| Medals galore | 7 December |
USA Swoops in for Medals | | | “The Star-spangled Banner” played five times at the FAI World Air Games medal ceremony last night, as Team USA pilots Curt Bartholomew and Nick Batsch dominated the event.
Bartholomew was the victor in the accuracy and combined titles, and also collected the gold team medal for the USA. Batsch won the speed and freestyle events...
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>Watch the clip
>Look at the photos
Photo: Nick Batsch (USA), Curt Bartholemew (USA) and Cornelia Mihai (UAE) © James Pagram / FAI Media Team |
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Hot Air Poland wins Gold | | | Polish pilot Wojciech Bamberski received the coveted gold medal for the hot air airships competition at the FAI World Air Games yesterday evening. Mikhail Bakanov from Russia finished in silver position, and the bronze medal made a great birthday present for Lithuanian Rimas Kostiuskevicius.
>Read the report: Victory for Poland
>Watch the clip
Photo: James Pagram / FAI Media Team |
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Bullseye Cotet Hits Gold | | | The winning pilots in the paragliding accuracy landing event were presented with their medals at the Palm Dropzone yesterday evening. Thailand's Nunnapat Phuchong was first up to collect her certificate for coming tenth overall, giving her first place in the women's category.
Next up on the podium was Serbian bronze medal winner Goran Djurkovic, followed by silver medallist Qiang Ma of China and winner George Cotet from Romania. "The most important thing is to concentrate and relax," Cotet said, adding that he would give his medal to his Mum.
"Whenever I compete, I do it for my mother," he said. "It's all for her, including the medal."
>Full Results
Photo: James Pagram / FAI Air Games |
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Champions! Aerobatics success for Italy and France | | | Huge cheers went up at Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Hotel at the medals ceremony late in the evening of 5 December, as the new FAI World Air Games aerobatics champions - France's Olivier Masurel and Italian gliding ace Luca Bertossio - received their gold medals.
The two pilots grinned in delight as they showed off their cherished new jewellery to the crowd…
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Photo: Luca Bertossio (ITA), right, grins for gold © Marcus King / FAI Media Team |
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Royal Visit | | | His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum visited the Palm Dropzone in Dubai to watch the World Air Games on Sunday afternoon. The unassuming ruler of Dubai toured the venue talking to spectators and competitors...
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Photo: James Pagram / FAI Media Team |
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Photo of the Day | | | Paramotor pilot Karen Skinner (GB) took an early bath on Saturday when she splashed down into the sea while flying a pylon task.
"I thought, 'OK, I'm going in' and that was it," she said afterwards. A safety boat fished her out quickly and she and her machine were rinsed down and dried off, no harm done.
"I'll never live it down," she laughed, as she posed happily yesterday with her new favourite toy – a rubber duck a fellow competitor had given her.
Karen was back in the air yesterday morning where she successfully completed the second round of pylon flying – 100% dry this time. Bravo Karen!
Photo: Marcus King / FAI Media Team |
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| About the FAI The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the World Air Sports Federation, is the world governing body for air sports and for certifying world aviation and space records. The FAI was found in 1905 and is a non-governmental and non-profit-making organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). FAI activities include Balloons and Airships, Power Flying, Gliding, Helicopter flight, Parachuting, Aeromodelling, Aerobatics, Hang Gliding, Microlight and Paramotor flying, Amateur-Built and Experimental Aircraft, Manpowered flying, Paragliding and all other Aeronautic and Astronautic sporting activities. | |
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