Brian Spreckley at the opening ceremony of the SGP Finals Pavullo
IGC Awards 2026 — Lausanne Plenary
The annual IGC Plenary meeting held in Lausanne in early March 2026 included the presentation of the International Gliding Commission's most prestigious honours. Four awards were made, recognising outstanding contributions to the sport across competition flying, technological development, and the promotion of women's gliding.
Lilienthal Medal — Brian Spreckley, United Kingdom
The Lilienthal Medal is the IGC's highest honour and is awarded for exceptional services to and performance in the sport of gliding at the international level. This year it was awarded to Brian Spreckley of the United Kingdom, a figure who has shaped British and international gliding over several decades both as a competitor and as an administrator.
Spreckley founded the University of Nottingham Gliding Club as an undergraduate and went on to become the 1987 World Gliding Champion, receiving the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club that same year. He was also a three times British champion and won the 15 Metre World Championships at Benalla, Australia in 1987. Beyond competition flying, he served seven years as National Coach for the British Gliding Association before founding a commercial recreational flying operation. He has also served as Competition Director of a World Gliding Championship and as a referee representing the IGC, of which he has been a Vice President. In 2005 he received the FAI Paul Tissandier Diploma for services to gliding. The Lilienthal Medal rounds off a career of sustained contribution to gliding at every level.
Pirat-Gehriger Diploma — Sébastien Chaumontet, France
The Pirat-Gehriger Diploma is awarded by the IGC in recognition of meritorious service to gliding, and the 2026 award went to Sébastien Chaumontet of France, the central figure behind the Open Glider Network.
Chaumontet is one of the founders of the Open Glider Network, which was established at Challes-les-Eaux in Savoie in 2012. He built the internet backbone of the network, including the data servers, web servers, and data processing infrastructure that enables live visualisation of gliding competitions. The OGN has grown into a worldwide platform tracking gliders, general aviation aircraft, paragliders, and drones using FLARM and OGN tracker signals. The network now has nearly 2,000 OGN stations worldwide, with almost 20,000 gliders registered and peaks of 15,000 aircraft visible simultaneously. The practical benefits extend to search and rescue operations, where OGN data has been used to help locate missing aircraft. EASA recognised this contribution when it awarded the inaugural General Aviation Safety Award to Chaumontet for the Open Glider Network in 2019.
Sarah Arnold
Pelagia Majewska Medal — Sarah Arnold, USA
The Pelagia Majewska Medal is awarded in recognition of achievements by women in gliding, and the 2026 recipient is Sarah Arnold of the United States, one of the most accomplished women in the history of the sport.
Arnold was raised on a farm in British Columbia and learned to fly as a thirteen-year-old in a single seat ultralight, developing a lifelong passion for aviation from that early age. In 2004 she became owner-operator of Chilhowee Gliderport in Benton, Tennessee, where she and her husband Jason have worked to train a new generation of pilots and host soaring camps, seminars, and competitions. Her international competitive record spans many years. She has represented the USA at four World Gliding Championship events and three Women's World Gliding Championship events, winning bronze in France in 2013, silver in Zbraslavice in 2017, and gold at Lake Keepit in 2020. She organised the first FAI Pan American Gliding Championships in 2015 and has been inducted into both the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame and the US Soaring Hall of Fame.
13.4 — IGC Champion Pilot of the Year — Jeroen Jennen, Belgium
The IGC Champion Pilot of the Year award, accompanied by the World Soaring Cup, is presented annually to the FAI World Champion who achieved the highest score across all classes in the World Gliding Championships of the previous calendar year.
Jeroen Jennen is a 32-year-old Belgian pilot who won the Standard Class at the FAI World Gliding Championships in Tábor, Czechia in 2025, a result he followed a week later with his third Belgian national title. His connection with gliding runs deep; his parents ran the restaurant at Keiheuvel airfield in Belgium for many years, meaning aviation was part of his life from childhood. He began formal glider training at 16 and went solo after just 13 launches. He participated in the FAI Junior World Gliding Championships in Musbach in 2011 and in Leszno in 2013, and has featured in the top ten at both European and World Championship level on multiple occasions. He has also been a long-standing participant in virtual gliding through Condor simulator competition, which he credits as a meaningful part of his development as a competition pilot.
