On Jun 25, 4:46 pm, Kathy wrote:
...
As I'm headed to Italy shortly to fly in the junior championships, I
had hoped that a few people who have flown contests both domestically
and internationally would weigh in on this issue. I've been wondering
what to expect, and if my experience in US contests has prepared me
for European contests.
...

Kathy Fosha

I haven't flown any contests but have followed them more or less
closely over the last few years. The last Junior Worlds in Hus Bos in
the UK saw 7 ATs between 159km & 372km and 2 TATs of the 2:30 - 3:00
variety (the last day's TAT was canceled) in the Standard Class. The
ATs where done by the winner in between 1:43h (159km) for the shortest
AT and 4:04h (372km) and 4:13h (348km) for the longest ATs. More
details he http://www.worldgliding2005.com

At the last Club Class Worlds in Vinion in Southern France they had,
IIRC, some 9 ATs between 291km and 499km and some 5 ATs between 1:30h
and 2:45h (apparently on the weaker days). The quickest AT was 315km
in 2:48h, the longest AT 499km in 5:25h by the respective winner. Two
more ATs took more than 4h by the winner, all results were achieved in
Standard Cirrus/Standard Libelle/Standard Jantar or similar. More
details he http://www.wgc2006.fr

I would say that on a halfway decent day at a Club Class Worlds you
would expect a 300 - 350km task that'll take you around 3 hours. That
compares to a US Sports Class National. However, a booming day will
get you 400 - 500km and flight times that will be well in excess of
5h, something that is probably not done at a US Sports Class National.
The other key difference I can see is that you are more likely to fly
ATs, the TATs that are so popular in the US seem to be used less at
Worlds, MATs (or whatever the FAI equivalent is) are not common at
all.

Also keep in mind that the last Club Class Worlds were flown over the
Southern French Alps, a mountain area that very often sees rapid
changes in conditions in a very small time/space frame and as such can
present very demanding flying conditions that are hard to compare to
e.g. Ohio. The upcoming Junior Worlds will probably be similarly
demanding even though the mountains are not as high as in the Southern
French Alps.

My two cents,

Markus Graeber