High flyers battle it out in Paper Airplane World Finals

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Paper plane enthusiasts from across the world gathered in the Austrian city of Salzburg on Saturday (May 18) as they battled out in a bid to become the ultimate paper champions. This year's tournament, marking its fifth year of competition, saw 176 participants from 58 nations vying for the titles of Longest Distance, Longest Airtime and Aerobatics. American Jake Hardy took the Longest Distance event with a throw of 56.61 metres, roughly 4.4 metres further than second placed Serb Lazar Krstic. Australia's Cameron Clark won the Longest Airtime event after he threw his plane vertically in the air before it glided back gracefully in a spiral in 13.33 seconds, a full second more than nearest rival - Vince Scholl. While in the Aerobatics, an event in which contestants have 60 seconds to perform a creative presentation while throwing paper planes to the rhythm of music, Ukrainian Kateryna Ahafonova made history by becoming the first woman to ever win an event at the World Finals. The sole female finalist was the only competitor to receive a perfect 10 from any judge as she scored 27 points, two ahead of nearest rival, Poland's Tomasz Chodrya. The 2019 Finals in Salzburg were preceded by an astonishing 437 qualifier events that tested the skill of 52,000 prospects.