Lassi Nurila has won the F3A class radio controlled aerobatic world championships organized in Warwick, Australia. Andrew Jesky and Jason Shulman from the United States finished second and third. In the team competition, USA won, France came second and Japan came third.
Nurila took over the top spot in the competition already during the early rounds and continued on the same course through the semi-finals. The competition culminated on Saturday, August 26. to the flown final, where the world’s 10 best pilots flew one known and two unknown programs. In the final, all rounds are counted, and the scores of the previous rounds do not matter, so there is no room for mistakes.
Nurila’s championship was confirmed only on the last flight of the last round of the Games. The other finalists had already flown the last unknown and Nurila was the last in the starting order. The pressure was intense, but Kälviä’s ice man took the situation coldly. Every twist and snap-roll stopped at just the right spot, every partial loop was perfectly round and straight like a ruler drawn in the blue of the sky. The championship was won with a clear point difference over the others. The audience erupted in applause as soon as the last move ended and again when the plane touched the ground. No one else achieved this close to a perfect performance.
Nurila has been among the top ten in the world in her sport for a long time, but the world championship is Nurila’s first. Last year, Nurila won her first European championship in Zamorra, Spain. This year, the Fifth World Cup victory was secured, as well as the sixth Nordic championship. Nurila has held the Finnish championship continuously since 2006. It can be said that Nurila has now won everything that is possible to win in radio-controlled aerobatics.
In Australia, Finland was also represented by Nurila’s helper Risto Hölttä. Especially in unknown programs, the role of the helper is extremely important. Esa Eirola was invited from Finland as part of the 10 judges.
F3A Team Finland ry warmly congratulates Nurila and the entire Finnish national team!
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