Yet another excellent soaring day in Hungary: Our streak of improbable weather continues without interruption, and it appears tomorrow – the final day of this competition – will be much the same. I think we’ve become almost blasé here: todays tasks – 655 km, 549 km and 661 km (in 18-Meter, 20-Meter & Open classes) were seen by everyone as routine, and in fact rather on the short side in view of what the weather should allow.
Predictably, almost 100% of pilots completed their tasks, at eye-watering speeds. Again, the normally astonishing speed of 140 kph would have led to scoreboard disappointment, in every class today: 18-Meter – 39th of 42; 20-Meter – 16th of 18; Open – 20th of 21.
The three incomplete tasks today were no fault of the weather. They were unfortunately due to airspace violations, reflecting the challenge that this poses for glider pilots in Hungary (and pretty much throughout Europe) probably combined with the stress of a long contest involving many hours in the air. This is a serious issue for our sport, likely to become more so with every passing year.
Karl and Sarah had their best speed of the contest today – but the same was true of most pilots in the 20-Meter class. The result was a score that allowed two pilots to jump ahead in the overall standings. The good news is that they can get that back tomorrow by making up just 17 points.

I think it’s fair to say that the contest winners are now all but decided in all classes. Each of the three leaders – Christophe Abadie (France – 18-Meter), Ivan Novak & Petr Krejcirik (Czech Republic – 20-Meter) and Felipe Levin (Germany – Open) – has a lead of more than 100 points. Barring fluky weather (which is not in our forecast), pilots who’ve demonstrated the skill necessary to stand in first place after 9 task days should have little trouble holding leads like these.

It’s high time for me to note the excellent job the contest staff has done here. It’s often said that great weather can make up for many shortcomings in a glider contest’s organization and procedures. Here, it has found essentially none to make up for. Competition Director András Gyöngyösi gets a huge share of the credit, with just the right mix of authority, firmness and willingness to listen and adjust when it makes sense – also for pilot briefings that start on time, convey useful information efficiently, and end promptly. Task setter István Rumpler has got it almost exactly right every day, fitting three (usually long) tasks into Hungary’s somewhat restricted glider airspace – which could not have happened without good contest weather forecasting. The tow operation has been consistently first-rate. There really have been no weaknesses. Kudos to the entire staff of WGC2022.

You can find the latest contest scores at:
https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/37th-fai-world-gliding-championships-2022-szeged-2022/results