After thousands of practice jumps and hundreds of hours in a plane, skydiving medals are won and lost within 45 seconds and 4 kilometres above the ground.

It is that tiny, thrilling window that competitors at the World Parachuting Championships on the Gold Coast say keeps them coming back for more.

“It is the most fun you can have — you have a real buzz the whole time because you don’t want to let your teammate down and you want to do the best that you can,” Australian representative Archie Jamieson said.

“You have to learn to control your adrenaline.”

For a week starting this Sunday, 600 elite skydivers from 25 countries will vie for 10 titles in the skies above Runaway Bay, including formation and speed skydiving, where competitors freefall at up to 600 kilometres per hour.

“It’s not a crazy people sport like a lot of people think it is,” he said.

Source
ABC News