Gordon Bennett 2024: Team SUI-1 becomes runner-up in the world championship
Gordon Bennett 2024: Team SUI-1 becomes runner-up in the world championship
This year's world championship in long-distance gas ballooning could not have been more exciting. An incredible flight crowned Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witprächtiger as runners-up in the world championship. The 21 gas balloons took off from Münster/North Rhine-Westphalia on September 14
The race led in a south-westerly direction to France and finally onto the Iberian peninsula as far as Portugal. The top three teams crossed the sea twice and the victorious Austrians three times, making the finish exceptionally exciting. Switzerland had two balloons at the start. Balthasar Wicki and René Erni started in the SUI-2 basket alongside the third-placed team.
Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witprächtiger landed at Cabo de São Vicente after two days, 18 hours and 2109.75 km. Stefanie Liller and Christian Wagner also touched down around an hour later. They were still in the lead with 2111.17 km covered. But they had to tremble for victory, as Andreas Zumrode and Axel Huhnekul were still gaining kilometers in their GER-3 balloon in the hinterland. The two did not run out of breath so quickly. The balloon made very slow but steady progress. In the end, however, it was not enough for them to beat the new world vice-champions Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witprächtiger and the new world champions and winners of the 67th World Cup.th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, Stefanie Liller and Christian Wagner from Austria. BO