Presentation: “Black and White – Flying and the Choice Between What You Love and What You Fear”
Veselin Ovcharov was born on 28 September 1982 in Bulgaria. He graduated from the National Sports Academy with a degree in Freestyle Snowboarding and has been actively flying paragliders since 1999. He has completed more than 5,000 flights worldwide and has extensive experience as an XC and acro instructor, SIV instructor, and tandem pilot.
Ovcharov is one of the pioneers of acro paragliding in Bulgaria. In 2006, while in Nepal, he became the first Bulgarian pilot to master one of the sport’s most technically demanding manoeuvres—infinity tumbling. In 2015, together with Petar Lončar and Ondřej Procházka, he set a world record in Triple Infinity Tumbling, completing 126 synchronised rotations over Cappadocia, Turkey.
Among his greatest achievements is a world record of 613 consecutive infinity tumbling rotations, performed from an altitude of 7,000 metres. He is a Bulgarian national champion in both XC and acro paragliding, has ranked among the Top 10 in the World Cup, and has won numerous international XC competitions.
In cross-country flying, his personal best is an impressive 555 km flight in Brazil. He is also the only pilot in the world to have completed three consecutive flights of more than 500 km within a single week. In Pakistan, he set a Bulgarian altitude record, reaching 7,200 metres.
His adventures have taken him to some of the most spectacular places on the planet, from the Himalayas to South America, and some of these experiences have also found their way onto the big screen. Among his best-known projects is the documentary Infinity Himalaya, which has received numerous awards at international film festivals.
Veso Ovcharov is also an entrepreneur and designer in the paragliding industry. He is the founder of FlyTheEarth Technologies AD and the designer of the 3RS paragliding harnesses. Beyond paragliding, he is also active in BASE jumping, skiing, freestyle snowboarding and kitesurfing.
For more than two decades, Veselin Ovcharov has continued to push the boundaries of free flight—from extreme aerial acrobatics thousands of metres above the ground to record-breaking cross-country flights spanning hundreds of kilometres.
