A reward for tremendous effort in training

The Swiss national team participated actively and with great success in these World Championships. In the individual competition—which featured 52 pilots from a total of 18 nations—our pilots took the outstanding 3rd, 4th, and 13th places.

Martin Herrig (Germany) was crowned both the defending and new world champion, closely followed by Peter Hubbertz (Germany) and Christian Müller. Two-time world champion Andreas Böhlen took fourth place. Stefan Böhlen finished in a still very respectable 13th place. The level of competition among the top pilots was truly immense this year. Right up until the final flight in the last round, it was completely unclear who would become the new world champion. Even Christian Müller and Andreas Böhlen had very good chances at the world championship title before the final flight. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on their side during the final, decisive speed flight. Both pilots got the absolute most out of their flights and, despite the enormous pressure, executed absolutely flawless runs. Given the weather conditions, more simply wasn’t possible at that point.

After six scored rounds, in which a maximum of 18,000 points could be earned, there were only 3 points separating second and third place (Christian Müller) at the end! Andreas Böhlen was right behind him, just 9 points back.

In the end, however, all three pilots, along with their support staff, made it onto the podium. As a team, we took second place. The Swiss national team thus became vice world champions once again, just as it did in Emmen in 2007. This highlights the outstanding performance that all three pilots and the entire team delivered throughout the week—bravo!

But this great success didn’t happen by chance. Last fall, we met in Klagenfurt with team manager Thomas Schorb for our first meeting. We discussed strategies regarding the team, the planned training sessions, and the provisional assignment of tasks for each individual during the World Championships.

In early June, the Swiss national team held a one-week training camp in France. During this training, the final support staff assignments for the three World Championship pilots were finalized and thoroughly tested. The weather conditions that week were anything but easy. We frequently had to contend with rain and stormy winds. This often forced us to report to the airfield as early as 6 a.m. Starting at 10 a.m., flying was usually no longer possible—or only at great risk to the models—due to the stormy winds. As soon as the weather calmed down a bit in the evening, we immediately resumed training until darkness made “safe” flying no longer possible. After this week of training, we headed home feeling very positive, full of euphoria, motivation, and hope.

On July 31, the Swiss team set out for Ivančice with cars loaded to the brim. Before the actual World Championship began, the three World Championship pilots and several helpers participated in the two-day preliminary competition. This preliminary competition is primarily intended to give pilots who have traveled from far away the opportunity to become more familiar with the flying field and the prevailing weather conditions there. The entire Swiss team was very successful in this preliminary competition. Andreas Böhlen achieved an outstanding 2nd place. Christian Müller placed 7th, Roland Lüthi 13th, Paul Böhlen 14th, and Stefan Böhlen 24th. Special mention must be made of the nearly perfect organization and execution of this World Championship by the Brno Model Club. The competition directors and the numerous volunteers did an absolutely fantastic and virtually flawless job throughout the entire week.

A big thank you to the Czech Republic from the entire Swiss team!

*Photo and report
by Ernesto Weber and Michael Seyfang*

As part of this training, the final crew assignments for the three World Championship pilots were finalized and thoroughly tested. The weather conditions that week were anything but easy. We frequently had to contend with rain and stormy winds. This often forced us to report to the airfield as early as 6 a.m. Starting at 10 a.m., flying was usually no longer possible—or only at great risk to the models—due to the stormy winds. As soon as the weather calmed down a bit in the evening, we immediately resumed training until darkness made “safe” flying no longer possible. After this week of training, we headed home feeling very positive, full of euphoria, motivation, and hope.

On July 31, the Swiss team set out for Ivančice with cars loaded to the brim. Before the actual World Championship began, the three World Championship pilots and several helpers participated in the two-day preliminary competition. This preliminary competition is primarily intended to give pilots who have traveled from far away the opportunity to become more familiar with the flying field and the prevailing weather conditions there. The entire Swiss team was very successful in this preliminary competition. Andreas Böhlen achieved an outstanding 2nd place. Christian Müller placed 7th, Roland Lüthi 13th, Paul Böhlen 14th, and Stefan Böhlen 24th. Special mention must be made of the nearly perfect organization and execution of this World Championship by the Brno Model Club. The competition directors and the numerous volunteers did an absolutely fantastic and virtually flawless job throughout the entire week.

A big thank you to the Czech Republic from the entire Swiss team!

*Photo and report
by Ernesto Weber and Michael Seyfang*