Members of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, along with veterans and skilled civilian skydivers gave a dominant performance this past week at the World Skydiving Championships. Teams representing the United States won seven gold medals across multiple events, including a dominant win in the 8-Way Formation Skydiving contest by members of the U.S. Army.
The competition, held every two years and organized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, saw teams from around the world compete in several different challenges in the air over Beaufort, North Carolina from Oct. 5-11. The competitions saw the teams leap out of planes, creating formations on the way down, with only a short period of time to nail the patterns. Points were awarded per each completed formation. Each jump is filmed by an accompanying videographer who also jumps with them.
It’s 100% pure adrenaline, as Patrick Swayze said in ‘Point Break.’ For the soldiers on the team, it’s also their job.
This year Team USA drew on civilian skydivers as well as active-duty and veterans from the U.S. Army Parachute Team, also known as the “Golden Knights.” The demonstration unit, based out of Fort Liberty, regularly competes in these types of events. Sgt. 1st Class Mitchell Stockenberg, Sgt. 1st Class Jeshua Stahler and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Connors were the members of the Golden Knights to compete for Team USA this year. For this year’s 8-Way competition team, six current and former members of the Golden Knights teamed up with four members from Paraclete XP.
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“GKXP8,” as the team was called, did 10 jumps, scoring a total of 239 points, 49 more than second-place Qatar. In the ninth round, the team set a new world record, completing 37 formations in the jump. That broke the previous record of 33, set by the Golden Knights in 2015.
U.S. Army photo by Megan Hackett
“It’s been a very proud and rewarding experience to compete again alongside my former teammates, and to see the Golden Knights return to the pinnacle of formation skydiving on the world stage,” Andrew Starr, a retired Sgt. 1st Class and former member of the Army Parachute Team who competed with Team USA thjis year, said after the win.
GKXP8 also set another record, with the highest points average for the event, at 23.9 points per round.
Team USA also won gold in the 4-Way Open, 4-Way Female, Vertical Formation Skydiving events. The active-duty soldiers only participated in the 8-Way Formation competition.