16 Aug 2025

The World Games: Japan's Yuki Hashimoto wins gold

Yuki Hashimoto, 18, from Japan won the gold medal in Drone Racing at The World Games in China today after a fast and furious final round of competition.

Chun Yan Kwan (17) of Hong Kong, China won silver and MinJae Kim (17) from Korea won bronze. Fourth place went to Liechtenstein's Marvin Schäpper (19).

Results

From left to right: Chun Yan Kwan (HKG), Yuki Hashimoto (JPN), MinJae Kim (KOR)

Afterwards Yuki, who is the current FAI World Drone Racing Champion, paid tribute to his friend and rival MinJae Kim. MinJae entered the final leg of the competition as favourite but ended up crashing and literally burning up in his final race.

After three days of Qualification and Elimination rounds the final of the competition consisted of a possible total of five races, with the four pilots racing against each other. The first pilot to win two races would be declared The World Games Champion and win the coveted gold medal.

MinJae Kim won the first race, and then Yuki won the second.

However, in the third race a collision between Marvin Schäpper and MinJae saw both pilots knocked out. MinJae's drone went up in flames with a punctured battery. Under the rules the race had been stopped for obvious safety reasons.

The race was then re-started when safe to do so, but without the two pilots who had already crashed out. That meant Yuki flew against Chun Yan – and won that race. That gave Yuki the two required wins for first place – and the first place on the podium.

"I got a little bit lucky," Yuki said afterwards, "but I spent a lot of time [training] for this race, so I am really happy." He added: "I actually can't believe I won the race. I always feel like this!"

He explained it was the first time he had flown a final at night. "It was really, really cool. The LEDs were amazing. The quality of the video was really cool and what I could see through my googles was amazing."

Immediately after The World Games he planned to take some time off to decompress. "I have been flying 10 hours a day, I think it's too much. I will chill with my friends, hang out, and maybe fly drones!"

Before that though there was the medal ceremony, where he received his gold medal from FAI President Greg Principato in front of an audience of drone fans.

Sporting spirit: Chun Yan Kwan races while Yuki Hashimoto acts as Kwan's supporter

THE WORLD GAMES

Yuki's triumph came after an intense four days of competition Drone Racing in Chengdu, China. Held as part of The World Games, an international multi-sports event that is second only in size to the Olympics, 31 drone pilots from 19 countries came together to race on what is one of the biggest competition drone tracks ever built.

Designed in the shape of a panda's face when seen from above, the track featured more than 40 twists, turns and obstacles, creating a complex and difficult track to fly.

The track truly came alive at night when it was lit by thousands of LED lights. With spectators watching live in the stadium and each pilot's point of view being shown on the large screens, the competition atmosphere was charged and exciting.

The competition was held at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Athletics Field on the eastern edge of Chengdu city. This two-year-old multi-purpose stadium complex hosted several sports during The World Games and sits on the outskirts of the megacity Chengdu. The main stadium can hold 40,000 people, although the Drone Racing was held in one of the smaller sports fields.

Closing the event, competition manager Bruno Delor said he was thrilled that the competition had been so successful. "The competition was wonderful. We have never had such a good competition in Drone Racing. Here at The World Games we saw the best of the best."