Coup after a mixed start

Leon Rink from Hüttenberg won the European Championship in Hang Free Flight in the Czech Republic coupled World Cup competition.

Hüttenberg (jowe). The success story of the Hüttenberg Rink family continues. After son Lars returned a few weeks ago with a bronze medal from the Junior World Gliding Championships in North Macedonia, brother Leon and father Andreas went on to the European Championships in slope free flight in the Czech Republic. The two athletes from the Hüttenberg model aircraft team represented the German colors and Leon Rink even won the European Championship combined World Cup competition.

From central Hesse, the team will head to Louny in the Czech Republic, which is close to the capital Prague. Immediately after arrival, the team will go to the training facility to adjust to the local requirements and train. The World Cup, which was actually scheduled for the next day, was cancelled due to weather conditions. So the Rinks used the unexpected day off for a short trip to Prague. After the model acceptance and opening ceremony on Monday, the European Championship in the F1E slope free flight category started on Tuesday. The model is launched by hand on a slope in a headwind. It flies without a remote control – but the model has a control system that tries to maintain a pre-set course. In the slope updraft, the maximum flight time set by the competition management (between three and five minutes) must be achieved. The models fly about 1200 metres during this time.

“Leon achieved the maximum flight time in the first round, but unfortunately his model landed in a pond and was no longer usable that day,” said his father Andreas. He had to fly the remaining four rounds with a different model. “There he achieved the maximum flight time, sometimes more confidently, sometimes less confidently,” added his father. In the subsequent flyoff, in which all participants with the maximum flight time after the five rounds competed against each other, he came seventh at the Junior European Championships. “I was very happy with that,” said Leon. He had no idea how phenomenally he would be able to surpass his success in the subsequent World Cup. After another break due to the weather, the rinks helped the German seniors on their day of competition. The World Cup competition was not only the end, but also the crowning achievement for the Central Hesse team.

Double World Cup victory

In difficult conditions, Leon Rink made it into the jump-off again. In the first jump-off he managed to reach the required maximum time of six minutes. In the second jump-off, which was set for eight minutes and started further down the slope, Leon still managed a little more than six minutes, more than the two remaining competitors. He thus won his first World Cup in the junior ranking and at the same time the senior ranking. “I was extremely happy. But I was too tired to celebrate after this exhausting week.”