Australia’s top skydivers crown new champions at Barwon Heads

THE 2024 Australian Skydiving Championships concluded on Wednesday last week at Skydive Great Ocean Road in Barwon Heads, marking a thrilling competition among the nation’s best skydivers.

Competitors showcased their skills across various disciplines, including Wingsuit Performance, Formation Skydiving, Vertical Formation Skydiving, Canopy Formation, and Speed Skydiving — the latter recognised as the world’s fastest non-motorized sport, with participants reaching freefall speeds exceeding 500km/hour.

The championships served as the selection ground for Australia’s representatives at the 2024 FAI World Skydiving Championships, often likened to the Olympics of skydiving.

This year’s event also featured the Speed Skydiving World Series, where Natisha Dingle, the reigning female Speed Skydiving World Champion, and Mervyn O’Connell emerged as both the Australian Champions and the winners of the Speed Skydiving World Series at Skydive Great Ocean Road.

Remarkably, Dingle also secured third place in the Open category, in addition to her victory in the female category.

Despite challenging weather conditions that saw the completion of the 4-Way Vertical Formation Skydiving competition postponed, the event was a success.

Participants found a cool escape from Melbourne’s heatwave, soaring above the stunning landscapes of Skydive Great Ocean Road from March 9-March 13.

The championships not only determined new Australian champions in Formation Skydiving, Canopy Formation, Speed Skydiving, and Wingsuit Performance but also highlighted the talents of Australia’s only all-female four-way formation skydiving team, The Bellas.

Bellas team captain Kristina Hicks grew up in Queenscliff but now lives on the Sunshine Coast.

“I grew up in Queenscliff, so being able to see the whole coastline of where I grew up was pretty special. I’ve never jumped here before,” Ms Hicks said.

The team came fifth this year but were happy with the result.

“We cane fifth, which is fine, but we were more competing against ourselves in trying to get a new point average,” Ms Hicks said.

“We’re competing against teams that have 20 plus years of experience in the sport, but we were very happy with how we performed. We got a 9.3 average, which is exceptionally well considering three of the team members have only 400 jumps.”