Another F3A World Championships comes to a close – held in Warwick, Australia during August 2023. A huge congratulations to Lassi Nurila from Finland – this was a really well deserved win in a close fought competition. And Antonin Paysant-le Roux from France is the junior World Champion!
The New Zealand team performed better than ever before. Sean Galloway second junior at his first World Championships – and 33rd overall! Just amazing! Andrew Palmer and Frazer Briggs became the first two New Zealanders to fly in a semi finals – Andrew flew hard all week to achieve the best result of a New Zealander in F3A – 21st place. Frazer was 23rd and Stephen Johnson 35th. The team placings were USA, France then Japan. The New Zealand team achieved 7th place in the team rankings.
1st: Lassi Nurila
2nd: Andrew Jesky
3rd: Jason Schulman
17th: Antonin Paysant-le Roux (1881.57) (1st junior)
21st: Andrew Palmer (1739.48)
23rd: Frazer Briggs (1716.32)
33rd: Sean Galloway (2453.73) (2nd junior!)
35th: Stephen Johnson (2450.30)
The organisers were amazing. And they could not have done it without the huge team of volunteers – and there were many – these folks were always friendly and fun! No event can succeed without the judges and scoring system operators – thank you! And of course the other competitors. Model Flying New Zealand for their financial assistance in paying our entry fees, and Stephen Johnson for the team uniform design. Thank you to Noeline Craighead for her hard work as the New Zealand International judge, and Ross Craighead there as reserve jury member.
There was also a big contingent of New Zealand supporters – amazing to have everyone there!
On a personal note I am indebted to Suetonia Palmer for her continued enthusiasm for this great sport! And finally Y. Akiba – who travelled from Japan to be my coach, supporter and friend during this competition – thank you Akiba san. We had many laughs and a great time.
– Andrew Palmer
