Many thanks to those who made our communication work for these Worlds possible.
Muchas gracias a quines hicieron posible nuestro trabajo de comunicación para este Mundial:

Airfer Paramotors & Trikes
Paramania Power Gliders
ITV Paragliders
Aerobat propellers
Volem.net / SKY Spain
H-E Paramotors
Hélices Juanbur
PAP Paramotors

And to a very special friend for his support! Y a un amigo muy especial, por su apoyo.

THANK YOU! GRACIAS!

The top pilots of the Paramotor Worlds (and their gear) are: 

Paratrike class (PL1):
1 Daniel Crespo Valdéz (ESP), Paramania Action GT / Airfer trike proto, VR200 - 5605 points.
2 Tomasz Kudaszewicz (POL), Dudek Reaction / Top 80   - 5356 pts.
3 Michaela Machartová (CZE), Jojo Wings Speedy / Jojo Beruska, Simonini  - 4713 pts.
4 Krzysztof Romicki (POL), Dudek Reaction / Axon Paraerment, Simonini  - 4514
5 Petr Matousek (CZE), Sky Paragliders Antea / Nirvana Trike, Simonini  - 4432
6 Francisco José Escolar (ESP), Dudek Reaction / Airfer trike, Backbone Ros 125 - 4173
7 Jens Hicken (DEU), Powerplay Sting / Fresh Breeze Flyke (4 stroke)   - 3977
8 Andrew Shepherd (GBR), Paramania Action GT / Passion Chariot, H-E R80  - 3784
9 Alfonso Redondo (ESP), Dudek Reaction / Airges Mini, Vitorazzi Fly 100 Evo  - 3643
10 Adam Paska (POL), Dudek Reaction / Parawer, Top 80    - 3497

Foot-launched Paramotor (PF1):
1 Ramon Morillas (ESP), Advance Epsilon 5 / PAP Top 80  - 6354 pts.
2 Mathieu Rouanet (FRA), Ozone Viper / PAP Top 80   - 6077 pts.
3 Michel Carnet (GBR), Dudek Reaction / Bailey Aviation 4stroke 175 - 5744 pts.
4 Michel Touitou (FRA), Ozone Viper / Parapower Bailey   - 5565
5 David Sigier (CAN), Nervures Kailash / Per il Volo Miniplane Top 80 - 5483
6 Ronan Chollou (FRA), Ozone Viper / Reflex Classic (Bailey 4strokes) - 5369
7 Paul Bailey (GBR), Ozone Viper / Bailey Aviation 4stroke 175   - 5260
8 Frantisek Salava (CZE), Jojo Wings Xyon / Jojo Jet    - 5203
9 Dave Hairs (GBR), Dudek Plasma / Bailey Aviation 4stroke 175  - 4976
10 Pascal Vallée (FRA), Dudek Plasma / Bailey Aviation 4stroke 175  - 4957

Tandem Paratrike (PL2):
1 MUELAS Nino / MORALES Antonio Lope (ESP), ITV Dakota Sport / Aranda Paramotor - 6369 pts.
2 SRAMEK Jiri / KULISEK Antonin (CZE), Nirvana Vista / Nirvana Rodeo  - 5885
3 STERN Helmut / HERBIG Ulli (AUT), Chiron 340 / Air Chopper   - 3982

Tandem foot-launched paramotor (PF2):
1 SMARLOVSKIS Jurgis / SMARLOVSKIS Arturas (LTU), Dudek Reaction / Time to Fly - 5621 pts.
2 KRUPA Piotr / DZIOK Magdalena (POL), Dudek Synthesis Cabrio / Axon Jox 175  - 5568
3 KEMP John / KEMP Tom (GBR), Advance Bi-Beta 3 / Fly Castellucio    - 5395

PF1 Teams:
1 FRANCE - 17324 points
2 GREAT BRITAIN - 16784 points
3 SPAIN - 15929 points
4 CZECH REPUBLIC - 14309 points 
5 POLAND - 13564 points
6 CANADA - 12084 points
7 CHINA - 11259 points
8 JAPAN - 10874 points
9 SOUTH AFRICA - 9634 points 
10 BELGIUM - 9254 points

PL Teams:
1 SPAIN - 21102 points
2 CZECH REPUBLIC - 15030 points
3 POLAND - 14026 points
4 GERMANY - 7407 points
5 GREAT BRITAIN - 7128 points

The Worlds are now over. The prize giving ceremony was emotive and there was a great ambiance of friendship - with the PF1 winners listening to the Spanish hymn hands held and the top teams, UK, France & Spain, mixing on the stage for the pictures. All the rivalries were quickly forgotten, although we know that not all the pilots were happy in the end - specially with the changes on positions after the cancellation of the cloverleaf task. 
After the prizes -including diplomas to the two PL1 female pilots, Michaela Machartova and Jansy Kelly, for being the first women to win tasks in a Paramotor World Championship (after the protests and juries decisions, Laura Beaumont was 2nd on the turnpoint hunt)-  we were all taken to a farewell dinner, where the pilots swapped team t-shirts and we could even see Laura as she took her t-shirt off to hand it to a Southafrican pilot and put his team shirt on (sorry, no pictures!)

We have hundreds of pictures and a few interviews that we plan to publish soon, just give us some days to recover energy sightseeing in Beijing… When we are back home we’ll try to summarize the best and most interesting of this event in an article in Ojovolador.com. 

It’s been great covering this Championships and meeting so many great pilots and persons. Congratulations to the best pilots of the World and to all who came to China and gave their best despite the language and organization problems, illnesses or  engine failures. Happy flights! 

El Mundial ha concluido. La ceremonia de premiación fue emotiva y se escuchó el himno español varias veces en apenas media hora, en un gran ambiente de amistad y camaradería -con los ganadores de PF1 tomados de las manos sobre el podium y los equipos ganadores de PF1 mezclándose para las fotos. Todas las rivalidades fueron olvidadas rápidamente, aunque sabemos que no todos los pilotos acabaron contentos especialmente con los cambios en las posiciones tras la cancelación de la manga del trébol. Después de los premios -incluyendo diplomas a las dos pilotos femeninas de PL1, Michaela Machartova y Jansy Kelly, por ser las primeras mujeres en ganar mangas en un campeonato mundial de paramotor (Laura Beaumont quedó 2ª en la manga de búsqueda de balizas tras las protestas y consecuentes decisiones de los jueces)- nos llevaron a una cena de despedida, donde los pilotos intercambiaron camisetas de sus equipos y hasta pudimos ver a Laura quitarse su camiseta para darla a un piloto Sudafricano y ponerse la de él (lo sentimos, no hay fotos).

Tenemos cientos de fotos y algunas entrevistas que planeamos publicar pronto, sólo dadnos algunos días para recuperar energías haciendo turismo en Beijing… Cuando estemos en casa intentaremos resumir lo mejor y más interesante de este evento en un reportaje en Ojovolador.com.
Ha sido fantástico cubrir este campeonato y conocer a tantos excelentes pilotos y personas. Felicitaciones a los mejores pilotos del mundo y a todos los que vinieron a China y dieron lo mejor de sí a pesar de los problemas con el idioma y la organización, las enfermedades o los fallos de motor. ¡Buenos vuelos !

After hard deliberations last afternoon from the judges of the championship and the FAI, the classifications give the first place to Ramon Morillas (ES) in the foot-launched solo class, with Mathieu Rouanet (FR) second and Michel Carnet (UK) third. France is the winning PF1 team.
In trikes, Daniel Crespo could keep the leadership and takes the gold, with Nino Muelas and Antonio Lope winning in the tandem class (PL2). Spain is first by PL teams.
The judges had to make tough decisions to solve the protests presented, which were decisive to define the first positions of the championship. It was a nail-biting afternoon at the airfield, specially for the top pilots and teams. The French team demanded that Mathieu had kicked correctly one of the cloverleaf sticks that the judges had not given him, which reduced around 300 points from his results -little more than what separated him from the first position. Ramon protested for the same task that one of the marshals had waved a red flag to him while he was completing the circuit, which disturbed him and caused a significant reduction in his performance. The judges accepted both pilots’ protests, meaning that Mathieu took the first place momentarily but then the task was cancelled (and so was the difference gained by Mathieu) because it hadn’t offered equal conditions to all pilots. This decision was not happily received by some of the teams -besides the French. Team Poland had done very well in this task and even broke the world record of speed for the cloverleaf, so they were seen very upset with the news. “Scandal, scandal!” they shouted after reading the FAI juries’ notice on the board . Their position by teams was also affected by the cancellation. But it was not bad for all. The Canadians had been mistakenly training the cloverleaf slalom in the wrong direction and so they did it in the Championship… scoring very few points in that task. When it was cancelled they leaped ahead of Poland in the teams ranking! (We still have to confirm this information, as we do not have the official results yet). Ramon also demanded a turnpoint done correctly in the turnpoint hunt Navigation, where he supposedly had gone some 5 metres out of it. The Spanish team took the hassle to go and check the exact place of the turnpoint according to the GPS to prove that Ramon had gone correctly in the area, and the protest was accepted adding the corresponding points to his results. And so on, until solving a dozen protests that introduced changes in the ranking many times: each of the 3 top pilots was on the World Champion position at least once during the day. In PL1, the Polish also put a complaint against Daniel Crespo for touching the ground after completing the slow leg of the Fast-Slow, but they finally had to accept that the rules don’t penalize this once the time has been closed.

Late in the evening the official result was finally announced: Ramon was taking the gold. The Spanish team gathered at a karaoke bar next to the hotel to make a very positive balance of their performance in the championships: 3 individual gold medals (PF1, PL1, PL2), one Team gold medal (PL1) and Team bronze medal in PF1. The night went on in a festive mood after the arrival of some of the Canadians, Belgians, Germans and FAI juries to celebrate the conclusion of this 5th Paramotor World Championship.

The prize giving ceremony will be at 4pm.

While we wait for the official final results of the Worlds, have a look at some of the pictures we could take yesterday evening, the only free flying time of the Championship (today, the pilots were allowed to go to the Great Wall again!) More pictures in our Album of China.

Mientras esperamos los resultados oficiales del Mundial, te dejamos algunas de las imágenes que pudimos sacar ayer por la tarde, el único momento de vuelos libres del campeonato (hoy se ha autorizado a los pilotos a volar a la Gran Muralla ¡nuevamente!) Más fotos en nuestro Album de China.

The Shi San Ling reservoir [La presa de Shi San Ling]

Pagoda on top of the thermal ridge [Pagoda en la cima de la ladera térmica]

Sunset from the air

EDIT (3:40pm): The last task of the Worlds, schedulled to start at 3pm, has been cancelled because it was not a task included in the local catalogue of tasks of the championship. The Worlds are probably over now. The organization office has now to respond to the complaints and confirm that no other task will be flown. Ramon Morillas and Daniel Crespo, both from Spain, are on the top positions of the solo classes but still with pending claims. So is Mathieu Rouanet, placed 2nd in the PF1 general classification. We’ll still have to wait to know who the winners are!!

The pilots are preparing the very probable last task (10th) of the Worlds, a navigation with estimations of speed. The objective is to fly and mark the turnpoints declared by the pilot before take off, enter a control waypoint at an exact time, continue flying along the declared turnpoints and close the task at an exact time on the closing waypoint, then land on deck. This task replaced the announced navigation with unknown points. For the leading pilots there’s still some uncertainty regarding the final results, as the organization office has not resolved all the complaints presented by the teams yet. If some of them are accepted there could be significant changes in the final points and positions of the first competitors. The slow response from the organization has been criticized by some of the team leaders, who claim that their teams cannot work on the best strategy to finish the championship if they don’t have the final results, but this has not had any effect on setting today’s last task. The pilots, then, will have to fly their best as they will not know wether they will be fighting for a medal or defending their positions. In a way, it will make this final a very interesting one. Tomorrow, we should all know who are the new world champions of our sport.

Yesterday’s task, the speed Triangle and Out and return, gave some surprises. In foot-launched, the winner was UK’s Paul Bailey (916 points, Ozone Viper/Bailey Aviation), followed by his teammate Dave Hairs (881, Dudek Plasma/Bailey) and third the Canadian David Sigier (Nervures Kailash/Miniplane). On 4th, 5th and 6th are Mathieu, Ramon and Michel. In the general classifications Ramon is still on 1st place, but Mathieu is back on 2nd and Michel is 3rd. There’s still this morning’s task to be scored, the Slow-Fast (9th task) with a maximum of 500 points.
In trike (PL1) the girls of this class took the first places in the task! UK’s Jansy Kelly (Dudek Reaction/Bailey) did an impeccable task and took most of the points (990), with Michaela Machartova 2nd (706, Jojo Speedy/Jojo) and third the Chinese Gao Desong (676, Paramania Revolution/Miniplane). Daniel Crespo could only take the points of the triangle (407) after an out landing, but is still leading the general ranking, closely followed by Tomasz Kudaszewicz (POL) and Michaela.

This afternoon the task of speed over triangle with an out-and-return section and limited fuel (3kg) was flown. The objective is to fly a set triangle at maximum speed, close it and then start a straight section on a given point -the lenght of which is decided by the pilot. This section must be flown out and return as many times as the fuel lets the pilot, then he/she must land on the deck. For the PF1 leaders, Ramon, Michel and Mathieu, it was a good task (so they say) and now we have to wait for the results of their tracks to see if there is any change in the ranking. There were a number of out landings as well.
The organization is now dealing with several complaints from the teams for tasks incorrectly scored, irregularities in the development of them or the conditions in which they were flown, etc. All the teams are scratching the last points they can.
In the PL1 (trike) category it was not a good afternoon for the leader Daniel Crespo, who ran out of fuel before reaching the deck, although he could close the triangle that makes one half of the task (500 points). Kudaszewicz (2nd) and Michaela (3rd) were both seen on the LZ, which means that there could be movements in the results, but Daniel believes that tomorrow he will be able to recover some points in the fast-slow task.
“Today I made a mistake, but I am ok. In competition you learn a lot, either when you do well or when you fail, so I hope to improve in the remaining tasks and to stay calm. With the team we are doing very well, our tandem Nino and Lope are flying finely -despite Lope being sick for 4 days- and scoring for the category. We are doing a good job and I hope we’ll finish it in the best way”, says Dani.
Tomorrow, things will start at 6 for the foot-launched paramotors -later for the trikes- with the fast-slow task. Then, there will be a navigation with unknow section: the pilots must identified a mark on the ground along a set course, then navigate in a given direction from that point looking for the next mark before the known waypoints…

It was what all the pilots were looking forward for since the start of this championship: to fly above one of man’s made marvels of the world, the ancient Great Wall (5th Century AC). This morning at 7:30 dozens of paramotors appeared in the mist to greet early walkers on the monument. Photographs were “forbidden” by the Chinese but it’s quite probable that most of the pilots broke the rules today. The magical flight had one very tense moment when Laurent Salinas (CAN) and Cesar Maldonado (ES) had a midair collision only about 80 metres above the cliff. Cesar immediately deployed his reserve and got free from the other pilot, landing ok; even his paramotor had only a bended part of the frame. Nicolas could continue flying.

 Some of the Spanish pilots landed on the parking lot of the Great Wall (Juyongguang) to help their teammate bring his gear down, and then took off again causing great expectation on the hundreds of visitors that were arriving at the Wall by then.
Once the pilots were back at the airfield there was a briefing and the 8th task of the Championship was set, a speed triangle with out and return course and limited fuel. The task should start by 2 pm. According to the organization, there are only a few tasks more to be flown and it is expected that they declare one rest day (probably on Saturday).

All the top pilots are doing calculations and studying their chances very carefully. At the moment Ramon Morillas (Advance Epsilon 5/PAP) is still on the lead in the foot-launched solo class, with Michel Carnet (UK, Dudek Reaction/Bailey) and Mathieu Rouanet (Ozone Viper/PAP) closely on 2nd and 3rd place. Ramon was scored a failed stick in the cloverleaf task, but apparently there was a mistake and if his complaint is accepted he could have some more points than what the results show at the moment. We don’t know if Mathieu has submitted a complaint for this task as well (ok, the marshals are not too well prepared for the task). Michel Touitou (FR, Ozone Viper/Parapower) and Frantisek Salava (CZ, Jojo Xyon/Jojo) are a bit lower in the ranking but still in the fight for the podium. The UK is now 2nd by teams, behind France (1st). Spain has moved down to 3rd. 
*Congratulations to UK’s Laura Beaumont (Dudek Synthesis/Miniplane), one of the only 3 female pilots competing here, who won the Contract Navigation yesterday. We look forward to seeing more women competing in paramotor in the future!

In the paratrike solo class, Daniel Crespo (Paramania Action GT/Airfer) is still leading, but after yesterday’s contract navigation Michaela Machartova (CZ, Jojo Speedy/Jojo) -who was seen a bit lost in the valley- has lost some points and dropped to 3rd place. Polish pilot Tomasz Kudaszewicz (Dudek Reaction/Per il Volo) who won the Cloverleaf task yesterday (49 seconds!) and also the contract navigation, has taken the 2nd position some 450 points behind Daniel.

It’s not over till it’s over!

Tuesday’s pure economy task had one of the most exciting endings we’ve seen in a FAI championship, when the two world champions and top contenders Mathieu Rouanet (Ozone Viper / PAP Top 80) and Ramon Morillas (Advance Epsilon/ PAP Top 80) glided together from the mountains down to the deck, performed a perfect syncro spiral, killed their engines off at the same time and landed almost simultaneously on the 2 parallel dianas on the ground, with still some fuel in their tanks. A beautiful display of sportsmanship.
The pair had flown for 5 hours and 47 minutes using the strong thermals around the north ridge of Shi San Ling, where many of the competitors had been soaring during the task. 25 pilots were able to stay in the air longer than 2 hours, then the group was slowly reduced as the clouds hid the sun and thermals got more difficult to find. After 4 hours there were only 10 paramotors in the air; then, it was a question of 2.
Ramon Morillas explains:
“There was a big cloud hiding the sun so pilots were leaving the ridge. I was going to leave too, but I still had fuel in my paramotor so I started the engine and looked for more lift. Mathieu and a Nervures yellow glider did the same. It was rough and turbulent up there. I spent some time using the motor, stopping it, starting it again, until two good thermals came and we could stay high with the engine off. Mathieu and I were the only ones flying by then until it was about time to go the LZ (which closed at 5:30pm). We’ve flown together many times with Mathieu and we have a similar flying style. We were coming down and at one moment we looked at eachother and we did just as we always do when we do exhibitions or fly together, we don’t need to say anything: we just came closer and did a syncro spiral. It came out naturally! Then we killed the engines and we both landed only a minute or so before the closing of the task. We both were very happy. Mathieu is a good friend and a great person, he is a good sportive competitor. And it was a good task, I only missed some more Spanish pilots flying until the end with me! The Championship is going well, considering how it started. It’s going a bit slowly compared to other competitions, but it seems to be improving. I’m enjoying it!”

The total time of Mathieu was 5:47:35 while Ramon’s was 5:47:04. Mathieu won the task by 1 point!