Jón Ingi Þorvaldsson is the new world record holder in the pattern parachute jump

"It's naturally a huge honor to jump with this group. It's like getting the chance to do group gymnastics with Simon Biles and the entire US national team, Nadia Comăneci and ten other world champions between them, and then some amateurs like me."

This is what Jón Ingi Þorvaldsson tells mbl.is, a computer scientist, genius and now newly minted world record holder in parachuting, after setting a world record in two pattern class when he jumped from 18,000 feet with 150 other jumpers who formed two different patterns, or stars, in the few seconds the group had to play over the Skydive Arizona site between Phoenix and Tucson.

Þorvaldson's group broke the previous record from 2019, which was 130 jumpers, and he believes that it is unlikely that his group's record will be broken anytime soon. The results became clear last week, when the odd judge said his goodbyes after the judges had reviewed the pictures and videos and reached a decision.

It's the second time that an Icelander has taken part

"This was in the third and last jump, the tenth jump this week and the eighth jump that the whole group did together," says Jón Ingi. The group had a six-day time frame to try for a record and last Sunday was the starting day. According to Þorvaldsson, it is common for new records to be set on the last day, even in the very last jump, so here 151 jumpers clearly showed their hands after months of preparation.

This is the second time that an Icelander has taken part in a world record in a group parachute jump, but Ditta Valsdóttir became the first Icelander to do so in a 400 jumper pattern that was carried out over Thailand since the turn of the century and in collaboration with the Thai army, which provided the group with five Hercules C130 military transport planes to set a record that Jón Ingi told mbl.is on Sunday that will probably never be broken.

"This is a new record in the category where two patterns are made in the same jump," Þorvaldsson explains, "we have approximately 90 seconds to jump out of seven planes and come together in the air in the first pattern which is about 10,000 feet altitude. Then we have about fifteen seconds to form the second pattern," he explains.

At a speed of 200 kilometers

Each pattern only lasted about a second, "almost as soon as the last catch was taken in the first pattern, the signal was given to let go and move to the second pattern." At 6,500 feet, everyone must escape and get as far away from each other as possible before the parachutes are opened. Before opening, the jumpers approach the earth's surface at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour and then use a special technique called "tracking" to move apart, and then each jumper can reach a speed of up to 150 kilometers in the horizontal plane. These are big numbers and a lot to think about.

Doesn't it hurt the group when they have fifteen seconds to let go of the grip and move on to the next pattern?

"This has to be very balanced, if it's done in too much of a hurry, it creates a wave through the whole pattern that delays the process," Þorvaldsson replies, "of course you'll be a little nervous at the end, but it worked out."

The group that set the world record yesterday is a joint group of two large groups, Arizona Airspeed, which includes teams that are newly crowned world champions in the four and eight-man team competition, and the European group PowerGames.

The crew exploded with joy

Skydive Arizona is one of the largest jump sites in the world and the equipment is the best, which largely depends on having enough space, both for taking off with large groups in many planes and no less for the jumpers to soar with huge parachutes to mother earth and get in touch with her again.

When do you know you have a successful jump?

"No one knows that a record has been set until the judges have gone over it and looked at every single move on the footage. At five o'clock yesterday [Wednesday Nov. 6], the group was invited to an information meeting, where the wait was long. It wasn't until just before seven that the jury arrived, showed us a video of the jump and then announced that the world record had been set, and then naturally the whole crew burst with joy," answers the jumper, satisfied after many months of preparation for the jump yesterday. "This jump actually took a whole year of planning," he says.

Of the 151 jumpers in Þorvaldsson's team, he says that 34 women have taken part in this new world record, and - also when asked - the new world record holder, Jón Ingi Þorvaldsson, believes that at least two to four years will pass until another group tries to challenge those who set a world record in the two-pattern jump across the sun-baked plains of Arizona last Wednesday.

Þorvaldsson's Facebook page