Nest Games AWT 01 results

THÉO DE BLIC WINS BY ONLY 0,025 POINTS OVER LUKE DE WEERT FOR THE FIRST EVER ACRO WORLD TOUR EVENT OVER GROUND

The grand opening of the new « Over the ground format »

On Saturday 10th of June the first ever Acro World Tour event over the ground took place in St Hilaire du Touvet, France. This event called Nest Games was the opening stop of the 2023 season. But it was most of all the grand unveiling of the brand new competition format allowing competitions from the Pro tour to take place above the ground after over 20 years of competition above water.

It is safe to say that the event was a great success with the 3 runs flown within a single day despite a challenging forecast. The general level of the competition was one of the highest ever seen in Acro competition and yet everything was done in perfect safety with pilots able to push hard and yet stop high enough to proceed for a safe landing. In the end it was a great showcase of how safe and how good the new « above the ground » format is and will be for the future of acro flying.

Théo de Blic wins in front of Luke De Weert by one of the tightest margin ever seen.

Competition wise it was a hard fought battle between Théo de Blic (FRA) and Luke De Weert (NED) with the frenchman coming in first by only 0,025 point out of 39 points which is one of the smallest difference ever registered within the world of acro flying. Théo and Luke were respectively 2nd and 3rd after run 1 behind Axel Coste flying the AirG Carlito who pulled the first ever Full twisted Flat Stall to Infinity. But the battle really started on run 2 with Luke flying a Kooky from Sky Paragliders gaining the first position scoring the highest run of the competition and Théo finishing 2nd of that run being set back by 0,9points from the lead. The 3rd and last run ended up being flown in tough and changing conditions and both pilots ended up with a really low altitude for the final. In the end Théo flying his Nova Paragliders Glitch managed to grab 1st on that run being able to pull one more trick than Luke and getting the win by only 0,025 points. The suspense remains incredibly high for the rest of the season and no doubt about the fact that the battle between both pilots will go back and forth until the very end of the season.

Vincent Tornare first rookie.

Two pilots qualified from the Acro World Qualifier 2022 into the Acro World Tour 2023, Vincent Tornare (SUI) and Maxime Casamayou (FRA) both flying for Sky Paragliders. Vincent managed to grab 8th place in that opening event of the Acro World Tour pulling down high quality runs and showing an impressive maturity in his handling of the competition. The young 20y.o Swissman proved that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the title fight of the future.

Last run drama in the battle for third.

Mael Jimenez (FRA) flying the new UP Misty grabbed the last spot on the podium after a final run drama within the top 5. Mael was fighting for that podium spot with Bicho Carrera (CZE), Egor Posokhin (NA) and Axel Coste (FRA). Mael use a different strategy than the rest of the field during the event trying to use a different set of tricks and betting on consistency. The final run turned out to be a disaster for Egor Posokhin flying his U-Turn Joker who had been able to hold on to 3rd place until then but he failed a trick during the last run and couldn’t manage to complete is routine, in the meantime Bicho Carrera also didn’t manage to complete his run due to the low altitude and dropped in the ranking while Axel Coste while using really technical tricks failed to have a perfect execution. In the end Mael managed to put on a clean and impressive run, grabbing 2nd place on that flight and 3rd overall.

The fight to stay in the Acro World Tour for 2024 is already real.

At the end of the season 2 pilots will be dropped down into the Acro World Qualifier and the fight to stay in there will be a tough battle as nor the rookies nor the veterans want to drop down into the amateur league. After this first stop one pilot is already sure to drop down into the AWQ. Indeed Lukas Neu (GER) scored a DNS and is sure to not be able to catch back the others within the season. Meanwhile the fight for the 10th place, the last spot to stay in AWT, is already nail biting with veteran Marco Papa from Italy being in the red zone just 0,5p from rookie Maxime Casamayou in 10th and just 1.5p from Cesar Arevallo in 9th. It is clear that all these pilots will want to fight teeth and nail to secure their spot for the 2024 season as early as possible.

The next stop is only a few days away

On Saturday 17th June there will already be the second stop of the Acro World Tour with the second event over ground, Kings of the Box in Allevard, France. All pilots are now either in France or Switzerland training for what could well be a decisive moment for the title.