The 1st FAI Pan American Paragliding Accuracy Championship, held from 10 to 19 July 2026 in Chile’s northernmost city, ended with a triple for the host nation: the team title, women’s gold and junior gold. In the individual overall ranking, the finish was heart-stopping: Argentina’s Andrés Racca (BGD Adam Spot), who was fourth going into task 12, nailed his landing at just the right moment to take the continental gold, also setting the first Pan American accuracy record: two consecutive zeros — the so-called “double zero” — on the target at La Lisera beach.
Pan American Accuracy Championship: from the Morro de Arica to the sand of La Lisera
Organised by the IRPA club with the support of Chile’s Ministry of Sport, the Chilean Olympic Committee, the IND, FEDACH and FECHPA, the championship brought together 39 pilots from eight countries: 34 competed for the Pan American titles and five national teams fought for the team title. Launches took place from the Morro de Arica, with landing on La Lisera beach. Flying as guests outside the continental ranking were China’s Yang Chen — reigning world champion and world-record holder, also on a BGD Adam Spot — and Liao Qingli; Chen won the open overall ranking.
Pan American Accuracy Championship: Chile at home, seven pilots, home-grown talent and a triple
The host team was the big collective winner of the championship. Chile fielded a squad of seven pilots, three of them juniors — trained since childhood alongside other young pilots at the Maitencillo launch, following in the footsteps of renowned acro pilot Víctor “Bicho” Carrera, who grew up there among lines, fabric and aerobatics. That grassroots work paid off with the team title — ahead of Colombia and Bolivia — women’s gold for Elena Javiera Espinoza Sepúlveda and junior gold for Rafael Carvallo, who also took bronze in the individual overall ranking.
Colombia had a solid championship and took team silver, with Diego López second in the individual overall ranking and Nathalia Pinzón second in the women’s category. Bolivia, third in the team ranking, added junior silver for Sergio Guillén, the same pilot who was leading the overall ranking before the final task.
In the women’s category, Guatemala’s Jeroma Sexton completed the podium in third place.
Pan American Accuracy Championship: twelve tasks and a heart-stopping finish for Racca
In the individual ranking, the competition was held between 11 and 17 July over twelve tasks. “You couldn’t make a mistake, because you’d automatically drop to the bottom of the table,” Racca told Ojovolador. The Argentine pilot went into task 12 in fourth place, just 2 cm clear of the drop zone in the table. He scored a 1 on his landing; then Diego López (Colombia) scored around 11-12 cm, Rafael Carvallo (Chile) — flying a BGD Punk and having already discarded an 8 — scored a 9, and the leader, Bolivia’s Sergio Guillén (Mac Para Muse), who had led the championship from start to finish, landed off the target pad, about 30 cm away. Racca went from fourth to Pan American champion in a single task, closing the championship with four zeros — including the record-setting consecutive double zero — and 35 cm in total.
“It was a lot of fun, very competitive,” says Racca of the range of equipment on the target: Da Vinci wings (Rhythm 2, Point 2), Advance (Alpha 7), Mac Para and Ozone Moxi, as well as a large BGD fleet with numerous Adam Spots, a Punk, two Epic Freestyles, a Magic and an Adam 2.
Pan American Accuracy Championship: the Arica 2026 podiums
Overall ranking (Pan American individual)
- Andrés Racca (Argentina)
- Diego López (Colombia)
- Rafael Carvallo (Chile)
Women’s category
- Elena Javiera Espinoza Sepúlveda (Chile)
- Nathalia Pinzón (Colombia)
- Jeroma Sexton (Guatemala)
Junior category
- Rafael Carvallo (Chile)
- Sergio Guillén (Bolivia)
- Elena Javiera Espinoza Sepúlveda (Chile)
Teams: 1 Chile, 2 Colombia, 3 Bolivia.
Racca’s wing: a brand-new Adam Spot
Racca competed on a BGD Adam Spot he had received just ten days before the championship, having flown the Adam 2 until then. As the pilot explained to Ojovolador: “Minimum speed, the stall, you can put it right there, you go 5-10 centimetres further on the brake, it stalls super stably, you come down vertically. You raise your hands, it doesn’t pitch, you stay stable. It really helped me a lot, it was a great help, I’m very, very happy with the wing.”
Argentina, a work in progress: fourth in the team ranking
Accuracy is a young discipline in Argentina, with barely three or four years of history. The Argentine team, made up of just three pilots — Racca, Rodrigo Ponzo Viano and Mario Sueldo, also a BGD pilot — had no discard task and fought for the top places in the early tasks before losing ground and finishing fourth in the team ranking, behind Chile, Colombia and Bolivia.
Next stop: Argentina 2028
Argentina has been selected to host the next Pan American edition in 2028, with a pre-Pan American event planned for 2027. Racca returned home with a double task: keep training and get the organisational machinery moving. In the short term, the Argentine calendar includes a round of the Argentine Accuracy Championship in October and another in Tucumán in August.
If the level seen in Arica is anything to go by, American accuracy flying has plenty of rope — and centimetres — left to run.
*Photos and full results: civlcomps.org / FAI-CIVL, Club Irpa and Andrés Racca
