French parachutists break another world record
By Primastuti Handayani
LIDO, West Java (JP): The French team's pre-tournament prediction to break records during the Sixth World Parachuting Championships on Canopy Formation came true for the second time yesterday.
The team, which produced a new world record in the four-way canopy rotation event on Sunday, set a new world record in the eight-way speed rotation yesterday.
France, which established the old record in Australia in 1994 by clocking 29 seconds, yesterday sharpened the mark to 27.46 seconds in its first jump.
Unfortunately, the team, which received great applause from 2,000-strong crowd, failed to repeat its outstanding performance in the second and third jumps and was only able to clock 29.78 and 36.56 seconds.
Eight-way speed rotation is a competition in which participants have to assemble in specified formations in the shortest possible time.
The United States and the Russian teams were involved in a close struggle to secure second place.
But the United States triumphed by clocking 40.93 seconds in the first jump and improved it to 33.91 seconds in its second jump. In its third jump, however, the team failed to better its record and only timed 35.17 seconds.
Russia had to be satisfied with third after clocking 38.14 seconds in its first jump. In the next two jumps the Russians only managed to clock 43.66 and 53.34 seconds respectively.
Host Indonesia, which only prepared its team for a month in the United States, was only able to clock 120 seconds, the time limit approved by the judges.
The country's team, which consists of the Army's and the Air Force's Special Forces, produced the same time in its second jump. In its third jump, Indonesia finally improved its time to 92.44 seconds.
The organizers had to delay the event for about five hours due to the wind speed. The event was halted at around 9.30 a.m. and resumed at 2.30 p.m.
"The wind speed is more than 20 knots. In a canopy competition, the rules say that the wind should be 12 knots," Lt. Col. Sus Sunjoto, the organizers' spokesman, said.
The eight-way speed formation category, which was expected to have eight competing teams, only saw six teams, including Germany and Australia.
New Zealand withdrew from the event because one of its members, Severn Smith, was injured earlier in the morning.
Smith was about to land when his legs hit a flag pole around the dropping zone. He was then flown directly to Soekarno-Hatta by police helicopter.
"It caused a deep hole in his legs and he's not comfortable with that," said teammate Jeff Kay.
The eight-way formation event was scheduled to be an eight- jump event. Weather permitting, it will continue today for the remaining five jumps.