Wind Games

Wind Games are an annual tournament for indoor skydiving, sponsored by Windoor, a manufacturer of vertical wind tunnels. The event first took place in 2014 and as of 2017 ^[update] has always been held at Windoor's facility in Empuriabrava, Spain.

Wind Games includes solo, two-person, 4-person, dynamic, freestyle and speed events, all in a vertical wind tunnel. ^[1]

Wind Games 2014 was held on January 17–18. ^{[2] [3]}

Wind Games 2015 was held on 23–24 January. ^{[4] [5]}

Wind Games 2016 was held on 21–23 January. ^{[6] [7]}

Wind Games 2017 was held on 3–4 February. ^[8] Kyra Poh of Singapore won the solo speed competition ^[9] and also won gold in solo freestyle. ^{[10] [11]} A video of the third-place solo freestyle performance by Maja Kuczyńska of Poland went viral. ^{[12] [13]}

The Wind Games is presented by world-renowned AirSports presenter Regan Tetlow

The Wind Games 2016 – Music Takes Center Stage

In January 2016, The Wind Games became the first major international competition to mandate a routine performed to music in its freestyle indoor skydiving event. ^[14]

This year, the Freestyle discipline was introduced into the list of competitions. It provided the stage for the true breakthrough of musical freestyle. Recognizing her pioneering work, Windoor, particularly Pro Flyer manager Anne Maxwell, invited Lise Hernandez Girouard to play a crucial role in organizing this landmark competition. Girouard helped write the rules for the musical freestyle event, guided athletes and tunnel operators on equipment setup, and served as the head judge. By making music a requirement, the competition compelled athletes to actively engage with musicality, choreograph routines, and develop innovative ways of flying that harmonized with rhythm and melody.

The 2016 Wind Games competition, prepared for the freestyle discipline, featured a unique three-round format: one round at low speed, another at high speed, and a third where music was incorporated. Crucially, the judging panel for the musical round included professional dancers alongside technical skydiving experts. Among the judges were Adam Mattacola, a freeflyer with technical knowledge, Dolo Yglesias, a dance performer and instructor bringing artistic expertise, and Lise Hernandez Girouard, bridging both worlds. This interdisciplinary judging panel was a clear statement of intent: musical freestyle was to be evaluated not only on technical flying prowess but also on artistic merit, interpretation, and the crucial harmony between movement and music. This legitimized the "dance" aspect of this burgeoning art form.

The event was a resounding success, with Leonid Volkov of Russia capturing Gold, Maja Kuczyńska of Poland taking Silver, and Guillaume Boileau of Canada earning Bronze. The performances, particularly those by Volkov and Kuczyńska, were not only technically impressive but also deeply emotive and captivating, resulting in viral online sensations. Volkov's winning routine, for instance, utilized a combination of three distinct musical pieces: a waltz from the movie "A Hunting Accident," the soundtrack "Clubbed to Death" from "The Matrix," and "Lux Aeterna" from "Requiem for a Dream". As reported, "Just 36 hours after the event, over 28 million people had watched the video of Leo Volkov's winning performance... Maja's video went crazy, with 20 million views on one Facebook page alone". This sudden and widespread global exposure catapulted the new discipline into public consciousness far beyond the traditional skydiving community, acting as a massive promotional catalyst and solidifying the appeal of musical freestyle.

References

1. James Dator, "Wind Games is the dopest, most beautiful sport you probably haven't heard of", SB Nation , 7 February 2017.
2. Vania Da Rui, "The Wind Games 2014" (video, 4 minutes 54 seconds), Skydive, 24 January 2014.
3. "Wind Games 2014", Fédération française du parachutisme (in French), retrieved 8 February 2017.
4. Anne Maxwell, "Wind Games 2015", Skydive, 9 December 2014.
5. Windoor Realfly, "Wind Games 2015 Results" (video, 6 minutes 25 seconds), YouTube.
6. "Wind Games 2016", Skydive, 21 January 2016.
7. Randee Dawn, "Wind Games winner will blow you away with astounding aerial dance moves", Today , 26 January 2016 (videos).
8. "Wind Games 2017", Windoor, retrieved 8 February 2017.
9. "Kyra Poh: The 14-year-old girl who's the 'fastest flyer'", BBC, 7 February 2017.
10. "Die 14-jährige Kyra holt zweimal Gold und 'alles für Opa'", Stern , 6 February 2017 (in German).
11. "Indoor skydiving: Singaporean teen Kyra Poh wins two golds at Wind Games in Spain", The Straits Times , 5 February 2017.
12. Henrik Brandt, "Wind Games: Indoor skydiver goes viral with incredible freestyle routine", Daily Record , 6 February 2017 (video).
13. Andrew Liszewski, "We Should Definitely Replace the Olympics With These Badass Indoor Skydiving Wind Games", Sploid, Gizmodo , 7 February 2017 (video).
14. "The musical rounds at the 3rd edition of the Wind Games catapulted tunnel flying into the public eye". SkydiveMag.