FAI: Marcus KingNatisha Dingle has retained her crown as the world’s fastest woman after hitting an average speed of 309.01 mph during a skydiving competition in Austria.
The Queensland athlete set the record at the 6th FAI World Cup of Speed Skydiving on August 30, surpassing her previous mark of 305.70 mph achieved in 2022, according to Guinness World Records.
Dingle has built a streak of victories in the sport, winning the 5th FAI World Cup in 2023 and the 4th FAI World Speed Skydiving Championships in 2024, per the FAI World Air Sports Federation.
Team gold and new records
The 37-year-old also set a new Oceania record at this year’s event and secured gold in the mixed team category alongside Mervyn O’Connell. Together, they recorded an average speed of 507.58 kph, a new world record for the discipline.
FAI: Marcus KingSpeaking to ABC, Dingle described the feeling of skydiving at those speeds as “freedom,” explaining, “You’re not thinking about what’s happening in your life, you’re not thinking about what you’re having for dinner. You’re thinking about the task at hand.”
She added that the secret to maintaining maximum speed is staying as still as possible: “Every time you move, every time you put something into the wind, you’re slowing down. So the trick is to not try too hard.”
This isn’t the first time the existing record holder has broken their own record in 2025, either. In September, Thor ‘The Mountain’ Bjornsson deadlifted a staggering 1,124 pounds – 11 pounds more than his previous record.