Poland's Sebastian Kawa has retained his 15 metres title at the World Gliding Championships ©FAI

Sebastian Kawa of Poland has retained his 15 metres title at the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) World Gliding Championships in the Australian city of Benalla today while two new world champions were crownded in the 18m and open classes.

Kawa claimed a decisive victory on the final day of competition to secure this third consecutive world championship title.

The Pole won today's 364.9 kilometres task in a time of 3 hours 49mins 9sec.

Victory gave Kawa the maximum score of 1,000 points which gave him an overall tally for the championships of 5,417.

Italian Stefano Ghiorzo finished in second today just under 13 minutes behind Kawa in 3:36:48 while Andre-Emmanuel Litt of Belgium completed the podium as he was third fastest in 3:55.33.

Japan's Makoto Ichikawa was Kawa's closest rival all week but endured a miserable final day as he finished way back in 21st position to rule out any chance of him becoming world champion.

Ichikawa did hold onto his position in second in the overall standings though, as he finished on a total of 5,281.

Lukasz Grabowski secured further Polish success as he completed the top three with an overall score of 5,222.

Two new world champions were crowned in the other two divisions of the world championships.

Killian Walbrou of France was victorious in 18m while Great Britain's Russell Cheetham finished top of the open class standings. 

Walbrou claimed his title in style as he won today's final task.

Great Britain's Mike Young won the open class world title ©FAI
Great Britain's Mike Young won the open class world title ©FAI

The Frenchman completed the 281.4km circuit in a time of 2:51:53 to give him a championship points total of 6,607. 

Germany's Mario Kiessling took second place in 2:53:39 while a time of 2:57:04 was good enough for Austrian Wolfgang Janowitsch to finish in third.

Kiessling also finished runner-up to Walbrou in the overall standings after he amassed a total of 6,514

Great Britain's Mike Young completed the overall top three with 6,480.

Despite winning the overall world championships crown, Cheetham finished in a disappointing 19th place in today's final open class task.

Italian Riccardo Brigliadori claimed the spoils in today's 302.2km race, winning in a time of 2:54:44.

Hungary's Peter Szabo and Australian Bruce Taylor finished second and third in 2:58:52 and 2:59:35 respectively.

Cheetham topped the overall standings on 6,562 while former world champion Michael Sommer of Germany could only manage second with a total of 6,549.

Another British glider, Andrew Davis, completed the open class' top three on 6,520.

A Closing Ceremony is due to bring the championships to a close tomorrow.