What to Expect From the 2016 Paragliding World Cup

The Paragliding World Cup will hold semifinals during July and August, and its world championship will be held January 2017 in Brazil.

Paragliding is an adventure sport involving gliding windborne through the air after a foot launch. This contrasts with parasailing, in that the involved participant is not being propelled by a motorized vehicle such as a boat. Jumps into wind are typically completed off cliffs, as will be done in the professional competition. The official rules for the 2016 Paragliding World Cup can be found here.

In total, more than 1,600 competitors will traverse the globe on paraglide to reach the World Finals in Brazil. The Semi-Finals, or Pre-World Cup events, will take place in Armenia, Indonesia and Turkey in July and August of this year. In addition, each country hosts their own qualification events to meet these pre-World Cup standards.

Competitors are judged in categories such as longevity of flight, height, speed, quality of takeoff and drop. Similar to figure skating, pilots in the Paragliding World Cup are judged not on one specific criterion, but based on the sum total of their overall performance. Countries poised to do well this year include Brazil, Turkey and France. Consult the official website for more details on how to watch the events of the competition take off.