European Gliding Championships


The European Gliding Championships is a gliding competition held every two years.
Gliding is a competitive sport and was even a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics. It was due to become an official Olympic sport in the Helsinki Games in 1940. However, since the war, gliding has not featured in the Olympics. For gliding, international competition has been provided by the World Gliding Championships since 1938 and also by the European Gliding Championships since 1982.
The increased number of classes of glider means that it is no longer possible for all the classes to compete at the same location. The European Glider Aerobatic Championships were added in 1992. They are also held every two years.

European Gliding Championships

Each of the following entries give the year and location of the contest followed by the winner of each class, nationality and the glider used.

European Women's Gliding Championships

1st European Women s Gliding Championships in Hungary 1979
  • champion: Monika Warstat ; runner-up: Eda Laan ; placed: Jindra Paluskova
2nd European Women s Gliding Championships in France 1981
  • standard class
  • 15m class
3rd European Women s Gliding Championships in Saint Hubert 1983
  • standard class
  • 15m class champion: Giesela Weinreich
4th European Women s Gliding Championships in Subotica Yugoslavia 1985
  • standard class
  • 15m class champion: Gisela Weinreich ; runner-up: Geogeo Litt ; third place: Maria Kyzivatova
5th European Women s Gliding Championships in Bulgaria 1987
  • standard class
  • 15m class
6th European Women s Gliding Championships in Oriol 1989
  • standard class: Marie Kyzivatová
  • 15m class: Gisela Weinrich
7th European Women s Gliding Championships in Husbands Bosworth 1991
  • standard class: Gisela Weinrich
  • 15m class: Valentina Toporova
8th European Women s Gliding Championships in Hosín
  • standard class: Maika Hohn
  • 15m class champion: Hana Zejdová
9th International European Women's Gliding Championships in Marpingen, 1995
  • standard class: Maren Thomas
  • 15m class: Bozena Demczenko
  • club class champion: Anna Michalak ; runner-up: Rieke Hastert ; third: Halina Rynkiewicz
10th International European Women's Gliding Championships in Prievidza Slovakia, 1997
  • standard class: Gundula Goeke
  • 15m class: Gisela Weinrich
  • club class:Claire Luyat
11th European Women's Gliding Championships in Leszno, 1999 held in conjunction with the 2nd World Class World Championship
  • standard class
  • 15m class
  • club class:Claire Luyat
The FAI granted World Championship status to international women's contests in 2001. The 1st World Gliding Championships were held in Pociūnai. However, this decision was made rather late so that it was essentially a European contest. For the results of this and the following women's contests refer to Women's World Gliding Championships.

European Junior Gliding Championships

1st European Junior Gliding Championships in Falköping, 1991
  • Standard Class Winner: Tomasz Rubaj, glider: SZD 55
  • Club Class Winner: Flemming L. Schneider,
2nd European Junior Gliding Championships in La Roche-sur-Yon, 1993
  • Standard Class Winner: Lars Ternholt,
  • Club Class winner: Yann Mignot, glider: Pégase C101
3rd European Junior Gliding Championships in Leszno, 1995
  • Standard Class Winner: Guido Achleitner,
  • Club Class Winner: Frank Hahn,
4th European Junior Gliding Championships in Musbach, 1997
  • Standard Class Winner: Mario Kiessling,
  • Club Class Winner: Michael Sommer
The contests were replaced by the Junior World Gliding Championships in 1999. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the calendar was revised to shift the World and European Gliding Championships by one year, additionally reintroducing the European Junior Gliding Championships in 2021.
5th European Junior Gliding Championships in Pociūnai, 2021
  • Standard Class Winner: Simon Briel,
  • Club Class Winner: Finn Sleigh,
6th European Junior Gliding Championships in Arnborg, 30 July – 11 August 2023
7th European Junior Gliding Championships in Prievidza, 6–19 July 2025

European Glider Aerobatic Championships

European Glider Aerobatic Championships are held every two years, so that they alternate with World Glider Aerobatic Championships which are held every two years since 1985. These contests are flown in the unlimited category, only. In 2006, the first European Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships was held in Bad Frankenhausen in conjunction with the German Glider Championships in the unlimited and advanced category. The second European Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships were held in conjunction with the 2008 German Glider Aerobatic Championships in Rothenburg–Görlitz.
1st European Glider Aerobatic Championships
2nd European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Rieti 1994
3rd FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Pér, 27 June 1996 – 6 July 1996
  • Individual results:
  1. Mikhail Mamistov, glider: Swift S-1
  2. Jerzy Makula, glider: MDM-1 Fox
  3. Adam Michałowski, glider: Swift S-1
  • Team winners:
  1. Russia :Mikhail Mamistov, Sergey Rakhmanin, Sergei Krikalev
  2. Poland :Jerzy Makula, Adam Michałowski, Marek Hernik
  3. Czech Republic : Martin Stáhalík, Petr Poborský, Josef Čech
4th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Ostrów Wielkopolski, 19 July 1998 – 2 August 1998
  • Individual results:
  1. Jerzy Makula, glider: MDM-1 Fox
  2. Georgij Kaminski, glider: Swift S-1
  3. Adam Michałowski, glider: Swift S-1
  • Team winners:
  1. Poland : Jerzy Makula, Adam Michałowski, Małgorzata Margańska
  2. Russia : Georgij Kaminski, Valentin Barabanov, Alexandr Panfierov
  3. Czech Republic : Petr Poborský, Přemysl Vávra, Jiří Peprný
5th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships Salon de Provence, 7 August 2000 – 20 August 2000
  • Individual results:
  1. Ferenc Tóth
  2. Jerzy Makula
  3. Georgij Kaminski
  • Team winners:
  1. Poland : Jerzy Makula, Adam Michałowski, Krzysztof Brząkalik
  2. Hungary : Ferenc Tóth, István Matuz, János Szilágyi
  3. Russia : Georgij Kaminski, Alexandr Panfierov, Valentin Barabanov
6th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Pasewalk – 16 July 2002 – 26 July 2002
  • no official results due to poor weather conditions
7th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Moravská Třebová, 6 July 2004 – 18 July 2004
  • Individual results:
  1. Jerzy Makula
  2. Alexandr Panfierov
  3. Ferenc Tóth
8th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Rybnik, 19 July 2006 – 29 July 2006
  • Individual results:
  1. Ferenc Tóth, glider: Swift S-1
  2. Jerzy Makula, glider: Solo-Fox
  3. Georgij Kaminski, glider: Swift S-1
  • Team winners:
  1. Hungary : Ferenc Tóth, János Szilágyi, Szabolcs Kühtreiber
  2. Russia : Georgij Kaminski, Igor Plakhsin, Olga Romanenko
  3. Germany : Eugen Schaal, Markus Feyerabend, Olaf Schmidt
9th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Radom, 7 July 2008 – 17 July 2008
  • Individual results:
  1. Ferenc Tóth, glider: Swift S-1
  2. Erik Piriou, glider: Swift S-1
  3. Markus Feyerabend, glider: Swift S-1
  • Team winners:
  1. Czech Republic : Přemysl Vávra, Jan Rozlivka, Miroslav Červenka
  2. Russia : Alexandr Panfierov, Georgij Kaminski, Igor Plakhsin
  3. Germany : Markus Feyerabend, Olaf Schmidt, Hans-Georg Resch
10th FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Jämijärvi, 17 July 2010 – 24 July 2010
  • Individual results:
  1. Erik Piriou, glider: Swift S-1
  2. Ferenc Tóth, glider: Swift S-1
  3. Dietmar Poll, glider: Swift S-1
  • Team winners:
  1. Hungary : Ferenc Tóth, János Szilágyi, Szabolcs Kühtreiber
  2. France : Erik Piriou, Daniel Serres, Pierre Albertini
  3. Poland : Maciej Pospieszynski, Jerzy Makula, Stanisław Makula