The US Team Showed Strong Performances Across Every Discipline

Skydiving is viewed as a thrilling hobby and an exciting sport to watch... but few understand that there is an aggressively competitive series of programs allowing those with exceptional skydiving and parachuting skills to excel... and to compete with other like-minded athletes from all over the world.

On Wednesday, October 26, after weeks of fierce but friendly competition between skydivers from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA, the 2022 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Skydiving Championships at Skydive Arizona in Eloy came to a close.

International Skydiving Commission President Gillian Rayner said, "It was fantastic to see so many flags tonight and hear so many national anthems," after watching the victorious teams stand proud representing their countries. The “Star Spangled Banner” rang out plenty of times, as the U.S. Team had strong performances across every discipline.

The following U.S. athletes came home with the title of World Champion:

Canopy Piloting Freestyle National Team: Curt Bartholomew, Travis Mills, Justin Price

Canopy Piloting Speed: Jason Sanders 

Canopy Piloting Zone Accuracy: Jason Sanders

Wingsuit Performance Overall: Chris Geiler

Wingsuit Performance, Time: Alexey Galda

Wingsuit Performance National Team: Alexey Galda, Chris Geiler, Joe Ridler

Artistic Freestyle (Raija Kosonen Trophy): XP Ascend—Jason Brigmon and Jake Carlton 

Speed National Team: Niklas Daniel, T.J. Landgren, Kyle Lobpries  

Vertical Formation Skydiving (Fiona McEachern Trophy): SDC Core—Johnny Gunn, Dustin Hanks, Sam Lendle, Rook Nelson, Jason Russell, Stephanie Strange

8-Way Formation Skydiving (Ottley Sword, 8-Way): XP8— Jeana Billings, Elliot Byrd, John D’Annunzio, Tim D’Annunzio, Matt Davidson, Craig Girard, Andrew Happick, Michelle Karamon, Brian Krause, Eliana Rodriguez, Kirk Verner

4-Way Formation Skydiving (Ottley Sword, 4-Way): Arizona Airspeed— Brendan Haddon, Niklas Hemlin, Christopher Kuhlmann, Mikhail Markine, Joseph Marshall, Kirk Verner

FMI: www.usparachuteteam.org, www.results.worldskydiving.org