Ladera Skydiver Swoops In On National Championships

LADERA RANCH, CA —Ladera Ranch resident Kristian Szczepitko is heading to the 2019 World Cup of Wingsuit Flying in Ravenna, Italy, later this month as a member of the prestigious U.S. Parachute Team.

Szczepitko will go up against nearly 100 of the best wingsuit skydivers from around the globe at the World Cup August 23-29.

Szczepitko earned his place on the U.S. Parachute Team, the nation’s most elite aerial athletes, by winning bronze at the 2018 U.S. Parachute Association National Championships.

With the growth of wingsuit skydiving over the past few years, more skydivers are taking up this exciting discipline.

In wingsuit skydiving, jumpers wear technologically advanced suits that are specially designed to increase their horizontal glide across the ground, allowing them to soar like birds through the sky at horizontal speeds approaching 200 mph.

In the performance flying event, individual competitors are scored on their horizontal distance, flight time and speed as they zoom across the sky.

Szczepitko, 39, works as an engineer for HATCI. He jumps at Skydive Elsinore and hascompleted more than 2,500 skydives.