November 1, 2021—Artistic Skydiving is the only discipline that incorporates all possible dimensional axes into freefall. Both disciplines—Freestyle Skydiving and Freeflying—have two compulsory rounds in which teams complete four specific sequences of defined moves. Judges award points based on presentation and execution of those moves. In the five other "free" rounds, the teams showcase their unique choreography, including the perspective of the videographer. Each team is given a difficulty score from one to ten, which is based on variety of moves, degree of difficulty and teamwork. Artistic Skydiving requires serious talent—the pool of competing teams is usually very small, so this year's competition was an inspiring one!
Freestyle Skydiving
Gold—XP Ascend
Silver—Horizon
Bronze—GoJump Cauliflyers
Freeflying
Gold—Polaris
Silver—Elevate
Bronze—Italian Glitter Pantz
Artistic Events U.S. Parachute Team
XP Ascend
Polaris
Over at the Sawtooth drop zone, it was a blend of old and new to begin the competition as Accuracy Landing and Wingsuit Flying were the first to finish up. Accuracy Landing—a game measured in centimeters—consists of ten rounds, during which competitors guide their canopies to a precise landing on an Automatic Measuring Device (AMD) with a dead-center target two centimeters in diameter. To pilot an accuracy canopy, the athlete must have a deep understanding of weather, shifting winds and the micro-climate norms of the area in which they're jumping.
It's a discipline that's been around for a long time, and it's dominated by skydivers who've been jumping longer than the competitors in several other disciplines have been alive, but the competition in Accuracy Landing is as fierce as in any other event. The event is scored both individually and by team, and requires patience, a keen eye and a fantastic feel for canopy input.
Individual Results
Gold—Ehab Mahmoud
Silver—Mark Jones
Bronze—Natalia Velidtchenko
Team Results
Gold—Precision Guided
Silver—Old Bones
Bronze—Skydive Rick's
Accuracy Landing U.S. Parachute Team
Ehab Mahmoud
Mark Jones
Natalia Velidtchenko
Jim Hayhurst
Keith Bergeron
Edit Alisa
Jimmy Drummond
Cheryl Stearns
Kris Hayhurst
Marty Jones
Finally, high above those accuracy tuffets were wingsuit pilots carving the Sawtooth skies. Wingsuit Flying competitors must stay up-to-date in a discipline that sees technological advances on a regular basis; achievements are being reached now that were thought impossible only a few years ago. In this competition, there were two wingsuit events—performance and acrobatics.
In Wingsuit Performance, the pilot receives a single score compiled from their performance in three tasks—time, distance and speed. Here, the competition is very close, and the gold and silver medalists were separated by only a fraction of a point.
Wingsuit Performance
Gold—Alexey Galda
Silver—Chris Geiler
Bronze—Joe Ridler
In Acrobatic Wingsuit Flying, teams score points based on "figures" shown in the air, as well as for camera work and flying style. Style points are given for body position, smoothness of flying, controlled docks and forward flying speed.
Gold—Flat Spin
Silver—Pteam Pterodactyl
Bronze—Flying Dirty
Wingsuit Flying U.S. Parachute Team
Flat Spin
Pteam Pterodactyl
Alexey Galda
Chris Geiler
Joe Ridler
Chris Poteete
Andy Kenny
Brandon Russell
Marcelo Zoni
Kristina Theroux
Mahmoud (gold), Jones (silver) and Velidtchenko (bronze) stand atop the Accuracy Landing podium.
Gold Medal Accuracy Landing team Precision Guided
Freestyle Skydiving Gold Medalists XP Ascend
Freeflying Gold Medalists Polaris
Wingsuit Performance Gold Medalist Alexey Galda
Galda, Geiler and Ridler stand atop the podium.
Members of the Wingsuit Flying U.S. Parachute Team celebrate on the podium with champagne.