Four times HG Class 1 World Champion, the man who is believed to fly everything that flies, Manfred Ruhmer from Austria has naturally won HG Class 1 Pre Worlds that were held in Italy from July 27 till August 4th 2018. Moreover, the prize giving ceremony coincided with his birthday, but as far as we remember it is not the first time when Manfred is on a podium to celebrate the new year of achievements.

The competition HQ was located in Tolmezzo, and the flights were carried all over the alps in Carnia, Friuli, Austria and Slovenia. The organizers did a great effort to open the airspace for 3 bordering countries. 5 valid tasks covering over 600 km. 

One of the remarkable inventions though during the competition was the organization of live commentary on TV broadcast based on a combination of 3D live tracking provided by Flymaster and live streaming from take-offs and landing. For this time only in Italian because it was watched by local not flying audience. But we hope next year it will be widely broadcasted for the rest of the world.

The very technical flying conditions of the Alps proved that local flying experience was a significant advantage on the decision making required to race in the strong thermal and valley wind conditions.  Based on the feedback of the competitors, the organisation is considering running a "Flying in the Alps" clinic before the World Championships next year.  Stay tuned!

We congratulate the winners:

1 Manfred Ruhmer    AUT    
2 Primoz Gricar    GER    
3 Petr Benes    CZE

All results are here: https://airtribune.com/hg-pre-worlds-2018/results

Live Broadcasting channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1o7qsiD-rI8JG6LwMKD9PQ/live