French Wingsuit Championships in Nancy

The French wingsuit championships took place from August 5 to 7, 2022 in the sky of Azelot, near Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Discover the impressive images of this extreme sport practiced by the skydiving elite.

The French wingsuit championships, organized by the EFPNL (Ecole Française de Parachutisme de Nancy Lorraine) took place from August 5 to 7, 2022 in the sky of Azelot, a few kilometers from Nancy, under the aegis of the FFP (French Parachuting Federation). Discover the breathtaking images of this extreme sport practiced by experienced skydivers.

About thirty human bats clashed all weekend in the sky of Azelot, as part of the French wingsuit championships. Dressed in an aerodynamic suit, the wingsuit, these experienced flyers hovered in the air and performed impressive figures for several minutes.

In a wingsuit you can really play in the clouds, you can gain height during free fall, so you really feel like a bird

“In a wingsuit you can really play in the clouds, you can gain height during the freefall, sometimes 50 to 80 meters for the best, so you really feel like a bird”Explain Aurélien, wingsuiter. From an airplane, the winged performers jump at an altitude of approximately 4,000 meters, then their parachute opens at 1,000 meters. If a parachute jump lasts an average of 50 seconds, the wingsuit allows you to hover in the air for more than 3 minutes.

It is a high stress, high controlled risk sport

Yves Grosse, President of the French Skydiving School of Nancy Lorraine

“It’s a high stress, high controlled risk sport. The practitioners are real technical professionals, there are no hotheads and it is very supervised”, reassures Yves Grosse, the organizer of these French wingsuit championships and president of the French School of Parachuting in Nancy Lorraine. In France, this discipline is reserved for experienced parachutists and to hope to practice it, you need at least 150 parachute jumps and training.

To admire these winged men and women, whose speed can exceed 250 kilometers per hour, cameramen also jump and their images are broadcast on the ground for the spectators and the jury. This high-level competition, qualifying for the world championships in October in the United States, in Eloy, Arizona, includes two events:

• L’acrobatic Where acro wingsuit, an artistic discipline consisting of 7 jumps. Among these jumps, 4 are imposed from figures drawn at random and 3 are free from technical and aesthetic ease. The team consists of two performers and a cameraman.

• The performance, an individual discipline consisting of 2 rounds for 6 jumps. There are three types of jump per round. A jump of “distance”, one of “horizontal speed” and a last of “duration of flight” between 3,000 meters and 2,000 meters, with a start at 3,800 meters.

If the discipline is still little known to the general public, the curious are there. “No incident to report, it’s a great competition with favorable weather, with a beautiful blue sky, even if we encountered some wind problems. We have high level performers and one of the teams present is even aiming for a world level”welcomes the organizer of these championships.

Here in Nancy, we even have a 75-year-old licensee practicing wingsuit, he is an experienced parachutist

Yves Grosse, President of the French Skydiving School of Nancy Lorraine

“This competition allows people to discover a discipline that they may not know. Here in Nancy, we even have a 75-year-old wingsuit licensee, he is an experienced skydiver”says the president of the EFPNL.

The French Skydiving School of Nancy Lorraine (EFNL), organizer of the event, is the largest in the Grand-Est and is in the top 15 in France. Two years ago, it already hosted the French artistic discipline championships. With its 13,000 jumps per year, it has around 200 members.

In France, 15,000 FFP licensees practice skydiving.