The Amateur Aviation Association of the Czech Republic announces its best athletes every year. Ceremony to announce the best
athletes took place this year on January 16, 2026 at the IATC center in Jenč. The winner of the UL category was the crew Matouš Adam – Jan Pařez. Karolína Koudelová became the best paraglider. Aleš Tryml became the winner of the powered paragliding category. Petr Beneš took first place in the Hang Gliding category and also became
the best athlete of the Amateur Aviation Association for the year 2025. The best athletes of the Amateur Aviation Association of the Czech Republic are nominated among the ten best aviation athletes of the Czech Republic, who will be announced on February 27, 2026 at the Best Aviation Athlete ceremony.
Ultralight flying
The most important competition of LA 2025 sports season for ultralight pilots was the FAI Ultralight World Championship, which took place from 9 to 16 August 2025 in Chambley, France. The Czech representatives returned from it with ten medals. Although the French beat them out of the team gold by 5 points (i.e. by only one ten-thousandth of the total point score), the first place of Matouš Adam with Jan Pařez in Motorized hang gliders and Michal Eliáš with Ladislav Teplý in gyroplanes is evidence of their excellent form. The winner of the UL category was the crew Matouš Adam – Jan Pařez.
Overall ranking in the paragliding category: 1. Jan Pařez – Matouš Adam, 2. Marek Velát, 3. Tomáš Procházka – Filip Vita
Paragliding
Paragliding is a strong specialty within the Amateur Aviation Association. It is dedicated to more than 2500 active pilots who are engaged in cross-country flying, precision landing, aerobatics or the increasingly popular discipline of Hike and Fly. In 2025, Czech representatives participated in both the cross-country and precision landing world championships in Alanya, Turkey, where the new young Czech representative Karolína Koudelová shone, becoming the best paraglider. She demonstrated a meteoric rise when she became world champion. In her first international competition, she won in two categories – women and juniors – and took 4th place overall among 140 pilots. She significantly helped the Czech team to place 4th among 36 teams.
Overall ranking in the paragliding category: 1. Karolína Koudelová, 2. Stanislav Klikar, 3. Petr Kostrhun.
Motorovy paragliding
Motorized paragliders competed in 2025 at the World Championships in classic disciplines in Chambley, France, and at the World Championships in slalom in Bornos, Spain. From France, they took home a valuable 3rd place in the teams and 2nd place in the two-seater tricycle category. From Spain, they took second place in the teams, but also in the individuals in the PF1 category. They won a silver medal Aleš Tryml, who was deprived of his first place by technical problems on the part of the competition organizer. Aleš Tryml became the winner of the powered paragliding category.
Overall ranking in the powered paragliding category: 1. Aleš Tryml, 2. Luboš Halama – Anna Halamová, 3. Beata Žiezio.
Hang gliding
Hang gliding has been an integral part of the Amateur Aviation Association since its beginnings, and even though the number of pilots dedicated to hang gliding is not very high, the same cannot be said about their competitive successes and qualities, which were confirmed by the national team at the World Championship in Ager, Spain. After his famous performance in Brazil in 2017, which brought him the title of World Champion, Petr Beneš took a break from hang gliding for a few years. During this time, he switched to a glider, so he definitely did not idle as a pilot. He returned to the hang gliding competition scene like a boomerang. He soared at the Czech Championship held in Slovenia, where he won. He participated as a wild card in LA 2025 World Championship in Ager, Spain, and turned it into his second world championship title! This performance earned Petr Beneš first place in the Hang gliding category and also the title of Best LAA Czech Athlete 2025.
Overall ranking in the hang gliding category: 1. Petr Beneš, 2. Jiří Gut, 3. Luboš Němec.
LAA Czech Republic 2025 athlete Petr Beneš and the winners of the UL flying category Matouš Adam and Jan Pařez and the winner of the Paragliding category Karolína Koudelová are nominated for the Best Aviation Athlete of the Year award, which will be presented during a gala evening at the Vinohrady Theater in Prague on February 27, 2026. The award ceremony, attended by the President of the Republic Petr Pavel, will be broadcast live on Czech Television (ČT sport) in prime time.