Seventy-six Formation Skydiving Teams Fly High at Nationals

Competition
Monday, September 23, 2024

Above: Open-class 4-way champions Arizona Airspeed turn points on their way to another gold medal. Photo by Anthony Armendariz. 

“I love the pressure,” said multiple-time formation skydiving champion Eliana Rodriguez during the 4-way FS event at this year’s national championships. “It always seems to bring out the best in me.” 

Rodriguez wasn’t alone, as 76 teams across the four FS events (4-, 8-, 10- and 16-way) showed up to Skydive Chicago for this year’s competition. “For me, this competition is a lifelong dream to get to jump with my daughters, and here we are,” said Al Etienne, whose team AirGo (including his daughters Hannah and Rebekah) earned the silver medal in the 4-way beginner class. 

For the teams, the competition was the culmination of many months—or, in some cases, years—of hard work and dedication. “It’s been a fun season training at Paraclete XP, and competing with these four driven and hard-working women—it’s been a privilege,” said Taylor Buffington, video flyer for XPG4, who competed in the 4-way open class. “We took second behind Arizona Airspeed, which in the U.S. is more or less like first place.” 

Joining Airspeed with 4-way gold medals of their own were AirRaid XP (advanced), CSC Constellation (intermediate) and CSC Singularity (beginner). In the 8-way FS event, GKXP8 took the top medal in the open class, joined by Perris Byte (advanced) and SDMW Salty Margar8as (intermediate). Prison Brheak (10-way) and Prison Rhiot (16-way) rounded out the gold-medal-winning teams. 

Full podium results can be found below, with full scoreboards available at intimescoring.com. 

4-way—Open 

Gold—Arizona Airspeed 

Silver—XPG4 

Bronze—GK4 

4-way—Advanced 

Gold—AirRaid XP 

Silver—AF Gambit 

Bronze—AF Halo 

4-way—Intermediate 

Gold—CSC Constellation XP 

Silver—XP Falcons 

Bronze—Spaceland Toxic 

4-way—Beginner 

Gold—CSC Singularity 

Silver—AirGo 

Bronze—Spaceland Toxic Intrusive Thoughts 

 8-way—Open 

Gold—GKXP8 

Silver—Prison 9 

Bronze—Bra Nok XP 

8-way—Advanced 

Gold—Perris Byte 

Silver—Spaceland Elev8 

Bronze—Perris XLR8 

8-way—Intermediate 

Gold—SDMW Salty Margar8as 

Silver—SDC Rh8ders! 

Bronze—AF Skyline 

10-way 

Gold—Prison Brheak 

Silver—Negative In10tions 

Bronze—Delicate Backpacking 

16-way 

Gold—Prison Rhiot 

Silver—More Than Adequate 

Bronze—Tequila Brothers 16