France's Clément Seigeot rises to the top at the 25th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship with end-to-end excellence
On the last day of the 25th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship, all eyes were on France's Clément Seigeot, who had been in the lead throughout the entire competition: Would he be able to hold on to secure his first World Championship?
Friday morning's tasks
On the final day of the competition, there was plenty more flying to be done. A three task flight was called for day five of the event and the fifth flight got the green flag.
This flight was all about getting to physical targets with a total of seven laid out across the area northwest of Szeged, which saw almost all the flying during the week. The first task was another Gordon Bennett Memorial (GBM). This time, competitors could not throw their marker on the physical X but instead on a triangle or a rectangle. Not only did they need to make their way to the X, but they had to decide which of the two they could hit. The triangle was closer but smaller and the marker needed to be within one of the two shapes. This meant there weren’t too many scores and given the best result would have been around 10 metres, Spain's Ivan Ayala’s 11.23 was truly excellent. Three previous World Champions got the next best results out of the 30 pilots to score. The leader kept himself in the mix with a 20.57 m result.
From there, the pilots had two Hesitation Waltzes. If some of the HWZ earlier in the week were challenging, these ones provided for piles of markers in the Marker Measurement Areas (MMA).
On the first one, Task 17, former American champion Chase Donner tossed a 0.33m winning mark. A remarkable 80 of the 118 pilots threw for points including none other than the leader who had the 10th best showing once again. It’s tough to catch up in a meaningful way when the leader gets 950 points on a task!
Pilots fly into one of the last of many HWZ they faced over the course of the week.
Lots of great throws left many pilots leaving on a high once they
got back on the ground. Credit: Fédération Française d'Aérostation
On the second HWZ, two pilots shared the win with a 0.04m result as Michel Bourbier of France and USA's Jeremy Rubin were both awarded 1000 points. That must have been little consolation to the 13 other pilots to score within a metre and not get top spot. Seigeot here was far off at 162m and only 198 points, allowing valuable catch up opportunity. But would it be enough for anyone to surpass him?
After the points were tallied, Seigeot held 15,525 points with Tomasz Filus (POL) at 14,312 and Joe Heartsill (USA) at 14,183. There was one flight window left and menacing weather looming.
A new champion is proclaimed
Pilots returned in the afternoon to their final briefing to find a two task sheet in front of them with once again two HWZ, each with three potential targets. It could be enough to dislodge the massive lead.
But competitors hadn't even left the briefing room before it was announced that the flight was cancelled.
Then a massive cheer erupted as Clément Seigeot of France became the 2024 World Champion.
Clément Seigeot the 2024 World Hot Air Balloon Champion gets a rousing ovation.
Credit: Fédération Française d'Aérostation.
The ceremony would come later, but a triumphant Seigeot was ushered onto his table for a well deserved standing ovation. He performed exceptionally well in a completely dominant display over a tough week of flying, his name constantly near the top at every task and then two wins of his own, more than any other pilot.
“It was an unbelievable championship,” commented Seigeot. “I’m still trying to come to terms with what’s happening. It’s such immense joy after so many years of effort and investment.”
Seigeot has been on the rise in the world of competitive ballooning for over a decade. In 2014, he finished 3rd at the 2nd FAI Junior World Hot Air Balloon Championship. Since then, he’s won events in Australia and The Netherlands, multiple French championships, finished 16th at the 22nd FAI European Hot Air Balloon Championship in Szeged and was top in the top 13 of the FAI World Air Games in 2015 as well as each of the last three World Championships.
At the last World Championship in Murska Sobota, Slovenia in 2022, Seigeot was part of a French team which claimed the title of top team (the nation whose pilots had the highest average score). He was quick to credit that team mentality with his success: “The team work has been very important to have the best strategies and most information possible. We also try to look out for one another to make the fewest mistakes possible.”
With 15,525 points out of a possible 18,000, it was clear that our new champion made very few mistakes.
Final Results
- Clément Seigeot, France
- Tomasz Filus, Poland
- Joe Heartsill, USA
As is tradition at balloon events, the next briefing was proclaimed for Krosno, Poland in 2026 where the world will gather once more for the 26th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship.
FAI Ballooning playlist from 25th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championships 2024
competition links
See the FAI Ballooning coverage of the event and view the images from the competition via the FAI Flickr album.
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Header image: After an incredibly successful Summer Olympics, 'les Bleus' celebrate their teammate’s win. It was the first French win since François Messines in 2008. Credit: Fédération Française d'Aérostation.
