The 23-year-old former Peterborough and Spalding Gliding Club member has been selected for the Great Britain team to compete in the two-week event in Rieti near Rome for pilots under the age of 26.

And after topping the UK junior ladder two years running, the city top gun hopes to help his team soar to the top of the world.

He said: "I am really looking forward to it and am hoping for team success as well as cementing my place for the future.

"I have spent as much time as I can training with the other team members to become accustomed to their flying and to develop the teamworking that has been such a feature of British gliding success over recent years.

"I am really looking forward to it and know that with the team we have got we could do really well."

McLaughlin, who now flies for the London Gliding Club, first sat in a glider at the age of five and was allowed his first solo flight at the age of 16, since then he has lived and breathed the sport.

Coincidentally his longest ever flight was also in the Rieti area where the Apennines provide a perfect environment for the warm thermals needed for good gliding conditions.

He said: "I went to Rieti to experience the conditions there and ended up wth my longest flight ever - well over 650 kilometres.

"It's the most natural and dynamic way of flying with your progress around the course being all down to interpretation of the sky ahead. Nothing beats the buzz of racing around a task in good weather against your friends and then having a beer in the bar afterwards and talking about the race."