Dubai: France and Russia were evenly poised to top the standings as the 5th Dubai International Parachuting Championship (DIPC) entered its penultimate day of competition on Thursday.
At the end of the seventh day of competition at the Skydive Dubai drop zone on Thursday, France and Russia both had six medals each. France had three golds, two silvers and a bronze, while Russia had three golds, one silver and a couple of bronze medals.
Switzerland, the USA and Canada had one gold medal each even as Belarus threatened to move up the standings after claiming two silver medals and improving their chances of winning more in the individual competitions.
Russia, who had won gold in the Canopy Formation 4-Way Rotation and Artistic Freefly competitions on Wednesday, added another gold with their top place finish in the Canopy Formation on Thursday.
But it was France all the way after that as they helped themselves to the gold and silver in the Artistic Freestyle Skydiving along with another gold medal in the Canopy Formation 4-Way Sequential competition, where teams are allowed to throw away one round score after the mandatory eight rounds.
The USA too picked up their first gold medal of the competition through Curt Bartholomew when the seasoned competitor won the Canopy Piloting Zone Accuracy ahead of Frenchman Eric Philippe and Marat Leiras representing the UAE.
Leiras’ medal was the home team’s second podium finish in two days following the silver they won in the Artistic Freestyle event on Wednesday.
The last medal to be decided in the Formation Skydiving 4-Way VFS went to Canada after they had dominated the competition on all seven days. The team from Canada amassed 153 points at an average of 19.13, while Poland settled for the silver with an average of 1.50 points per round.
