F3A European Championships in Châteauroux: Silver Medal in the Junior Division

The weather was actually ideal right from the start, providing equal conditions for all participants. It was decided right at the beginning that the top 24 pilots would advance to the semifinals, where they would be allowed to perform the challenging final routine (including a rolling horizontal figure-eight).

Marc was ranked around 12th right from the start. Our other pilots all had to fight hard to qualify. Sandro started out around 30th place and secured his spot with his fourth flight. That was crucial for him to even have a chance at competing for the junior medals. Reto followed suit with his final flight and also qualified, as did Pirmin, who remained consistently in 19th place. The flying style was the deciding factor. “Falling from the sky” isn’t well-received internationally; instead, a steady glide with defined entry and exit points is required—something our pilots improved upon with each flight. Representing Switzerland, of course, was our judge Daniela Schmitter, with whom we had the pleasure of celebrating her milestone birthday on Sunday.

Only Sandro managed to do this on his second flight. On his first flight, the snap didn’t quite work out, but on his last flight, he completely changed his flying style and executed everything seamlessly, earning him the seventh-best score, which moved him up to 14th place—and secured him the silver medal in the junior division. Pirmin and Reto were able to improve their rankings to 19th and 21st, respectively. Marc finished 13th with six consistent flights, which allowed him to serve as the lead pilot in the final. He did so in particularly impressive fashion with his second unknown flight, using a concept of axioms perfectly suited to these figures, driven by a Yamada four-beat sequence (the same concept as the European champion).

In the final, it quickly became clear that time would be very tight, as the pilots had to be airborne after about 15 seconds to make it. As in the preliminary round, it became apparent that the Frenchman Christoph Paysant-Le Roux flew far ahead of the rest in all rounds. His approach and his calm control of the model in all wind conditions and weather are simply unique, which was also reflected in the final result with his large lead. The Austrian Mayer, who tried a slightly different, slower style, finished second ahead of the Italian Mazzucchelli.

Overall, it was a successful event with excellent Swiss team spirit, which was also reflected in the team standings, where Switzerland finished in 4th place.

www.ec-f3a.fr/results.html