AXIS Flight School offers structured, progressive training designed to help sport skydivers of all levels achieve their personal and competitive goals.
Whether you’re looking to improve your canopy skills, master new freefall techniques in the tunnel and sky, or prepare for competition, our world-class coaches will guide you every step of the way.
The ISSA Earnest Holdford Memorial Sword is a perpetual trophy that is presented to the ISSA World Cup Series Champion at the end of each year. The competition consists of several individual international meets. The overall result is determined by the sum of an athlete’s two best competition results regardless of the number of events completed. The competitor with most points is declared ISSA Speed Skydiving World Cup Series Champion for that year. If a competitor elects not participate in some of the available meets, the result for that particular event is zero.
Origin & Design
“ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!”
This trophy was donated by Matthew Holford, a speed skydiver since 2003 and is dedicated to the memory of his grandfather Earnest Holford. Earnest served in the 10th Parachute Regiment (10 Para) of the British Army during WW2 and always dreamt of being able to fall “as fast as a hawk” instead of being limited by the static-line parachute deployment system used by the military. Although he completed a handful of free fall skydives after the war he did not live to see the advent of speed skydiving which would be the realization of his dream. In his later years he collected swords and after his passing Matty presented one of them to the ISSA to be the World Series Winner’s trophy. The sword was one of the props of the multiple Oscar winning 2000 film “Gladiator” starring Russel Crowe. Earnest had acquired the trophy from Universal Studios and Matty thought it an appropriate recognition of the individual, gladitatorial nature of speed skydiving.
The trophy was first presented in 2015 to Marco Wiederkehr without the wood plaque background. In 2018 Max Hurd sponsored the upgrade that gave the trophy its current look, adding the previous winners to the plaque dating all the way back to 2004. At 1 foot wide, 4 feet tall, and weighing in at 17lbs, the award is decorated with small individual gold plaques with every ISSA winner’s names. The trophy is passed on to new winners after the completion of each World Cup Series, rather than being kept by the winner indefinitely. For the first time in the competiton’s 20 year history, the sword can now be found in the United States at AXIS Flight School.
ISSA Champions 2004 – 2024
YEAR
WINNERS
2004
Mark Calland (GBR)
2005
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2006
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2007
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2008
Christian Labhart (SUI)
2009
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2010
Christian Labhart (SUI)
2011
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2012
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2013
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2014
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2015
Marco Wiederkehr (SUI)
2016
Mike Lovemore (GBR)
2017
Max Hurd (GBR)
2018
Henrik Raimer (SWE)
2019
Marco Hepp (GER)
2022
Marco Hepp (GER)
2023
Marco Hepp (GER)
2024
Niklas Daniel (USA)
Niklas Daniel with the ISSA Earnest Holford Memorial Sword and the FAI Tim Mace Memorial Trophy at Skydive Arizona 2024. Photo Brianne Thompson.
The 7th and final ISSA World Cup Series Event of 2024 hosted by AXIS Flight School has concluded at Skydive Arizona. Over two days 10 competitors gave it their all, many achieving new personal bests. Congratulations to all participants who came from near and far! Special thanks to Skydive Arizona and the judging team who made this event possible. All photos by Alexandra Timokhina.
Top right to left: Alexander Lilburn, Jordan DuJack, Eugene Ciurana, Niklas Daniel, Brianne Thompson. Bottom right to left: Anna Lilburn, Joel Williamson, Montana Miller, Alexander Osborn, Donna “Coop” Bachler.
Open (highest – round / avg):
1st – Niklas Daniel (530.3 / 527.8)
2nd – Eugene Ciurana (492.7 / 480.21)
3rd – Brianne Thompson (479.3 / 473.7)
Female (highest – round / avg):
1st – Brianne Thompson (479.3 / 473.7)
2nd – Anna Lea (462.5 / 454.6)
3rd – Montana Miller (366.9 / 347.64)
Judges:
Donna “Coop” Bachler (on site), Sudeep Kodavati (remote), Hao Ni (remote).
Due to techincal reasons, two rounds were thrown out. Results on Skyderby.
Join us for The Foundations of Canopy Flight webinar hosted byUSPA on December 11th at 5:30pm eastern. This session dives into the core skills every skydiver needs for safe, effective canopy control, from proper harness positioning and weight shifting to toggle inputs and managing canopy dynamics. Perfect your landings, maneuvers, and turns with expert guidance. Don’t miss it! Register here.
Check out some of USPA’s past webinars on their YouTube Playlist.
The FAI Tim Mace Memorial Trophy is a perpetual trophy that is presented to the World Champion in Speed Skydiving by the previous Champion every two years. Founded in memory of Timothy Mace, it was presented for the first time to the winner of the 2016 FAI Skydiving Mondial World Championships at Skydive Chicago.
Design
At 16 inches tall and weighing in at 12lbs, the elegant solid stainless-steel trophy resembles a speed skydiver in flight. Beautiful, polished layers of steel plates create the impression of airflow and movement. Around the base of the trophy are small plaques on which the winner’s names accumulate.
Champions
The trophy is passed on to new winners after each World Championship (not World Cups), rather than being kept by the winner indefinitely. This tradition is a great way to celebrate achievements and recognize high performers.
Speed Skydiving (SP) Skydivers reach speeds well over 400 km/h (250mph), diving head-first toward the ground to reach the maximum descent rate possible using nothing but their bodies. Speed skydiving is the fastest non-motorized sport in the world and athletes have eight jumps to attempt the fastest vertical speed for three seconds. A GPS speed measuring device is worn by each competitor that collects the data for the judges.
On October 5th – 11th, 2024, 44 competitors from 10 nations – Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and USA – participated in the 5th FAI World Speed Skydiving Championships. The event was organized by Skydive Chicago and Skydive Paraclete XP and hosted at Crystal Coast Skydiving in Beaufort, North Carolina. The city was ranked as “America’s Coolest Small Town” by readers of Budget Travel Magazine. Beaufort is located in North Carolina’s “Inner Banks” region. Crystal coast is a truly scenic area, especially when seen form the air near sunset. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean made the climb to altitude quite enjoyable for someone who lives in the desert.
Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony took place at Fort Macon, one of the Third System coastal forts that were built around the borders of the still-young United States following the War of 1812. The athletes paraded through the fort with their national flags and were treated to a cannon demonstration during the playing of the national anthem.
The complete 2024 USA skydiving delegation at Fort Macon.2024 USA Speed Skydiving Team. Top left to bottom right: Maxine Tate (team manager) Colin Conway, Michael Brewer, Niklas Daniel, Brianne Thompson, Matthew Fry, Logan Mahone, Keaton Crowder, Montana Miller, Jorge Chacon.
Location and Challenges
The competition site has a humid subtropical climate and a field elevation of 10ft / 3m. Many speeders remarked that their performance was between 10-20 km/h slower than in training. While density altitude plays a role in performance, the competitors had a few more challenges to deal with. A powerful solar storm interfered with the athlete’s speed measuring devices, triggering around 60 re-jumps.
A bird strike grounded one of the otters, and on the second to last day there were turbulent winds attributed to hurricane Milton, which had passed over Florida and was on its way out to the Atlantic. Competitors were on a lengthy weather hold until the conditions improved. Despite all these setbacks, the organizers managed to complete all events on time.
Results
Over the 8 open rounds many new competition personal bests were recorded. While there were no new additions to the 500Club during this event, there are two other noteworthy mentions. Congratulations to Sebastián who became the 4th person in history to break 500km/h in every round, and Mervyn who is the 3rd athlete to reach over 520km/h in competition. These achievements will rearrange the ISSA Eternal Rankings when they are updated in the near future.
Nik soared to victory becoming the 2024 FAI World Speed Skydiving Champion. He was able to improve on his previous performance from the USPA Nationals just two weeks earlier. Brianne took 3rd in the female category and placed 18th overall. In the National Team category, Nik, Brianne, and Mike took 1st with a new National Team World Record. Brianne and Nik also took 2nd in the newly established Mixed Team category with a World Record set in round 1.
The awards and closing ceremonies took place at the Crystal Coast Civic Center. During the banquette attendees enjoyed a three-course meal while watching event footage on two jumbotrons. After the meal, the champions were called up on stage to take the podium and receive their medals and trophies.
Niklas Daniel receives the FAI TIM MACE TROPHY from 2022 World Champion Marco Hepp (GER).
The TIM MACE trophy is presented to the World Champion in Speed Skydiving to remain in his/her possession until the next World Championships. The Trophy was founded in memory of Timothy Mace and was presented for the first time to the winner of the 2016 World Championship. Past to present: 2016 Henrik Raimer (SWE), 2018 Thomas Moritz Friess (GER), 2021 Kyle Lobpries (USA), 2022 Marco Hepp (GER), 2024 Niklas Daniel (USA).
THANK YOU
AXIS Flight School thanks all of its sponsors, supporters, friends, and family who make chasing our dreams possible. In no particular order: Skydive Arizona, Skyventure Arizona, Performance Designs, UPT, Cypres, Cookie, Vertical Suits, L&B Altimeters, FlySight, and Althoff & Voeller. Special shout out to Heidi, Mickey, Dave, and Kay.
Here is to the Speed Skydiving community which continues to push the limits and brings out the best in each other.
Brianne and Nik took home 3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze, the FAI Tim Mace trophy, and multiple records.
The 2024 United States Parachute Association National Championships were held at Skydive Chicago on August 31st – September 26th. AXIS Flight School’s Brianne Thompson and Niklas Daniel competed in Speed Skydiving, which ran from the 16th to the 18th. In total there were 19 competitors, the largest turn out in US history for the discipline. Among the competitors were 5 females (two juniors) and 14 males (two juniors). The weather was perfect, and the competition aircraft was a twin otter. The Speed Skydiving Judges line up included: Ted Chen (Chief Judge), Michael Cooper, and Toby Adams.
Nik continues to hold onto the number one spot with a third consecutive national title and some new personal competition-bests. His average speed over eight rounds was 518.10kmh (321.93mph), highest scoring round of 522.31kmh (324.55mph), and a competition total of 4144.81kmh. Excluding round 1, where “stuff” happened, Nik was able to remain extremely consistent over the duration of the competition with a standard deviation of only 0.892. Nik broke a total of 9 records, including:
Highest Overall Average: 518.10kmh / 321.93mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental)
Highest Average Speed: 522.31kmh / 324.55mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental)
Maximum Vertical Speed without Drogue: 531.9kmh / 330.51mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental)
Nik’s ISSA Global Eternal Ranking remains at #2 behind Marco Hepp from Germany.
Brianne brought her best performance to date and is now the world’s fastest female speed skydiver. She broke 11 records, two of them World, and tying 1 World in the process. Her average speed over eight rounds was 487.75kmh (303.07mph), highest scoring round of 497.80kmh (309.32mph), and a competition total of 3902.02kmh. Brianne’s standard deviation over 8 rounds was 5.796, and her record performances include:
Highest Overall Average: 487.75kmh / 303.07mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental, World)
Highest Average Speed: 497.80kmh / 309.32mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental, World)
Maximum Vertical Speed without Drogue: 500.9kmh / 311.24mph
(Illinois State, National, North American Continental) – Tied World.
Brianne’s ISSA Global Eternal Ranking has moved up from #34 to #20.
All records are under review and pending ratification.
A tight race for third place unfolded between Brianne and Matt Fry who were only 2 kmh apart going into round 8. In the end, Matt took the bronze with a 6.5 kmh lead. Both came incredibly close to joining the 500 Club.
From left to right: Matthew Fry (bronze), Niklas Daniel (gold), TJ Landgren (silver). Photo by Anthony Armendariz
Congratulations to all Speeders who participated!
The 2025 World Cup USA Speed Skydiving Prachute Team
From left to right: Niklas Daniel, Brianne Thompson, Chad Henderson, Michael Goodwin, Patrick Kessler, Keaton Crowder, TJ Landgren, Logan Mahone, Katy Felix, Kate Cardinal, Matthew Fry, Eugenio Ciurana. Photo by Anthony Armendariz.
Special shout out to Air Force Academy members Katy Felix, Kate Cardinal, and Chad Henderson! This is the first time that Air Force cadets have qualified for a world level event. We look forward to competing with you in Hohenems, Austria (Aug 25-30, 2025)!
Team AXIS trained hard this season, but the USPA Nationals was only a short stop before the upcoming 2024 World Championships in Beaufort, North Carolina October 4th – 12th.
AXIS thanks all of its sponsors and supporters who make chasing our dreams possible. In no particular order: Skydive Arizona, Skyventure Arizona, Performance Designs, UPT, Cypres, Cookie, Vertical Suits, L&B Altimeters, FlySight, and Althoff & Voeller.
To check out more USPA Nationals media coverage, visiting the USPA’s YouTube Channel.
The AXIS MFS dive pool images and videos have been updated. Blocks 6, 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 have been replaced / added. Also, Random A has been updated. The new content is now availble on the AXIS Draw Generator.
