Sport
28 October, 2024
Dingle world’s fastest skydiving woman
Oakey-raised Natisha Dingle is the FAI World Speed Skydiving Champion again after winning the championship meet in the USA. The Oakey Champion interviewed Dingle, who is still in the States.
Q1. Congratulations on another successful meet. What speed did you reach in competition?
A) My average speed over eight rounds was 483.22km my highest round this year was 492.08km.
Q2. How many athletes did you compete against and what countries were they from?
A) I competed against 44 open competitors and 14 were female. This is the highest representation for females since I started and this is very exciting for me to witness. Ten different nations competed.
Q3. Have you changed your technique at all in the last year?
A) I have been training in the wind tunnel to increase my body awareness and I definitely think it has helping.
Q4. How’s the sport coming along in Australia?
A) Speed skydiving has made some great traction in Australia and I am proud to announce out of the top four fastest women in the world, Australia has three. Australia got silver in the team event with Mervyn O’Connell, Simon Walsh and myself and also received a gold medal in the mixed team event with Mervyn O’Connell and myself.
This year, Australia set three world records - the highest average in a single round followed by the highest overall average over three rounds.
Q5. What’s next for “Tish”?
A) I will continue to train to the capacity of my funds, and represent Australia in Austria, August 2025.
Each year I just get hungrier to train harder and perform at my absolute best.
I’m looking forward to the future. Australia is the new team to beat on the world stage and I will do everything in my power to defend our title.
