Lake Elsinore Skydiver Joins U.S. Parachute Team

LADERA RANCH, CA —Ladera Ranch resident and Lake Elsinore wingsuit flyer Kristian Szczepitko has earned a slot on the prestigious U.S. Parachute Team that will compete at the 2020 World Championships in Siberia.

Szczepitko was performing at the U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships earlier this month at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina when he got the news.

"With the growth of wingsuit skydiving over the past few years, more skydivers are taking up this exciting discipline," a spokesperson for the U.S. Parachute team said.

In wingsuit skydiving, jumpers wear technologically advanced suits that are specially designed to increase their horizontal glide across the ground. This allows wingsuit flyers 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 has completed more than 2,500 skydives.

The 2019 USPA National Skydiving Championships drew nearly 600 of the country's top skydivers to Raeford for the biggest and most thrilling skydiving competition in the country.

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