Skydivers to Compete at Skydiving Championships
World’s top 500 skydivers will be competing at the 2012 U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) National Skydiving Championships, stated to be the world’s largest annual skydiving competition, Oct. 25-Nov. 3 at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.
These aerial athletes will take the plunge and push their skydiving skills to the limit, competing in five disciplines: Formation Skydiving (4-way, 8-way, 10-way and 16-way events), Artistic Events (which include Freeflying and Freestyle), Freefall Style and Accuracy Landing (also known as “the classics”), Canopy Formation and Vertical Formation Skydiving.
The U.S. Parachute Team—the country’s top aerial athletes—have their final opportunity to show what they’ve got before heading to Dubai, UAE, at the end of November for the World Parachuting Championships.
[ Also Read: Space Dive Show on National Geographic Channel ]Also, in the classics event, U.S. Team member Cheryl Stearns, who recently reached 19,000 jumps—a U.S. record for most jumps for a female—looks to hold onto her national champion title.
The championships are free and open to the public. Sports fans and spectators can catch the action happening thousands of feet above the drop zone on video monitors, as well as view hundreds of colorful canopies filling the sky and thousands of dramatic landings, informs USPA.
Founded in 1946, USPA is a nonprofit association dedicated to the promotion of safe skydiving, establishing strict safety standards, training policies and programs at more than 200 USPA-affiliated skydiving schools and centers throughout the United States.
