Sky-high success

IN OCTOBER, Merrijig local Mervyn O’Connell competed in the fifth FAI World Speed Skydiving Championships held in Beaufort, North Carolina. Out of 44 competitors, including 14 women and 30 men, Mervyn achieved third place overall in the open category, moving his global ranking from 15th to third fastest in the world. His top speed at the world championships was an impressive 522 kilometres per hour. The event consisted of eight rounds, with competitors ranked by their best score across those rounds. In the national team category, Mervyn joined forces with Natisha Dingle from Queensland, ranked as the fastest woman in the world, and Simon Walsh, to secure second place representing Australia. In the mixed team category, Mervyn and Natisha claimed gold and set two world records. On June 1, Mervyn moved to Europe for work and travel, visiting seven countries and participating in two International Speed Skydiving Association (ISSA) World Series competitions. The first competition was in Germany, and the second was in Sweden, where he teamed up with his Western Australian teammate Tanita, and both achieved gold. “It was absolutely amazing,” Mervyn said. “I lived in Sweden for a month and skydived there in July and August in preparation for worlds. “I arrived in the US in mid-September and put in 120 jumps within two weeks before the championships. “I was on form, I was really happy with how things went. Unfortunately, we got hit by two hurricanes just before the competition. “It was great to be there with the Australian delegation amongst multiple skydiving disciplines, including the four-way team, the wingsuiters, and five- and six-suiters. “It was just a fantastic experience, and the whole competition was just the icing on the cake. “Physical training is complex on the move. Fortunately, Louise Hopwood from LouFit Personal Training could accommodate me with virtual workouts throughout my travels. “I worked from Indian balconies to decommissioned milking parlours in Ireland, US airports, and Swedish gardens.” Mervyn recently returned to Australia. “It’s fantastic to be back in Mansfield and get back into the swing of things,” he said. “Winning third in the world was exhilarating. "It was far more than I could have hoped for. “Next month, from December 7 to 8, I will compete at the Victorian Tasmanian Parachute Council jump trip, and the weekend prior to that, I have a training camp in Portsea. “We’ll have our Australian Nationals in March, and the World Cup next year is in Austria."