Formation teams from HSV Red Bull Salzburg fly to the national and vice-national championship titles in indoor skydiving
© Sports report
They are among the world’s best in classic skydiving and para skiing. But also in formation jumping the athletes at HSV Red Bull Salzburg have now made a name for themselves and are among the leaders.
At their meanwhile second Austrian state championship in indoor skydiving, which took place on March 18th and 19th in Vienna, the Salzburg men were able to win the vice state championship title in the 4-man formation, and the women a state champion title in the still very young 2-man formation.
They are at home in the air – the athletes of HSV Red Bull Salzburg prove it, especially in parachute target jumping and para skiing (combination of skiing and parachute target jumping). Because there, the people of Salzburg have become an integral part of the world class and have dominated both the World Cups and World Championships.
Since 2020, however, the club has set itself the goal of being at the forefront in the discipline of “formation jumping”. Since some of the athletes practice this sport as part of their military training and have already completed a few hours of tunnel training, the skydive disciplines are therefore a fixed part of the competition calendar at HSV Red Bull Salzburg, both in the wind tunnel and “outdoors”.
In their first year, the men from Salzburg immediately took third place in the state championship in indoor skydiving. In the previous year, the relatively “young” formation team had to gather “outdoor” experience. At the Qatar International Parachuting Open Championships at the beginning of the year, the people from Salzburg competed against the best parachutists in the world and were able to assert themselves there in the strong field of participants. At the state championships in Graz in autumn, the intensive training of the young formation jumpers from Salzburg paid off with second and fifth place.
The last few days have shown that they were able to take this momentum with them into the new year. Because at the state championship in indoor skydiving in Windobona in Vienna (March 18th to 19th), the four Salzburg athletes of the formation team “HSV Red Bull Salzburg Aerodynamix” (Sebastian Graser, Manuel Sulzbacher, Kevin Wagner and Michael Hribernik) got sensational and also right confidently the Vice State Champion title. Despite the extremely strong competition, she shows a top performance and only admits defeat to the “owners”, the Black Mantis Windobona, who, in contrast to the Salzburg team, can look back on eight years of experience in the discipline.
Two women from Salzburg are also represented in this sport for the first time this year. The two army athletes Julia Schosser and Sophie Grill are now also tackling the “formation” discipline and were able to win the state championship title right away in the completely new 2-person formation (which only exists in the wind tunnel) and thus set high standards in this discipline. Especially for 22-year-old Sophie Grill, who is currently the hottest item in the Para Ski World Cup and parachute jumper and thus the absolute gold candidate for the upcoming home World Cup in Para Ski (a combination of skiing and parachute jump) in Sankt Johann, this state championship title is valid something very special. “We actually only started because we really enjoyed the tunnel training and flying together was so motivating. We really didn’t expect it to go so well straight away, but of course we’re happier about the gold medal,” says the 22-year-old, overjoyed at this victory with her club colleague as the “HSV Red Bull Salzburg Ritmo” team.
Para Ski Home World Cup in Sankt Johann as the highlight of the season
Now it’s back to the snow for the Salzburg parachutists, because in exactly two weeks the absolute highlight of the season is coming up with the season finale in Para Ski. At the third and last World Cup stop of the series, which takes place from April 1st to 4th in the Sankt Johann Alpendorf ski area, the athletes from HSV Red Bull Salzburg can legitimately hope for medals and thus also overall World Cup victories.
press info
HSV Red Bull Salzburg
03/20/2022