Stefan Zeberli of Switzerland wins 6th FAI European Hot Air Balloon Championship
By Jonathan Perron-Clow of the FAI Ballooning Commission's Public & Media Relations Sub-Committee
Friday 22 August, and competitors at the 23rd FAI European Hot Air Balloon Championship had one last day, with two last flights to make a final move up the standings. The weather would have other ideas, as would the eventual winner, who couldn’t be stopped.
Flight Nine: Tasks 35, 36, 37
Coming into the competition on 16 August, Swiss pilot, Stefan Zeberli sat at the top of the FAI World Balloon Pilot rankings. And, at the start of the day on Friday, 22 August, he was at the top of the standings at the European Hot Air Balloon Championship, this time in Wieselburg, Austria. He’d been in the top position since Task 14. Only two flights stood in his way from a remarkable sixth win of this event.
At the morning briefing, pilots hungrily tucked into the details of the three tasks ahead. On the list was the ever popular Hesitation Waltz (HWZ) and Fly On (FON) that the pilots had flown nearly every flight, and then a different type of 3D Task which they were familiar, with but hadn’t seen yet this week.
The balloons launched from the common launch site and filled an otherwise grey sky with colour. They could perform their tasks in any order with only the HWZ offering three physical targets on the ground. Blai Carbonnell (ESP)’s 2.11m was the winning drop as the pilots whizzed by in quick winds. Dominic Bareford (UK), who’d been chasing Zeberli for the past few days fell further behind, not because of a bad result, just one where Zeberli was closer.
The FON was the next opportunity to gain points. Here, David Strasmann (SUI) solidified his top five finish in the event by winning the task with a 3.0m result. Again, Zeberli inched a bit further ahead.
The third and final task was a 3DT. This one is affectionately known as the cake. As competitors climb each tier of virtual space, they are awarded more and more points, but of course the tiers get smaller with the smallest having a 1km radius and 750’ in height. A French pilot claimed the win: Paul Cuenot (FRA) tucked in to the virtual cake with gusto, gaining 13,339m worth within the virtual shape. The top two leaders had what would usually be great results but not compared to the other pilots. However the end result was that Zeberli’s overall lead grew once again.
Zeberli in his balloon. Credit: Raphael Wimmer
Flight Ten: Tasks 38, 39, 40
Arriving at their desks for the final briefing, competitors had a task sheet with four tasks and a weather sheet explaining that reasonable winds were in the forecast. But everything could still be "up in the air", ie. uncertain. With a 1,112 point lead and three tasks ahead, this was not yet a victory lap for Zeberli, the championship still stood in the balance.
The balloonists were to find their own launch sites and fly in as a large crowd awaited their arrival. Usually heading to an individual launch site means a flight is fairly certain, but the summer winds had not yet died out as forecast. The pilots were put on hold by the Event Director Martin Wegner (GER) for 15 minutes and the last task was cancelled, reducing the potential number of points available.
And then they waited some more. But the winds still did not drop in time for a safe competition flight; Wegner called the flight off. In a field in rural Austria, the European Balloon Champion crown 2025 alighted upon a familiar head.
Final Results
- Stefan Zeberli (SUI)
- Dominic Bareford (GBR)
- David Strasmann (SUI)
Champion Again
At the final target surrounded by crowds, Köbi Zeberli smiled. The proud father, wearing a red and white Swiss shirt and carrying the fishing line for which he is known, could now call his son the six-time European Hot Air Balloon Champion. “It’s a unique thing,” he said of his son’s frequent titles. “In kindergarten, he said he wanted to be a balloon pilot, and now he’s been doing it for 28 years. For 11 or 12 of those years, he’s been ranked number one in the world.” Far from bragging, the elder Zeberli was simply explaining that his son had a knack of winning over and over again.
After winning his first Europeans in France in 2009, Stefan has now won five of the seven since (victories in 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019). He finished a very respectable fifth and second in the other two. For a long time, it was the overall World title that eluded him, a fact which changed in 2022 when he won the 24th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.
As recently as three weeks ago, he finished second in the open Hungarian and Slovenian Championships. But when it mattered most with all of the top European peers, he put together an extremely consistent week of flying. He only won one task out of the 37, but averaged 775 points on each task, a dominant performance with some of the very best in the world at his heels.
Some of those included his own countrymates including David Strasmann (SUI) and Roman Hugi (SUI) who finished 3rd and 4th respectively. The aforementioned Dominic Bareford (GBR) finished second. The dynamic young Belgian Maarten Deleersnyder (BEL) rounded out the top five. Austria’s Elisabeth Kindermann-Schoen (AUT) was the top female pilot, finishing 23rd overall.
Speaking at the Award Ceremony which closed the event, 43-year-old Zeberli commented on the “perfect weather conditions” that the pilots had enjoyed during the championship event, and said “I feel very proud of my team, we had a wonderful week… I can’t put it in words, I feel very emotional to have the trophy at home once again.”
Dominic Bareford, 32, of the United Kingdom put up an impressive battle against the Swiss champion, but finally succumbed to second place, saying, “overall there were a lot of positives, but a little part of me still feels I’ve missed out on a chance.” Zeberli’s Swiss team-mate David Strasmann, 44, took third place, commenting that he was “very proud to be on the podium again.”
First female, Elisabeth Kinderman-Schoen of Austria said that the week was, "exhausting, but also really fun, and great to fly with all those good pilots, we had a great time!"
The next European Championship was awarded to Mallorca, Spain for 2027. The island previously hosted it in 2019. A savvy reader can imagine who won it then. That's right, Stefan Zeberli!
Look back at the competition
FAI provided extensive coverage of the Championship with regular updates on its website, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Header image credit: Agata Dominguez/FAI
