Wiederkehr breaks world record on route to speed skydiving gold at World Air Games

Marco Wiederkehr earned speed skydiving gold in Dubai ©FAI

Switzerland’s Marco Wiederkehr broke a world record to be crowned as the speed skydiving champion at the World Air Games in Dubai.

The event, which has only recently been sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation as an official discipline, saw the skydivers exit an aircraft at 4,000 metres with the aim of accelerating as much as possible on their descent.

Skydivers are timed over 1,000m, between 2,700m and 1,700m, with each competitor carrying two measuring devices to enable the speed to be calculated.

Wiederkehr’s top speed was recorded at a world record 533 kilometres per hour during his first jump of the competition, which helped him finish ahead of his compatriot Christian Labhart and Britain’s Michael Lovemore in the standings.

“There are only six people in the world who have gone faster than 500km/h in speed skydiving and they are all here,” Wiederkehr said afterwards.

“Normal speed for a belly-down skydiver is 220km/h, we change our body position to be as streamlined as possible, like an arrow.

“Speed skydiving is all in the head, it is a mental thing, you have to concentrate on nothing and just be.

"In the air you must react before it has happened, not after.”

Germany's David Strasmann earned the hot air ballooning crown ©FAI

Meanwhile Germany’s David Strasmann was crowned as the hot air ballooning champion after excelling in the race to area task and the hesitation waltz event, in which the pilot has to drop a marker as close to a target as possible.

Strasmann fought off the challenge of 67 balloon teams to secure gold and he was joined on the podium by Belgium’s Steven Vlegels and Switzerland’s Stefan Zeberli, who won silver and bronze respectively.

The medal ceremony was one of several to be held during the day, as many events drew to a close, with France triumphing in the parachuting canopy formation 2-way sequential team competition ahead of Russia and Sweden.

Russia were able to gain revenge in the parachuting formation 4-way rotation event, with France and Belarus claiming the minor medals.