Competition

Team events are the most popular form of skydiving competition. In the formation skydiving event, groups of free-falling skydivers form patterns by holding on to one another. In the competition, jumpers race to build the greatest number of patterns in the allotted time. In canopy formation skydiving, jumpers build formations after they have opened their parachutes. Teams receive points for style, difficulty of formation, and the number of formations completed during a single jump.

The latest skydiving competitions are individual events called freestyle skydiving and skysurfing. Freestyle jumpers perform acrobatic tricks while in free fall. Freestyle skydivers, however, do not perform prearranged sequences. Instead, they create their own routines. The specific movements of these routines are often more difficult than those of free-fall style jumpers. Skysurfing involves the use of a snowboard prototype to surf through the air. Competitors are judged by the difficulty and style of their tricks, which include loops, turns and twists.

Skydiving world championships are held every two years. When the world championships are not held, an international competition called the World Cup is held.