Air Force cadet wins national skydiving award
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) cadet has been named “Most Competitive Collegiate Skydiver” at the 2023 National Collegiate Skydiving Championships.
Cadet 1st Class Brock Holmgreen is a member of the USAFA’s Wings of Blue parachute team. He and 96 other skydivers from 10 colleges around the nation met in the sky above Lake Elsinore, California from Dec. 28, 2023, to Jan. 3, 2024, to compete and show off their skydiving skills.
Below is some footage sent to us by USAFA that features Holmgreen and the Wings of Blue doing jumps in formation. The team also won several awards at the competition, including four gold, silver, and bronze medals. They also set six California records for longest and highest 2-way Vertical Formation Skydiving, longest and highest 4-way Formation Skydiving, the best score after three rounds in Team Sport Accuracy, and the fastest time of 8.53 seconds in the 6-way speed event.
In a press release from USAFA, Lt. Col. Jarrod Aranda, Brock’s Wings of Blue coach, expressed great pride in his team and praised their dedication and teamwork—with a special shout-out for Holmgreen.
“At the beginning of our season, we challenged our cadets to take personal responsibility for their accuracy training and Cadet Holmgreen rose to that challenge and showed immense personal dedication,” Arranda said. “He made the most out of every training jump. His personal investment propelled our team’s success to the next level.”
Cadet Brock Holmgreen Wings of Blue
The National Collegiate Skydiving Championships are held by the United States Parachute Association (USPA) to promote education, community, and sportsmanship in skydiving. Cadet Holmgreen’s performance throughout the competition earned him USPA’s title of “Most Competitive Collegiate Skydiver.”
“I’m grateful for my family, teammates, and friends who have helped our team succeed at this championship,” Holmgreen said. “Winning the award was an amazing opportunity to demonstrate how hard our team has worked to achieve the goals we set over the previous year.”
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