1st World Cup in Indoor Skydiving, Austin, USA - Final Report & Video
Three years ago Gillian Rayner of the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) and Axel Zohmann of the International BodyFlight Association met to discuss the feasibility of hosting a World Cup for Indoor Skydiving. The IPC went on to modify the “outdoor” rules for skydiving for use indoors to include four disciplines: Formation Skydiving (FS), Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS) as well as for the artistic events which include Freefly and Freestyle.
In January of 2014, iFLY Austin’s Operations Manager Erin Horton secured the bid to host the 1st FAI World Cup of Indoor Skydiving. On November 13th, months of hard work came together as the President of the International Parachute Council, Graeme Windsor, declared the meet officially open. An air of anticipation passed through the banquet room for no one quite knew what to expect, as the weekend was to be the first of its kind.
The flying began on Friday November 14thwith FS events. The Czech Bad Boys, Sweden’s Team eXact, and Monaco VitalSea quickly proved themselves to be at the front of the pack in 4-way, with scores consistently hitting the high teens. The crowd favorite, however, seemed to be Aerokart Ak’demie teams 1 and 2, composed of juniors ages 10-13. Female 4-way FS was a battle between France’s Aerokart Deep Blue and the Czech Republic’s Hurricane Factory Chicks with Deep Blue coming into a quick lead and consistently scoring the highest points in each round of the competition.
In Vertical Formation Skydiving we had 3 teams from 2 continents duking it out. Skydive Chicago’s Standard, multiple USPA National champions, quickly took the lead over Poland’s Fly Definition and Mexico’s Avix. In a display of the chivalry in skydiving, Mickey Nuttall, a member of SDC Standard, coached Avix both in practice and through all of their rounds.
The afternoon of day one brought on the Artistic Events: Freestyle and Freefly. All 7 Freestyle competitors were amazing in their uniqueness: Mateo Windoor, an 11-year-old that also competed in FS; Lise Hernandez-Girouard from Canada that flew in tune with her own music; and Leo Volkov from Russia who wore just jeans and a T-shirt. By the end of day one Reese Willson of the USA had a clear lead, with Olga Bakulina, Leo, and Mike Silva in close competition holding 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. All four Freefly teams showed immense talent. The USA’s Collective proved themselves as best in compulsory rounds while USA’s Mandrake flew beautiful free routines. Sweden’s Orion was definitely most original and Mexico’s Avix had great personality. Day one concluded with a live band, a drink, and an early bedtime.
Saturday kicked off just as the sun rose over a grey, misty Texas day. Good thing we are skydiving indoors! Impressive flying commenced and the leads that were created the first day were mostly maintained the second day. Vertical Formation Skydiving finished off with SDC Standard taking 1st place with 194 points, Fly Definition in 2nd with 139 points, and Avix in 3rd with 117 points. Most notably in FS, Spaceland Lite (whom had 2 very sick team members) began a comeback with an 18-point score in round 5 and 23 points in round 7. Daniel Lovett, the colorful MC, kept the crowd laughing in the building and across the globe via the live stream – there were some 500 viewers in over 20 countries tuning in to see the action in Austin.
The third day saw a huge crowd ready to cheer on the final rounds of competition. 4-way FS crowned the Czech Bad Boys as champions with a 209-point total, Spaceland Lite held on to second place finishing with 172 points, while eXact took bronze with 169 points. Monaco ended with 190 points but as a guest-team, were not eligible to be ranked.. In Female FS, Deep Blue finished the competition with an amazing 247 points and a record for most points in a single round – 37 points to be exact!
Freestyle was a sight to see as Reese Willson, still in first place, flew with his arms zipped inside of his jumpsuit. He still managed to maintain his lead, capturing gold with 60.4 points, followed by Mike Silva with 55.6 points and Olga Bakulina with 55.5 points. Leo was just 0.4 points behind in 4th place. Now that’s a close margin! USA also took 1st and 2nd in Freefly with Mandrake pulling a win, Collective taking silver, and Orion in third place.
The competition finished with a lively awards ceremony and champagne toast to celebrate the 1st FAI World Cup of Indoor Skydiving and the organizers, judges, officials, and competitors who came together to make it happen. Some sentiments that remain include an interest in a meet that combines both skydiving and tunnel flying, the joy in getting to watch the judges fly, and the possibilities of the IPC adopting rules for Dynamic competition. It was an event to remember, as it will forever be the 1st of its kind. The doors have flung open for future World Cups and Championships!
Laura - December 2014
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