The 14th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships concluded at Aalen-Elchingen in Germanyn with the championship now complete and titles decided. Australian Max Scutchings is the new Club Class Junior World Champion and Max Maslak German is the new Standard Class Champion. 

Standard Class

Task 10 for the standard class sent pilots on a 248.75 km course, and conditions allowed for a genuinely fast run. Max Maslak of Germany, flying an LS8 neo, set the pace of the day with a speed of 111.7 kph, completing the course in just over two hours and thirteen minutes. That result was enough to secure the overall title, with Maslak topping the final standings on 5,982 points.

Behind him, the day's placings were close but the overall championship battle for second and third came down to the narrowest of margins. Patrick Benoist of Germany flew to second on the day at 109.1 kph, while Antoni Zawirski of Poland was third at 107.0 kph. In the final overall reckoning, though, it was two Danish pilots who filled the minor podium places: Jacob Bøgelund Lassen finished the championship in second with 5,943 points, just two points ahead of his compatriot Lasse Edslev in third with 5,941. Fewer than 40 points separated the top three overall, a reminder of how tightly contested this generation of junior standard class racing has become.

The final standard class podium:

First, Max Maslak, Germany. Second, Jacob Bøgelund Lassen, Denmark. Third, Lasse Edslev, Denmark.

Club Class

The club class faced a longer task on the final day of racing, 263.04 km, flown under handicap across a course taking in Plettenberg, the Dreifaltigkeitskapelle and Sigmaringen before returning to Aalen-Elchingen. Florian Kraja of Germany won the day in his LS7, posting a handicapped speed of 97.0 kph. Tomasz Kurowski of Poland was second on the day at 99.6 kph raw speed, with Julia Walowska, also of Poland, third at 99.2 kph.

The overall club class title, however, went to Max Scutchings of Australia, who had built a strong lead over the preceding rounds and closed out the championship with 7,385 points despite a modest 17th place finish on the final scoring day. It was a result built on consistency across the series rather than a single standout performance, which is often what separates a champion from a strong contender in a discipline where every round counts toward the final total. Nicolas Caudrelier of France took second overall on 7,346 points, with Nils Zitzelsberger of Germany completing the podium in third on 7,291.

The final club class podium:

First, Max Scutchings, Australia. Second, Nicolas Caudrelier, France. Third, Nils Zitzelsberger, Germany.

Looking Back on the Championship

Across both classes, the racing at Aalen-Elchingen showed the depth of talent now coming through the junior ranks. The standard class produced a title race decided by single-digit point margins between three different nations, while the club class rewarded the pilot who managed the demands of handicap racing most consistently over the full series rather than the fastest pilot on any given day. Full daily results, task sheets and the complete field for both classes remain available on SoaringSpot at soaringspot.com/en_gb/jwgc2026