FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship roundup with photos │ Szegedify

The 2024 World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Szeged has come to an end. The official closing and award ceremony of the sports event was held on Saturday, September 14, at the National Theater of Szeged.

The 25th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championships, held this year in Szeged, Hungary, came to an end over the weekend. The World Championship was attended by 120 teams from 31 countries on four continents, along with 12 "Fiesta Pilots" whose main goal was to entertain the spectators.

The weather was not too kind to the competitors, as the organizers described at the closing ceremony, it's very rare to have this kind of weather in Szeged. The hot air balloons were unable to take off, for example, on the opening day and the afternoon of the closing day.

Two flights per day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - were scheduled over the five days of the competition. Of the ten flights scheduled, five were completed, and the pilots had a total of 18 tasks to complete, including "Hesitation Waltz", "Double Drop", "Land Run", and "Fly On". These were selected by the competition officials from 21 tasks in three possible task groups, depending on the current weather conditions.

Photos: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify

Due to the unfavorable weather conditions, the most spectacular event of the competition, the joint flight of 120 hot air balloons, had to be rescheduled and brought forward by one day to Thursday afternoon.

Szeged was chosen as the venue not only because of its great experience in organizing international sport flying competitions, the organizers explained at the closing ceremony. Within Hungary, it has the highest number of sunny hours per year and the most stable weather and predictable atmospheric conditions. "In Szeged, the competitors also showed that they can cope with unsuitable weather conditions," said Dr. József Binszki, deputy mayor of Szeged.

In the international competition, the United States finished first, France was second, and Belgium was third. Hungary finished 9th out of 31 countries.

In the individual competition, Clement Seigeot from France won the gold medal, followed by Tomasz Filus from Poland in 2nd place and Joe Heartsill from the USA in 3rd place. The best Hungarian result was achieved by Péter Molnár, who finished 22nd out of 120 competitors.

The best female competitor was Aline Kalousdian from Germany. The youngest competitor, 20-year-old Maarten Deleersnyder, came from Belgium, while the most experienced competitor was David Bareford from England, who made his first balloon flight in 1974.