Australian Munroe wins air racing title at Wingsuit World Championship

CHANGSHA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian wingsuiter Tahi Munroe won the air racing title in 24.703 seconds at the tenth World Wingsuit League (WWL) Wingsuit World Championship at Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday.

The final eight competitors jumped in turns from the nearly 1,400-meter-high mountain. The vertical distance between the takeoff and landing points is 990 meters, and the straight-line distance through the air is about 1.3 kilometers. Munroe, who entered the final with the best result in the preliminaries, took first place with an outstanding performance after two rounds of fierce competition.

As a first-time participant, Munroe demonstrated his professional athletic ability with flawless flight. He expressed his happiness at achieving excellent results at Tianmen Mountain, which has been his dream for many years.

South African athlete Jean Jacques Wallis and Norwegian athlete Joakim Lerhaugen won second and third place, respectively.

This is Wallis' third time participating in the competition. He previously won the second place in the 2023 race. In the final race, he finished second with a time of 24.766 seconds.

Lerhaugen, who is only 28 years old, is the youngest participant in this event. This was his first time participating in a competition in China, and he secured third place with a time of 25.226 seconds.

All eight participants completed the final race within 26 seconds.

The tenth World Wingsuit Flying Championship started on September 16th and will last for four days. The precision target competition final will be held on Thursday. ■