Baumgartner skydiving’s universal mascot

Dubai: Friends, colleagues and teammates fondly recalled the streak of genius that always set apart Felix Baumgartner as he paid a visit to the SkyDive Dubai site on the penultimate day of the FAI World Parachuting Championships Mondial 2012 Dubai on Friday.

“Last year we jumped together at this very site and this year Felix is someone the whole world is talking about,” beamed Baumgartner’s Austrian teammate Nagele Bernhard.

“He is such a nice guy, but a little crazy too. There is nothing in our sport that is difficult for him to execute. But I suppose that is the case when there is a genius involved,” he added.

Baumgartner was a member of the Austrian national team that participated in the 2011 FAI World Parachuting Championships held at the same venue last December.

“We started off together in the Austrian military and that was way back in 1985. But here he is as one of the most famous men on earth due to his feat and I am continuing with my parachuting activities,” Bernhard said.

Karin Adelbrecht, who is a member of the Austrian women’s squad at the championships, said she couldn’t but feel inspired by Baumgartner’s success. “Felix made every Austrian proud and share his feeling of achievement. He made history with that jump and this leap was not just for Austria, but for the whole of mankind.”

Michael Egger, who was one of the organisers of the para-skiing competition during Mondial 2012 Dubai, also exuded a sense of pride. “Twelve months back we jumped in the same team and now he sits as one of the legends of humanity. It was a very important moment for us all because Austria was once again in the limelight,” he said.

“Felix is such a marvellous character. He knows what he does and he prefers doing everything in a methodical manner and this is truly a sign of genius,” Egger said.

Colombian Jonathan Florez, who was in China attending a base race when Baumgartner made the jump from space in October, was amazed simply to have met the man and shook his hand. “He has asked me to send me the link to the video on the base race. He is truly such a great human being.”

Meanwhile, France dominated traditional rivals the USA as the FAI World Parachuting Championships Mondial 2012 Dubai entered its final day of competition at the SkyDive Dubai on The Palm Marina on Friday.

With competition completed in 21 of the total 22 events at the championships, France upset calculations bagging eight gold medals along with a couple of silver and bronze medals to register their best-ever performance in a world championships.

The US took six gold medals.

“It feels great to go way ahead of our expectations at this Mondial,” said Jean-Michel Poulet, technical director, Federation Francaise de Parachutism, speaking to Gulf News in Dubai on Friday.

“Our aim was to win more than six gold medals this time, but we find that we have done better than what we had hoped for. It’s all down to the efforts our team has put during training and the tough competition here has helped us even more,” he added.

The UAE can count itself among the fastest-improving nations in the sport after bagging a silver medal in the Vertical Formation Skydiving earlier this week.