Indoor skydiving, an exhilarating sport, now has its own international competition. The 5th Annual World Indoor Skydiving Championships for Artistic Events recently wrapped up in Charleroi, Belgium, hosted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Competitors from around the world gathered to showcase their skills in both group and individual events.
The competition, held inside giant vertical wind tunnels, resembles a mix of gymnastics and choreographed dance, but with the added challenge of being suspended in midair. For those who couldn’t attend in person, FAI recorded the performances, allowing fans worldwide to experience the stunning displays of coordination and skill.
The concept of indoor skydiving dates back to 1964, when NASA engineers created the first vertical wind tunnel at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during the Apollo program. Over the past two decades, the sport has grown significantly, with more than 200 wind tunnels now in operation globally. These tunnels give both professional parachutists and newcomers the opportunity to experience the sensation of skydiving—without the dangerous free-fall.
The World Indoor Skydiving Championships features two main categories: Indoor Formation Skydiving and Artistic Events. In Indoor Formation Skydiving, four-person teams perform a series of aerial maneuvers within 35 seconds. The Artistic Events are split into two rounds: Solo Freestyle, where athletes perform compulsory and freestyle routines often set to music, and Dynamic, where two- and four-person teams complete both free and synchronized speed routines.
This year’s top winners included Maja Kuczyńska from Poland, who took first place in the Solo Freestyle category, and the Singapore team, which claimed the gold in the four-person Dynamic category.