Simsbury Skydiver Wins National Wingsuit Flying Championship

SIMSBURY, CT—Sarah Chamberlain and her team, Flatspin, are the new national champions of acrobatic wingsuit flying.

The 21-year-old Simsbury resident and UConn student partnered with Jeff Harrigan, 27, of Coventry and Mark Krasinski, 53, of Somers to win the second U.S. Parachute Association National Championships of Wingsuit Flying, held last week at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Illinois.

The competition attracted 30 wingsuit skydivers from across the country for a week of exciting, high-speed competition.

Flatspin edged out last year’s national champion, Wicked Wingsuits, by a single point in the final round to claim the gold, as well as a slot on the prestigious U.S. Parachute Team that will compete at the Wingsuit Flying World Cup this November in Florida.

With the growth of wingsuit skydiving over the past few years, more skydivers are taking up this exciting discipline. Wingsuit skydiving jumpers wear technologically advanced suits that are specially designed to increase their horizontal glide across the ground, allowing them to soar like birds through the sky at horizontal speeds approaching 200 mph. The acrobatic flying event includes teams of three skydivers—two performers and a camera flyer—playing a thrilling game of aerial tag while gliding across the sky.

Chamberlain has completed more than 1,000 skydives. The team trains at Connecticut Parachutists Inc. in Ellington.

Story submitted by Nancy Koreen/USPA

Photo credits: (aerial) Curt Vogelsang/USPA; (ground) Daniel Angulo/USPA