At precisely 4:22 p.m. on Thursday and some 11 days after starting in Salzburg, Christian Maurer of Interlaken touched down in the principality of Monaco with his paraglider after an exhausting journey of 1,321 kilometers flying and another 486 kilometers hiking on foot across the Alps.

With support from Thomas Theurillat, who is not only his assistant but a professional mountain guide as well, Maurer was able to completely demolish the rivals from 22 countries. It symbolized his dominance of the field that he was able to calmly make preparations for his final flight to the finish line in Monaco when his closest rivals had only then just reached Mt. Blanc. He had been able to open up a lead of more than 160 kilometers, a massive advantage made all the more intimidating by the fact that he had been forced to sit out a 24-hour penalty in Zermatt just four days earlier after being penalized for flying in a forbidden zone.

It took another two days until Saturday for the podium to be completed in what is one of the world’s most unique events. Romania’s Tomo Coconea landed in the. Coconea had covered a total of 1,807 kilometer (826 in the air and 981 on the ground. Guschlbauer failed to reach the final only by 9 Kilometers and finished third.

No other pilots made it to the finish line within 48 hours of the winner.

The results: 1. Christian Maurer (SUI) 11 days, 4 hours, 52 minutes, 2. Toma Coconea (ROM) 13 days, 3 hours;

3. Paul Guschlbauer (AUT), 4. Martin Müller (SUI), 5. Jon Chambers (GBR), 6. Michael Gebert (GER), 7. Ferdinand van Schelven (NED), 8. Clément Latour (FRAN), 9.Jouni Makkonen (FIN), 10. Honza Reimanek (USA), 11. Thomas de Dorlodot (BEL) , 12. Evgenli Griaznov (RUS), 13. Helmut Eichholzer (AUT), 14. Max Fanderl (CAN), 15. Andy Frötscher (ITA)