Wingsuit flying competition wraps up in SW China

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An international wingsuit flying competition wrapped up Tuesday in Jinggu County in southwest China's Yunnan Province, with Team France taking the crown.

The event, entitled “Wings for Love World Cup,” gathered a total of 27 top wingsuit flyers from nine countries.

"We're more than happy. It's the third time we participated in this event, and also the third time to win. It's a hat trick for us," said Vincent Descols from France.

A wingsuit flyer participates in a fixed point accuracy challenge. /CGTN Photo

During the competition, the pilots were required to jump from a helicopter hovering at an altitude of about 1,500 meters. They then needed to go through a gate made of two hot air balloons that was about 200 meters above the ground before deploying their parachute and landing.

According to the rules, the closer to the bull's eye they land, the higher their score will be, and the final scores was a tally of all three members' performances.

Team China got second place and were followed by Team USA.

"Compared with last year, we cooperated a lot better, but the result is not that good as I have expected. We need more training to perform better next year," Sheng Guangqiang, leader of Team China, told CGTN.

Chinese athlete Sheng Guangqiang participates in a fixed point accuracy challenge. /CGTN Photo

This is the second year that the event was held in Jinggu, which is mainly inhabited by Yi and Dai ethnic groups. This time, new events were added, such as reverse wingsuit flying. As a way of greeting the New Year, some of them also performed a night formation flight.

"The competition was really awesome. We had no stress at all. Everyone was really cool, really into the competition, and at the same time, we have a lot of fun," said Marine Galves Descols, another participant representing Team Sweden.

Considered one of the world's most exciting yet dangerous extreme sports, wingsuit flying has experienced a tortuous development, with quite a few daredevils losing their lives while experimenting with the concept. With the improvement of related equipment and more professional training, it has become a lot safer today and is gaining popularity worldwide, including in China.

Some wingsuit pilots jump from a helicopter hovering at an altitude of about 1,500 meters during a fixed point accuracy competition. /CGTN Photo

Xu Kai, one of China's pioneers, now tries to promote it among the public by organizing the annual event. He said he is confident with the future development of the sport.

"China has many great places suitable for this sport. Also, we have a number of excellent parachutists and paragliders, who can easily be trained into wingsuit flyers. Next, we'll bring in more advanced equipment for better training," said Xu.

Wingsuit flyers deploy their parachutes after passing through two hot air balloons as the rules require. /CGTN Photo

As a charity event, all of the prize money from the competition has been donated to local impoverished families.

Xu said this is an important way of maintaining the sport's charm and vitality.

"We fly for fun. But more importantly, we fly for love," he said.

(Cover: Some pilots, equipped with suits printed with "Happy New Year," jumped from a helicopter as a way to greet the new year. /CGTN Photo)