Participants shortage for Wingsuit Acro Event

These changes directly affect the 4th FAI World Wingsuit flying Championships, which traditionally consisted of two events: the Wingsuit Acro Event and the Performance Event. Competitions involve different judges for each tournament.

Only two competitors from the USA and Germany have registered for this discipline, although the rules require a minimum of 4 participants. Thus, on 1.09.2022 the meeting between Organizer – Skydive Arizona and Wingsuit Committee was held. After discussion it was decided to cancel the Wingsuit Acrobatic event in 2022.

Last tournaments and expectations

The FAI recognized wingsuit only in 2015 as an independent type of parachuting and included it in the list of participation in the world championship.

So, the First FAI World Wingsuit Performance Flying Championships was held in 2016 in the USA.

The second took place in 2018 in the Czech Republic, where the honorable first and third places of the Wingsuit Acro Event were taken by teams from Russia.

And the third tournament, which was held in August 2021 in Russia. 9 teams from different countries of the world took part, including two teams from Germany, France, USA, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Based on these data, even more team’s participation from different countries was expected in 2022, but only two applications were submitted. The main problem might be a short break between competitions, since earlier there was a difference of 2-3 years between tournaments, while this time the difference was only a year.

Perhaps the participants need more time to prepare new unique programs that will surprise not only the viewer, but also the demanding judges.

Hard road to recognition

Wingsuit is an amazing achievement of the human desire to master free flight. The principle of its operation is most like the flight of a bird, because the suit has wings and allows a person to glide on air streams. The world record for flight distance, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, is 30.4 km.

As a phenomenon and even more so as a sport, it had a thorny road to world recognition. The first attempts to test a similar suit began in 1912 and ended in the death of the pilot. After that, many trials were made to make wings from different materials and shapes, but all of them were unsuccessful.

Moreover, the mortality rate was so high that for more than 30 years any testing of such structures was prohibited by law. And only in the 1990s, the Frenchman Patrick de Gallardo made a revolutionary discovery for the sphere and designed a modern suit.

It was only in 2015 that it was recognized as a world sport, as previously stated. Therefore, we hope that the next tournament will be held with many participants in this discipline and fans will be able to enjoy a great show!