorrow’s rounds 9 and 10. Thereafter, there will be another cut such that competitors in the best twenty positions will go forward into the final two rounds together with a minimum of the leading six women and six junior pilots.
At the end of Round 7, in the overall category, the pilot positions and scores are:
1. Yang Chen CHN 02
2. Jihun Yoo KOR 10
3. Jaka Gorenc SLO 16
In the women’s event, there was no change in positions:
1. Rika Wijayanti IND 42
2. Donghwa Yang KOR 58
3. Eunyoung Cho KOR 104
In the Junior category:
1. Jihun Yoo KOR 10
2. Lennard Schubert GER 22
3. Linus Schubert GER 23
Round 8 scores are still provisional and will be made official tomorrow.