{"id":16028,"date":"2026-09-26T09:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=16028"},"modified":"2026-09-26T09:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:04:11","slug":"briton-dominic-bareford-reclaims-fai-world-hot-air-balloon-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/briton-dominic-bareford-reclaims-fai-world-hot-air-balloon-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Briton Dominic Bareford reclaims FAI World Hot Air Balloon crown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 26th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship saw five stunning flights over Krosno, Poland with 101 pilots from 31 nations vying for the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only one pilot could win, and it was Dominic Bareford of Great Britain who claimed his second World Championship after a similarly excellent performance in 2018 at the 23rd FAI World Championship in Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanking his parents, team, the event organisers, and wider ballooning community, the victorious Bareford declared the competition, “<\/strong>An amazing, amazing event. We will leave Krosno with really positive memories and we hope we can come back again in the future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventh after the first flight, he stayed in the top 10 throughout the event before taking the lead during the penultimate flight. His performance during the last flight expanded the lead making him the fifth pilot to repeat as world champion, his father having accomplished the feat twice as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Cuenot of France improved on his 11th place result in 2024 with a second place finish, representing the third world championship in a row that a different French pilot reached the podium. He held the lead before rain interrupted the event for two days, dropped a little bit and returned to second place before the last flight, maintaining it in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stefan Zeberli’s of Switzerland came from further back to finish with a third place result, tying him for most times on the podium with 5 with Jan Balkedal of Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of five flights and 20 tasks were flown by 101 pilots from 31 countries during the five-day event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A world championship is many things \u2013 competition, meeting friends from all over the world, briefings, weather forecasts, targets, dropping markers and stories from the field… The many pictures and videos captured the moments that stay with us long after the results are final,” said President of the FAI Ballooning Commission and Event Director Claude Weber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanking pilots along with hosts, jury, sponsors and organisers, he continued, “Thank you for your flying, your determination and for the way you compete against each other. You showed not only great skill, but also respect, fairness, and friendship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Dominic Bareford (GBR)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Paul Cuenot (FRA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Stefan Zeberli (SUI)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 26th FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship saw five stunning flights over Krosno, Poland with 101 pilots<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t