28th International Balloon Meet

June 10–16, 2024

Summer, Velikiye Luki, ballooning! This is the unspoken motto under which the International Balloon Meet has been taking place for 28 years already, with Gazprom as its general sponsor.

This year, the town of Velikiye Luki welcomed 48 pilots, including aeronauts from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Dmitrov, Kaluga, Feodosia, Naberezhnye Chelny, Ryazan, Tomsk, Yoshkar-Ola, Veliky Novgorod, the Moscow and Leningrad Regions, as well as Kazakhstan and Belarus. 

As part of the 28th International Balloon Meet, the 29th Russian Hot Air Balloon Championship was held. This event takes place with the authorization of the Balloon Federation of Russia and in accordance with the General Sports Calendar of Russia's Ministry of Sports. The sportsmen were also vying for the trophy of the 3rd Hot Air Balloon Championship of the Pskov Region (among the pilots representing the region) and the 1st Championship of regional sports federations, as well as for the Friendship Cup (among all sport pilots), the Cup of St. Princess Olga (among female pilots) and the Velikiye Luki Cup.

Outside of the sports program, the pilots could have a shot for the prize at the key grab race, where they were to draw near enough to a pole set up on the field and place a ring over the top of it from a height.

As per tradition, the opening ceremony for the International Balloon Meet was held on June 12 (Russia Day). In honor of the holiday, a 36-meter Russian flag was carried into the sky and each of the flying air balloons had a tricolor attached to it.

During the week, the pilots completed a total of 26 sports tasks, as a result of which the new Russian Air Balloon Champion was announced. The title went to Sergey Chinenov representing the Moscow Region. Second place was taken by Oleg Snetkov from Tula, and the bronze was won by his fellow countryman Dmitry Zhokhov.

We congratulate the winners and wish all the athletes successful flights in the future and the spectators and fans – vivid emotions and a cheerful mood!

Photo by Alexander Vorobyov