Up to 4500 meters above the ground

Archive Večera date: 12-02-2011, page 12

Primož Gričar, the best hang glider pilot in the world

The best Slovenian hang glider, Primož Gričar from Maribor, broke through to the first place on the world scale of pilots with standard kites (class 1) of the International Aviation Association (FAI) at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year. Last year and the year before, Gričar was on this scale, which includes more than 8,000 pilots from 55 countries, most of the time in excellent second and third place, and recently he managed to break through to first place.

It is an exceptional feat of a Slovenian athlete. Hang gliding is becoming more and more popular in the developed world and to some extent also a mass sport, although for now it is not Olympic. Its biggest problem is that spectators still find it difficult to follow the dramatic sports fights of hang gliders with each other and with unfriendly natural phenomena high in the air, although this is also changing due to modern technologies. According to many experts and sports fans, hang gliding will become an extremely popular sport as technology advances so that television viewers will be able to watch hang gliding racing high above the clouds just like today’s skiing, motoring and other races.

Gričar drew attention to himself already as a pilot of hard wing hang gliders (class 5). In this discipline, in which significantly fewer competitors compete than in standard kite flights, he was in first place in the world rankings most of the time in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Now, however, he has managed to take first place among all pilots in the world competing in the parade discipline of hang gliding in flights with standard kites. For the last three years, Gričar has been participating mainly only in competitions with standard kites.

The error cannot be repeated

Gričar's excellent ranking in the FAI rankings is the result of the good results he achieved in the fierce international competition all last year. Already at the international competition of gliders from Central Europe Aeros Winter Race in Nova Gorica last spring, he reached second place. He won third place at the German Open Championship in Hoohries over the Inn River Valley, then won the Croatian Open Championship at Učka nad Buzetom and the Spanish Open Championship at Ager. He was sixth at the European Championships in the same city, and also achieved a good result in the competition before the World Championships, in Monte Cucco, Italy. He won first place at the Slovenian Open in Tolmin, while he was second at the Austrian Open.

Hang gliding without a motor is an attractive and adrenaline-fueled sport that requires from the competitors, in addition to top physical and mental fitness, also one hundred percent concentration on each flight, as no one in this sport can make a mistake twice. Competitors measure their strength, knowledge, skills, abilities and concentration in kite sailing at an altitude of 500 to 4500 meters above the ground, and the competitions last from one to six hours. With favorable thermals and wind in the back, a sailor can sail 60 to 100 kilometers in one hour. The competitions take place so that the pilots get a plan at the start, which points on the map they have to fly with the kite and where they have to land. They then compete who will sail as accurately and quickly as possible to a finish line, which is sometimes 200 kilometers from the start. In one competition, pilots perform one to ten flights to minimize the impact of weather conditions, coincidences, and luck. Therefore, major international competitions take place on all continents of the world, usually from 3 to 14 days and more.

A professional hang glider for six years

Primož Gričar, who has a university degree in agronomy, has been professionally involved in hang-gliding for six years. Among other things, he is also a test pilot of the world-famous Ukrainian kite manufacturer Aeros. The Slovenian Olympic Committee granted him the status of an international athlete (a hang glider cannot receive the status of a top athlete because this sport is not Olympic). Gričar, who is also a member of the Slovenian national team, has spent a lot of time in recent years in Bavaria, Germany, where he often trains with members of the German hang gliding team. In Germany and other developed European countries, this sport is generally more developed and popular than in Slovenia, although it also has more and more followers, especially among young people who are close to adrenaline sports.

Gričar will have a busy season this year, as it will not be easy to defend his first place in the world rankings. That is why he is already intensively preparing for the first competitions of this year.

Primož Gričar spends at least a hundred days a year in competitions and trainings. (Tomaž Kšela, Večer)