The freestyle competition came to an end, giving those competitors 6 free days holiday before going home. All the jumpers are now landing on the Palm, whereas at the start of the competition there were 4 designated drop zones for different disciplines. Since there are not so many competitors this year, with only 1 team allowed per country in each category, it is now possible for everyone to land here. This creates more of a buzzing atmosphere and more unity for the competitors.
4-way
Two rounds of 4-way were completed. Hayabusa picked up a questionable bust on the hill, where a hand that had already taken a grip slides marginally out of view behind a shoulder as the final grip is taken. It seemed obvious to the crowd and to 2 of the judges that the formation was complete but – hey! That’s the name of the game. It’s been a tough year for Hayabusa’s training. Andy Grauwels had an operation at the start of the year, Roy had a shoulder injury recently, both costing training time. They have also been dogged with bad weather, losing a lot of days including the whole of their final week’s training before this meet. Dennis Praet said they were feeling the lack of training – but they are still way out in front with 180 points after 7 rounds, and a 25.7 average.
Russia (Barkli) have 157 points in second, then USA’s Rhythm with 145 points. Qatar is in fourth, 7 points behind with 3 rounds to go, then UAE in fifth. Great Britain’s Raykipo are having a savage time with camera busts, as they had not managed to train out of the Otter and are losing points on the hill. But, as is their way, they’re still smiling and laughing, this team will go far. In female 4-way, the French are well ahead with 146 points (7 rounds), Norway’s Polaris are skydiving well and have 120 points, looking clear ahead of UAE with 101. In VFS Dubai Nexus extended their lead even further and put an incredible score of 31 on the board.
Freestyle
The freestyle competition completed with Will Penny and Yo winning the freestyle gold for France, ahead of Finland in silver. The Venezuelan team, with Olav Zipser filming Daniela, pretty as as a picture in pink, just managed to hang onto the bronze medal. The top three places in each discipline have a large cash prize that will certainly cover the team’s costs to attend the meet and more. Animare from the USA had their best day, putting their two strongest scores on the board but this was not enough to close the gap so they stayed in fourth place.
The fifth and final position was taken by the UAE team of Nada Attia and Stefania Martinengo, who put in a great performance for their first competition. Nada has a lovely style all of her own, it will be interesting to see this team develop in future years. The scores were very consistent, giving a good platform to build on. Top respect to Nada, who was doing back-to-back jumps, as she was also jumping in the Dubai female 4-way team. So she would land, rush back, change suits and mindset, and join a different team. This hectic pace went on all the way through the competition.
Canopy Piloting
The Zone Accuracy is now completed, with conditions finally improving for CP, with just a slight headwind. This let the competitors show what they were capable of, with a good number of perfect scores of 100. The unstoppable Curt Bartholomew (USA) put up two scores of 100, while his PD teammate Jay Moledzki made one perfect score. Jay, jumping for Canada, still beat Curt in the Zone Accuracy, as his other two scores were in the nineties. Julien Guiho of France also made a perfect score, and he finished in bronze position.
The overall positions show Curt in the lead, followed by Julien, then Cornelia, with Jay just behind in fourth. There are 3 rounds of Distance to go, to complete that meet and give an Overall CP champion. This will be followed by the optional Freestyle competition, which promises to be entertaining.
Full scores and video of the competition skydives at: Omniskore
Image gallery at: JuanMayerProductions
