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Skydiving discipline
Freeflying is a skydiving discipline which began in the late 1980s, involving freefalling in various vertical orientations, as opposed to the traditional "belly-to-earth" orientation. The discipline is known to have originated when Olav Zipser began experimenting with non-traditional forms of bodyflight. Zipser founded the FreeFly Clowns as a two-person competitive team with Mike Vail in 1992. He was joined by Omar Alhegelan (1st ever FAI Freestyle World Cup & World Champion), Charles Bryan, and Stefania Martinengo in 1994. The FreeFly Clowns are also credited with opening the first school to teach freeflying, The First School of Modern SkyFlying.
FreeFlyers training with a "space ball" for the Space Games
Freeflying entered the public awareness in 1996 when the SSI Pro Tour added freeflying as a three-person competitive discipline at the second televised event (with Skysurfing), part of ESPN's Destination Extreme series. One-hundred and fifty countries watched the FreeFly Clowns (Olav Zipser, Charles Bryan and Omar Alhegelan) as they took 1st place in all four international competitions along with other teams including: the Flyboyz (Eli Thompson, Mike Ortiz, Knut Krecker, Fritz Pfnür), Team AirTime (Tony Urugallo, Jim O'Reilly, Peter Raymond, Brian Germain), and many other pioneers of freeflying. From 1996 to 1997, the SSI Pro Tour staged eight televised events in both North America and Europe with $36,000 in cash prizes awarded to free-fly teams. SSI invited the 1997 Pro World Champions, the Flyboyz, to participate in the 1998 ESPN X Games as an unofficial exhibition.[1]
The resulting global television exposure attracted considerable attention to the FreeFly Clowns, the Flyboyz, and Freeflying as a discipline. A once fledgling offshoot of the mainstream, freeflying now comprises one-half of the overall skydiving community.[2]
Zipser's Space Games used a "space ball" as research and measuring device to provide a constant speed and direction from which individual athletes could be trained, judged, and allow individuals to race each other. In 1998, the Space Games accelerated in popularity and brought publicity to the sport FreeFlying.[3]
In 2000, FreeFly was accepted as an aviation discipline by the International Parachute Commission (IPC) and the first official FreeFly National Championships were held worldwide.[4]
^McKeeman, Pete (May 1996). "History and Development of Competitive Freeflying". SSI Pro Tour of Skysurfing and Freeflying. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
^Malone, Jo (June 2000). "Birth of Freefly". British Parachute Association. Archived from the original on 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
^British Parachute Association article, retrieved 10 Sep 2012
^FAI International Skydiving Commission, retrieved 6 Jan 2023
teach freeflying, The First School of Modern SkyFlying. Freeflying entered the public awareness in 1996 when the SSI Pro Tour added freeflying as a three-person...
formation skydiving using high-speed body positions normally associated with freeflying Virtual file system, a file system acting as an abstraction layer on top...
event created by 'Father of ' FreeFly' Olav Zipser. In the early days of freeflying, Zipser wanted to get the best freeflyers at the time together to research...
wind. A skysurfer falls at speeds comparable to any other freefall or freeflying skydiver, with speed varying depending on orientation. The competitive...
West Germany) is a German professional skydiver. Zipser launched the freeflying movement of the early 1990s when he began experimenting with non-traditional...
speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in their limbs (see also freeflying). In this case, the terminal speed increases to about 90 m/s (300 ft/s)...
speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in his or her limbs (see also freeflying). In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph...
be possible because while the normal terminal velocity of a skydiver freeflying is about 320 km/h (200 mph or 90 m/s), the high altitude with less-dense...
shot Tracking (dog), the act of a dog following a scent trail Tracking (freeflying), in skydiving, the technique of moving horizontally while in freefall...
successive World Championships. The history of these events is on this Freeflying page. Often called "Classic accuracy", this is an individual or team contest...
Empuriabrava, and has grown into one of the oldest and most successful freeflying teams in the history of skydiving. Stephane Fardel founded Babylon Freefly...
formations using higher-speed body positions normally associated with freeflying, such as head down and sitflying. BIG-WAY: The current FAI world record...
altitude awareness. The advent of modern skydiving disciplines such as freeflying, in which the ground might not be in one's field of view for long periods...
Parachuting 2022 FAI World Artistic Events Championships International Freeflying: France Freestyle: United States 19–27 Parachuting 2022 FAI World Speed...
also efforts underway to bring Bodyflying to the Olympics. Bodyflight Freeflying Skydiving Parachute Drop zone Stuart, Dale. "The Art and Technique of...
Air sports with the discipline parachuting were introduced as World Games sports at the World Games 1997 in Lahti. At the 2013 World Games in Cali, paragliding...
Freeflying at Finnish National Skydiving Championships 2009 Silver - Freeflying at Finnish National Skydiving Championships 2008 Silver - Freeflying at...
program Le Iene with Marco Berry, jumping topless and demonstrating her freeflying and sit flying skills. Mancino met her former boyfriend, BASE jumper Jeb...
are a United Kingdom skydiving team started in 2006. They began as a freeflying team and competed at both national and international level until in 2006...
album), a 2012 album by Rival Sons Head down, a position in skydiving; see freeflying "Head Down", a song by Nine Inch Nails, from the album The Slip "Head...
Pugachev Sergey Vibe Australia Craig Bennett Julia McConnel Michael Vaughan Freeflying France Cathy Bouette Frédéric Fugen Vincent Reffet Norway Håvard Flaat...
France Robin Dubuisson Nicolas Arnaud Japan Yoko Okazaki Axel Zohmann Freeflying France Stéphane Fardel Frédéric Fugen Vincent Reffet Germany Hartmut...
Pugachev Sergey Vibe Australia Craig Bennett Julia McConnel Michael Vaughan Freeflying details France Cathy Bouette Frédéric Fugen Vincent Reffet Norway Håvard...
France Robin Dubuisson Nicolas Arnaud Japan Yoko Okazaki Axel Zohmann Freeflying details France Stéphane Fardel Frédéric Fugen Vincent Reffet Germany...
freefall gymnastics, formation skydiving, canopy formation, freestyle and freeflying, and skysurfing. British teams consistently win medals in canopy formation...
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