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