posted Oct 3rd, 2025 - Craig Girard is the most successful competitor in the history of horizontal formation skydiving since 1985. He had won seven of his FAI gold medals at outdoor world championships when his NSL Profile was published in 2009.

He had just added another 4-way gold medal in Maubeuge 2008, together with Airspeed Odyssey and his wife Eliana Rodriguez, and they were on their way to defend the title in Menzelinsk 2010.

They ended up only in 2nd place behind the same French opponent as in 2008. However, he was already ahead of any other 4-way or 8-way world champions in the history of the sport at that time and did not need another FAI gold medal to maintain the leading position in the world.

The story had more details at the time of the NSL Profile publication, and a few updates followed, the latest one in February 2022.

Craig Girard was training and competing with the Golden Knights 8-way team when he won his first FAI gold medal in 1989, and he followed up with three more 8-way medals before switching to 4-way and winning with Airspeed Vertical in Spain 2001. He added the last gold medal in 8-way to his collection 33 years later in Eloy 2022.

He was 24 years of age when he won his first 8-way gold medal in 1989 and won the last one in 2022 with 57 years of age. It was the AZXP8 lineup of 2022 who won and allowed him to add the 8th FAI gold medal to the other five 8-way and two 4-way world championship titles.

---

Vote for Craig Girard

---

FAI World Championship 1989			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	14	15	17	13	14	12	13	11	14	15	138	13.8
2	Russia	RU	13	14	17	13	12	12	12	12	13	15	133	13.3
3	France	FR	14	10	15	12	11	11	13	12	13	14	125	12.5
4	Great Britain	UK	8	8	12	9	9	6	9	9	10	9	89	8.9
5	Switzerland	CH	8	7	8	8	7	6	8	7	8	9	76	7.6
6	Australia	AU	7	7	9	5	9	6	9	7	8	6	73	7.3
7	Norway	NO	6	6	7	9	8	6	8	6	7	-	63	7.0
8	Denmark	DK	5	5	7	8	6	7	7	6	-	-	51	6.4
9	Finland	FI	6	7	7	7	6	1	7	5	-	-	46	5.8
10	Sweden	SE	6	5	6	7	5	4	7	5	-	-	45	5.6
11	Belgium	BE	6	7	7	7	6	4	5	0	-	-	42	5.3
12	New Zealand	NZ	4	6	6	5	5	4	5	5	-	-	40	5.0
13	Spain	ES	5	5	6	4	4	4	5	5	-	-	38	4.8
14	Brazil	BR	4	4	6	5	4	4	5	1	-	-	33	4.1

Medal count in horizontal formation skydiving competition at outdoor world championship since 1985

---

Craig Girard was far from being done with his active competition career after winning his 8th FAI gold medal. Another three years later, now entering the golden 60s of age, he traveled to the Netherlands and guided the 8-way lineup of Mandatory Fun! to their first FAI medals, this time at a world cup and together with Arizona Airspeed world champion Chris Kuhlmann and XP8 member Andrew Happick.

Knowing that he will already be at the site of the event, he had also joined forces with three other reigning 4-way world champions, Arizona Airspeed's Niklas Hemlin and XPG4's Michelle Karamon and Brenn Richards. U.S. Team One finished in 5th place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, two points behind SDC Rhythm XP. Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez have plans for the USPA Nationals later this month, as well.

Craig Girard's unique formation skydiving competition career was recognized not only with the NSL Profile in 2009. Three years later, he was also inducted into the International Museum's Hall of Fame. He was in one of the earliest Hall of Fame classes in 2012, after the inauguration of the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame in 2010. His wife Eliana Rodriguez had her NSL Profile even earlier and joined him in the Hall of Fame in 2022.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,Q,19,F		G,13,K,A		12,7,8		16,E,6		1,J,9		10,15,21		5,18,L		M,20,11		C,17,2		22,O,P,3		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Lille	FR	36	-2	36		20	-1	25		29		20		24	-1	24		24	-1	25		263	26.3
2	Golden Knights	US	33		31	-2	20		24	-1	27	-1	16	-2	23		24		24		24		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33		28	-3	19		24		30		18	-1	19	-2	22		21	-1	23		237	23.7
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	27	-1	22	-5	17		22		21	-3	14	-2	20	-1	18	-1	20		19		200	20.0
5	U.S. Team One	US	24	-2	21	-2	17		20		24		15	-1	18		19		21	-1	19		198	19.8
Rank	8-way Open		B,Q,19,F		G,13,K,A		12,7,8		16,E,6		1,J,9		10,15,21		5,18,L		M,20,11		C,17,2		22,O,P,3		Total	Avg
1	Qatar Falcons	QA	19		20		14	-1	22		19		14		16		18		17		22		181	18.1
2	Prison 9	US	18		16		9	-2	17	-2	19		12	-1	15		15		11	-2	15		147	14.7
3	Mandatory Fun!	US	15	-1	13	-1	11		12	-2	14		12		10	-1	14		12		15		128	12.8

---

Craig Girard with U.S. Team One and Mandatory Fun! at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025

---

Craig Girard is now getting ready for an even more relevant honor. He has been well known in the skydiving community for decades and has collected more medals than anybody else in the sport. His impressive athletic record has now gone beyond the boundaries of the skydiving community and became interesting enough in the general world of sports, at least in Arizona, where he has been living since joining Arizona Airspeed.

He was nominated as a candidate for Arizona's Hall of Fame in all sports, where he is competing with a long list of professional celebrities. He is the only skydiver on the list, which is already an extraordinary accomplishment. The general public will elect the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame class of 2025, and the skydiving community has the opportunity to be represented outside of the usual boundaries.

It's a long list of candidates, and Craig Girard is introduced as an Arizona Native and the most decorated competitive skydiver in history. The medal count (7) does not match the NSL News records (8), while he also brings in the organizer slot of the 400-way world record formation in 2006. The list of his accomplishments and his popularity is well know in the skydiving community, who can now vote him in as a member of the 2025 class in Arizona: Vote for Craig Girard.