National Parachute Team in Race for Second World Championship Title

On the first Wednesday of July, the 46th CISM World Military Parachuting Championship kicked off in Szolnok (central Hungary). The participating nations, including the Hungarians, compete in three events. After the medals of the last decade, the bar has been set high and the national parachute team is cheered on by the home crowd as they try to win the second gold medal in the history of Hungarian parachuting.

Cloudy, windy weather is the biggest challenge for the teams competing at Szolnok-Szandaszőlős Sport Airfield, writes Honvédelem.hu. A precise jump can only be executed in calm conditions, while clear skies are required to assess the movements of the form and style jumps.

What are the rules for each event and what are the chances of our team?

The task is clear: to land in the middle of a defined sponge in ten jumps from a height of 1,100 meters.

Anyone who lands within a two centimeter radius scores 0 for their team, while every centimeter off the mark is a penalty point. Finally, the individual and team results of the day are summed up. The winner is the team with the lowest number. “We have always excelled in the finish line. We won a gold medal in Russia in 2016 and have managed to get on the podium several times since then. After six years, we can prove ourselves again on home soil,” stressed ensign Tamás Varga, who has competed in seven World Championships in total.

In the style event, the competitors have to perform three figures twice – a full turn left and right around the axis – and a backflip in the shortest possible time. When scoring the points, the judges will make sure that the 360 degree turn is exactly 360 degrees, and any deviation of plus or minus 10 degrees, right to left, will result in a deduction of points.

The third and most dynamic event of the World Military Parachuting Championship is the formation skydiving.

“According to the rules, the four-man team jumps from 3,200 meters with a camera escort, whose footage is used by the jury to judge the figures presented, as in the style event. The competitors have to make as many turns as possible in thirty-five seconds, sticking together with their teammates between turns,” noted Colonel Tamás Bali. The Commander of the Kiss József 86th Helicopter Brigade of the Hungarian Defense Forces is also the Vice-Chairman of the organizing committee (International Military Sports Council, CISM), and he encourages the audience in Szolnok to come out in large numbers to the competition and cheer on the Hungarians. The event runs between July 2-13, 2024.

Via Honvedelem.hu; Featured image via Hovedelem.hu/Schöff Gergely