Drone flying world championships: Thomas Bitmatta from St Monica’s College takes out top titles
DRONE flying is one of the world’s newest and fastest-growing sports, and now Australia has a double world champion in it – a teenager from Roxburgh Park. WATCH
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THE latest Australian dual World Champion is a young Victorian student who scored the titles in the most unlikely of sports: drone flying.
Thomas Bitmatta, 18, from Roxburgh Park, took time off from the rigours of the VCE and headed to the US for the world championships of drone flying.
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The St Monica’s College year 12 student won an invitation to the event, held in Muncie, Indiana this month, after winning the Australian Drone Championship in Sydney earlier this year.
He decided to test his hobby in the top two events, the World Cup Race and the Spec Race.
The young aviator beat more than 300 pilots of all ages from around the world to claim both titles.
Organisers of the championships, the 2017 RIOT-MultiGP International Open, said it was the biggest event yet in one of the world’s fastest growing sports.
Thomas, who became interested in drone flying when he was 12 because of his love of flight, said he lives for the challenge of flying drones.
“The World Cup was a high-speed race and very intense as drone pilots could use any drone they chose,” Thomas said.
“The Spec Race was more about general skills than speed, with limitations on the type of drone you could fly.
“My head is still spinning, it was mind-blowing to come home with the two world titles,” Thomas said.
He entered the Championships for experience but once he started to climb the rankings, the nerves kicked in.
“At first just being there, having fun and meeting the big names in drone flying was a win for me,” Thomas said.
“But once I went top 50 then top 30 then top 10, I really knuckled down and thought I could win this.
“I drew from my years of practice and it worked for me, I had the speed and the tactics.”
Thomas took home US$4,500 for his troubles as well as other prizes.
He’s on track to complete the VCE and will apply for universities at the end of the year but hasn’t ruled out taking a year off to pursue his hobby more seriously.
“I definitely want to defend my titles and maybe do a few more tournaments representing Australia, so I’ll just see what happens,” he said.
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