With all of the World Championships canopy events complete, our attention moves to the FAI Skydiving World Championships, taking place in North Carolina from 5th-11th October 2024.
Not sure how competition events work? Here's an insight.
FAI Skydiving World Championships 2024
This weekend sees the biggest FAI Skydiving event of the year commence, with over 300 athletes (including 16 Australians) arriving in Beaufort, North Carolina, USA, to compete across four spectacular skydiving disciplines: Artistic Events, Formation Skydiving, Speed Skydiving and Wingsuit Flying.
All eyes will be on the skies above Crystal Coast Skydiving from Sunday 6th to Friday 11th October, with the world's elite skydivers aiming to gain the top spot in their respective events and set new records whilst doing so.
But how does the competition work?
Speed Skydiving
Let's start with Speed Skydiving.
Speed Skydiving is the fastest non-motorised sport in the world, with competitors wearing tight fitting suits and orienting their bodies in aerodynamic positions to reach their fastest vertical speed possible.
A competitor's fastest average speed is measured over a scoring time of 3 seconds across eight jumps, which can be taken from anywhere between 4,000m/13,000 ft (aircraft exit altitude) and 1,700m/5,500 ft above ground. GPS devices mounted on competitors' helmets measure their freefall speeds for the judges to review.
The current average speed record is a staggering 529.77 km/h, set by German skydiver Marco Hepp, in October 2022. To put this into perspective, the terminal velocity of a human body in a stable, belly-to-earth position, is approximately 200 km/h. A stable head-down freefly position produces an approximate speed of 240-290 km/h. So to hit speeds of over 400 and even 500 km/h is truly awe-inspiring.
Best of luck to the following Australian Parachute Team members competing in Speed Skydiving: Mervyn O’Connell, Shane Turner, Natisha Dingle, Simon Walsh, Tanita Rutherford and Alex Tomasi.
Wingsuit Flying
Wingsuit Flying encompasses two sub-categories: Wingsuit Performance and Wingsuit Acrobatics.
Wingsuit Performance competitions consist of three rounds in speed, three rounds in distance and three rounds in time, measuring the three different performance parameters of a wingsuit pilot (least drag, best lift and best glide ratio) and combining them into a single result.
Speed: Aim is to fly as fast as possible horizontally whilst in the competition window.
Distance: Aim is to fly as far as possible horizontally across the ground in the competition window.
Time: Aim is to stay in the competition window for the longest amount of time.
The competition window is between 3000m to 2000m AGL (approximately 9,843ft to 6,562ft AGL) and all measurements are carried out using GPS logging devices worn by competitors.
The Wingsuit Acrobatics competition pitches teams (two performers and one videographer) against each other, with both 'compulsory rounds', where teams aim to complete a set of randomly drawn manoeuvres from a dive-pool together, as well as 'free rounds' where teams perform their own choreographed routines to be scored on style, plan and camera work. Teams have 7,500 vertical feet to perform and score points on body position, smoothness of flying, controlled docks and forward flying speed.
Best of luck to the following Australian Parachute Team members competing in Wingsuit Performance: Luke Rogers, Tom Davies, Jason Dodunski, Tahi Paul-Munroe and Connor Young.
Formation Skydiving
Formation Skydiving is the skill of building formations in freefall, and is split into different sub-categories: 4-way and 8-way Formation Skydiving (belly-to-earth), and 4-way Vertical Formation Skydiving (head up/head down).
In 4-way Formation Skydiving, teams are made up of four performers and one videographer. The aim is to complete as many set formations as possible in 35 seconds of freefall. Competitions consist of up to ten rounds, with teams being given a different specific sequence of formations for each round.
The 4-way Female Formation Skydiving category is completed as above, with all four performers being female. The videographer does not have to be female.
8-way Formation Skydiving is similar to 4-way, aside from the fact there are double the amount of performers, and they have 50 seconds of freefall to complete as many set formations as possible.
4-way Vertical Formation Skydiving has the same principles as 4-way Formation Skydiving, only the orientation of flying and formations required is vertical (head up/head down) rather than belly-to-earth. Teams have 35 seconds to complete as many vertical formations as possible over ten different rounds.
Formations are drawn from an international pool of 'random' and 'block' formations. Random formations are individual formations requiring full separation of all grips between the performers both before and after building the formation. Block formations consist of two formations with a designated movement between them.
Best of luck to the following Australian Parachute Team members competing in 4-way Formation Skydiving as team 'Havok': Daniel Gray, Kristofor Sieczkowski, Alexander Cattaneo, Joshua Leussink and Adam Phillips (camera).
Artistic Events
Artistic Events are split into two sub-categories: freestyle and freeflying.
Freeflying includes a team of two performers and a videographer, while freestyle includes one performer and one videographer.
Both disciplines require a wide variety of skills, using axes in all three dimensions and controlling body flight in all different orientations. Competitions include two 'compulsory rounds', consisting of set sequences of four specific moves, and five 'free rounds', in which teams can perform their own choreographed routines, scoring points within a 42 second window. The 'free rounds' routines are scored by judges based on difficulty and execution.
Event Schedule
Follow The Competition
Follow the Australian Parachute Team via the APF Instagram and Facebook stories.
Follow the official results here.
Official FAI Skydiving World Championships 2024 Facebook event page.
Best of luck to all of the Australian Parachute Team members competing, as well as all other competitors.
Written by Lucy Clacher.
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[Photo sources: Mason Corby, Scott Paterson, Michael Young, Matty Walker, Orbit Media]