Prague Crowned the First World Champions in Indoor Skydiving - Two of the titles were Won by the French

Thursday, 05 November 2015 11:15

WISC2015 Prague

On 23rd and 24th October, Prague became the venue for the first ever World Championships in Indoor Skydiving. This dynamic sport, which belongs to the official air sports family for only a year and a half, hosted 202 flyers from 23 countries. The 1st FAI Indoor Skydiving World Championships 2015 were fought in several categories within four disciplines. The most precious laurels were brought home by the French, who triumphed twice. The World Champions are also Finns, Poles, Swiss, Americans and Belgians.

“We enjoyed an amazing feast of sport here and the athletes created a fantastic atmosphere. I just feel a bit sorry for the Czech athletes, who believed that their home environment would help them, but they ended up several times just below the podium. Yet for me they're heroes. While the other competitors only focused on the performances, our athletes helped with organizing and preparing the background for all the others. It might have been this distracted concentration that made them lose a better placement. But still, the Czech team showed a tremendous strength. Hats off to them – both for their performances and for their helpfulness”, commented on the just finished World Championships Meet Director Jiří Blaška.

The great atmosphere of the championships caught the audience at the Letnany tunnel as well. On both days of the competition the viewing area was packed with people from early morning until late at night as the flyers showed off incredible stunts. On the first competition day the competitors filled the wind tunnel continuously for more than 17 hours. Their fantastic performances throughout all the categories were appreciated by standing ovations.

One of the most exciting fights for the title of World Champion was to be seen in the newest event Dynamic. The finish of the 4-Way Dynamic competition was very close. The Czech team won the free routine, but the speed was won by the French. The tournament thus continued as a tie, where finally French Windoor Warriors won over Czech Mad Ravens only by less than one tenth of a second.

“Incredible, I can´t describe this feeling. I am satisfied with our performance. We won and that is all that matters. Everything here was perfect. And finish like this, with world title, is amazing. Also because the team we were in the final round with – Mad Ravens (Czech Republic) – are super strong. We could not have a better team to fight against. They are amazing. We’ll definitely celebrate this success, but don´t ask me how. You don´t wanna know that“, shouted for joy a member of the victorious French team Windoor Warriors Léo Blanchon.

Another breathtaking fight was performed by the Sunday final of the Freestyle event in which individuals competed solo. The favorite was the Finnish national team member Inka Tiitto, who confirmed her role and brings the title of the first ever World Champion in Freestyle indoor skydiving from Prague.

“It is awesome, I am very happy. When we were doing official training and I saw everyone´s routine and style of their flying, I thought, if I am gonna make a podium, I would be super proud of myself. It was a surprise for me doing that good. I am a dancer from the background and since I started to fly I wanted to be able to dance in the air. This is what I like the most about this discipline. I love to create new positions and a new style of flying. I could combine two things that I love the most – that is why I love Freestyle. And I really enjoyed the competition a lot. I was also watching other disciplines. We are really friends in this sport, everyone is very supportive and we try to help each other. But of course, deep inside, you want to win. My mom was screaming when I called her I won this world title. It was a really tight battle and I am very happy“, described her feelings Inka Tiitto after the competition.

In Vertical Formation Skydiving the French team Transfert won, when they had surpassed silver Russians by a single point, after the Russian team had led throughout the previous 9 rounds. Then in Formation Skydiving the clear favorites became winners. The US team Golden Knights 4-Way Female won in the female category while among men there was no performance better than that of Belgians from the team Hayabusa. In Freestyle, there was also a junior category and their competition was dominated by Maja Kuczynska from Poland, who holds great promise for the future.

“From the World Air Sports Federation FAI I’ve got nothing but positive feedback. Everyone is speaking in superlatives about our championships, and I'm very glad about that. If we decided on another candidacy, we would certainly get a lot of positive points. At the same time, however, we cannot help the event just ourselves. I would be very happy if some partners and the state administration developed a taste for this beautiful and evolving sport as well, and so similar events in this sports field could gain their support. If we are not alone, we will definitely go for it again”, concluded Jiří Blaška, Meet Director of the 1st World Indoor Skydiving Championships 2015.

Results:

FS4 Open (Formation Skydiving)
1. BELGIUM HayaBusa – David Grauwels, Andy Grauwels, Dennis Praet, Jeroen Nollet
2. RUSSIAN FEDERATION Black Cat – Alexander Kvochur, Valentin Ilin, Evgeny Stashchenko, Vasily Korotkov
3. FRANCE FLY- IN France – Damien Gouriou, Laurence Hervel, Charles Rommel, Kévin Mansion

FS4 Female (Formation Skydiving)
1. U.S.A. Golden Knights Female 4-way – Dannielle Woosley, Angela Nicolas, Laura Davis, Jen Davidson
2. FRANCE FLY-IN France – Sophia Pecoud, Christine Malnis, Clémentine Le Bohec, Anais Maillet
3. GREAT BRITAIN Fly Like A Girl – Claire Scott, Laura James, Kate Lindsley, Lynne Murray

VFS4 (Vertikal Formation Skydiving)
1. FRANCE Transfert – Emmanuelle Droneau, Mickael Melo, Edouard Henry, Gregory Magal
2. RUSSIAN FEDERATION Flystation VFS Russia – Maksim Rudenko, Timur Asanov, Dmitrii Beliaev, Dmitrii Lednev
3. POLAND FlyDefinition – Dariusz Filipowski, Damian Piotr Bereda, Rafal Poplawski, Sebastian Raczyńsky

D2W (Dynamic 2 Way)
1. SWITZERLAND Team SUI I – Filip Crnjakovic, Fabian Ramseyer
2. GREAT BRITAIN Floh Well – Ben Broad, Luke Warren
3. U.S.A. Antigravity XP – Josh D'Annunzio, Zach Mullins

D4W (Dynamic 4 Way)
1. FRANCE Windoor Warriors – Raphael Coudray, Léo Blanchon, Clément Ducloux, David Petracco
2. CZECH REPUBLIC Mad Ravens – Ivan Farbák, Václav Dědek, Martin Dědek, Radek Meduna
3. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Inflightdubai skynamic – Simon Whittle, Daniel Roman de la Blanca, Ryan Dudderidge, Matthew Munting

FR Open (Solo Freestyle)
1. FINLAND Inka Tiitto
2. NORWAY David Reader
3. RUSSIAN FEDERATION Leonid Volkov

FR Junior (Solo Freestyle)
1. POLAND Maja Kuczynska
2. POLAND Andrzej Soltyk
3. FRANCE Mateo Limnaios