The Gliding Club of Victoria congratulates its member Michael Sommer for becoming the World Glider Champion in open class.

The World Gliding Championships were recently held in Lusse, Germany with 15 metre, 18 metre and open class gliders competing.

This win is particularly significant for Michael as he was the defending World Champion. That’s right, back to back wins. Well done Michael!

Michaels Worlds 2008

A clearly very happy Michael accepts the winner’s trophy.

We are however a little disappointed. Only a very little. You see there’s no Australian flag wrapped around Michael’s shoulders on the podium – as is the “norm” these days. I suppose a reason could be that he was representing Germany at the time, but I suspect someone just forgot to pass him the flag! We’ll have to wait until next time.

I’m not sure what the protocol is on this type of thing? Does the winner buy the beers for everybody or does everybody buy a beer for the winner? I suspect it’s the former. In fact, when you see Michael next, insist on it!

Photo from the World Gliding Championship 2008 website: http://www.wgc2008.de