What is the world record for long-distance paragliding?
The world distance record in paragliding has belonged to Sébastien Kayrouz since his extraordinary flight on 19 June 2021. Setting off from the town of Del Rio in Texas, this American pilot covered 613 kilometres in straight flight on a day of exceptional conditions.
During an 11-hour flight, maintaining an average speed of 60 km/h, Kayrouz made the most of the perfect aerological conditions in Texas. His performance shattered the previous record held by the Brazilian trio of Rafael Saladini, Marcelo Prieto and Rafael de Moraes, who achieved 582 kilometres in 2019.
This historic long-distance flight marks a new era in paragliding, breaking the symbolic 600-kilometre barrier for the first time.
France's new distance record for 2024 :
In France, the new distance record was set by a group of 6 riders on 23/04/2024. Setting off from Notre Dame de la Mer to the west of Paris, Tim Alongi, Michel Cervellin, Julien Garcia, Honorin Hamard, Jonathan Marin and Maxime Pinot achieved the feat of landing at Douville in the Dordogne after a cross-country flight of 464 km and just over 10 hours in the air, beating Frederic Delbos' previous record of 417 km in 2019.
It's a great team achievement that opens up the prospect of reaching the 500 km target in mainland France!
Ewa Wisnierska's accident altitude record
If there's one record that every paraglider pilot has in mind, it's Ewa Wisnierska's altitude record. During the 2007 Australian Paragliding World Championships the German driver found herself sucked up by a cumulonimbus at a speed of nearly 40 m/s to reach an altitude of 9946 metres. Between temperatures of -50°C, ice, lightning and hypoxia, Ewa lost consciousness and her glider collapsed under the weight of the ice, reopening at 6900 metres after a fall of more than 200 km/h. Regaining consciousness, the German pilot managed to get away from the storm cell and land as best she could, her body covered in ice and with numerous frostbite injuries.
The film reconstruction of this flight incident :
The world record for voluntary paragliding altitude
When you think voluntary altitude world record we inevitably think Antoine Girard. The French pilot will reach the staggering altitude of 8,407 metres above Broad Peak in the Pakistani Himalayas in July 2021.
This feat surpasses his previous record of 8,157 metres set in 2016, and surpasses the feat of François Ragolski, who peaked at 8,225 metres above the Rakaposhi. To achieve this vertiginous ascent, Antoine Girard used his GIN GTO 2 glider and an oxygen tank.
But if Antoine Girard is indeed the thermal altitude record holder by exploiting an ascending column of air is without counting on the 2011 Everest summit record achieved by Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Sherpa. When they took off from the summit, the two companions managed to gain 20 metres more for a total altitude of 8865m, beating the previous record. Marc Boivin's record from 1988 which took off from the summit at 8848 metres.
The following two records stand out:
- 2023: 8407 metres in thermal by Antoine Girarad
- 2011: 8865 metres by Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Sherpa
What is the altitude absolute maximum possible in free flight ?
Free flight includes paragliding and hang-gliding. While Ewa Wisnierska's involuntary record for paragliding was set at 9946 metres, the altitude record for hang-gliding is held by Christian Voiblet in 2012 in Namibia, at just over 6,000 metres. altimeter.
In any case, we note that exceeding 8500 metres voluntarily in thermals seems complicated, but the current effervescence in terms of high altitude flights in the Himalayas will enable us to push these limits even further.