posted Jan 4th, 2026 - The recent announcement by Arizona Airspeed is likely to remain a major topic in the NSL News for some time. Not long ago, new Airspeed member Michelle Karamon was already featured in her own NSL Profile.

Her profile was part of an NSL News initiative aimed at creating a better balance between male and female formation skydiving competition athletes. As the introduction to her profile explained:

“Male formation skydiving competitors still dominate the list of NSL Profiles, even though many female competitors have achieved the same accomplishments in their careers and consistently match the performance quality of their male counterparts. There are too many examples to leave any doubt about gender equality in potential, talent, skills, experience, and achievement. In particular, 4-way and 8-way formation skydiving competitions provide an environment where even freefall video footage would not reveal whether a performer is male or female.”

There could be no stronger confirmation of this statement than Michelle Karamon’s selection as the newest member of Arizona Airspeed. The team’s three male members—Joey Marshall, Alisson de Vargas, and Doug Hendrix—along with team videographer Alex Swindle, clearly agreed to replace reigning two-time 4-way world champion Chris Kuhlmann with only the second female competitor in Airspeed’s history, following Eliana Rodriguez.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	TNT	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
5	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
6	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	16	113	11.3
7	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
8	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
9	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
10	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1

Eliana Rodriguez and Michelle Karamon have much in common, particularly in how their world-champion careers were launched. Eliana Rodriguez earned her first FAI gold medal in 4-way Women in Spain 2001 with Synchronicity, then followed up with an 8-way Open gold medal at Rijeka 2004 as a member of Arizona Airspeed. She later became the first female competitor to complete the rare and prestigious FS Sweep by winning 4-way Open gold in Maubeuge 2008 with Airspeed Odyssey.

Michelle Karamon is now on a path toward the same achievement—but in reverse order. She first claimed 8-way Open gold at Tanay 2021 and Eloy 2022, followed by 4-way Women gold at Crystal Coast 2024, alongside her former teammate Jeana Billings.

Both athletes share this distinguished combination of titles with former Golden Knights member Jennifer Davidson, who won 4-way Women gold in Ottawa 2016 and Crystal Coast 2024, as well as 8-way Open gold in Australia 2018. Jen Davidson also holds the unique distinction of being the only female competitor to have flown on any Golden Knights 8-way lineup in history. As a new member of Arizona Airspeed, Michelle Karamon now has the opportunity to complete her own special FS Sweep. However, this goal will require time, as her new team team noted in its official announcement: “We have already begun training and will be competing at The Wind Games at the end of the month and Indoor Nationals in February as we begin our journey to win the 2028 World Meet.”

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2004			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		B,P,C,18	9,15,16	K,11,19	E,F,7,5	A,J,21,12	6,4,10	17,Q,L,1	H,14,3	13,22,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	23	16	17	19	20	19	21	17	172	19.1
2	Maubeuge	FR	21	19	16	16	20	20	19	20	18	169	18.8
3	Evolution Pro	RU	18	20	17	16	18	19	20	20	19	167	18.6
4	Remscheid	DE	15	17	13	11	14	16	12	14	14	126	14.0
5	Ex3mo	IT	12	15	14	11	15	16	13	15	14	125	13.9
6	Australia	AU	10	12	9	9	9	9	10	11	9	88	9.8
7	South Africa	ZA	12	10	6	6	9	11	9	10	10	83	9.2
8	Austria	AT	10	10	9	9	8	10	9	9	8	82	9.1
9	Great Britain	UK	10	6	9	9	8	9	8	7	9	75	8.3
10	Japan	JP	9	6	9	6	5	9	7	5	7	63	7.0

Since 2019, Michelle Karamon has spent most of her training and competition time either with Jeana Billings, Jen Davidson, or both. In contrast, she has competed alongside Eliana Rodriguez only once so far, as part of the Arizona Airspeed 8-way lineup in 2023. Despite limited competition overlap, Karamon and Rodriguez are connected in several other meaningful ways, as Arizona Airspeed noted in the official announcement:

“Michelle has also been heavily involved in the Arizona skydiving community, organizing and mentoring jumpers in both local competitions with the Arizona Skydiving Tribe and women’s bigway records.”

Together, Michelle Karamon and Eliana Rodriguez have managed the Arizona Skydiving Tribe following the transition of the Arizona Skydiving League between 2019 and 2021. The league had previously been part of the Southwest Skydiving League many years earlier.

Michelle Karamon even quoted Eliana Rodriguez on her NSL Profile: “Start before you’re ready.” The message likely resonated with her, reflecting Eliana Rodriguez’s early years after moving to Arizona, before securing her Airspeed slot. By that time, Eliana Rodriguez had already won her first world championship title in 4-way Women with the U.S. East Coast team Synchronicity and was clearly aiming higher.

Michelle Karamon has followed a similar mindset. After winning her own 4-way Women world championship gold medal, she set her sights on more—and has successfully taken the next step in her career. Both Karamon and Rodriguez also share another parallel in their personal lives, as they are partnered with 4-way world champions Niklas Hemlin and Craig Girard, respectively.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 6		B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	HayaBusa Defence	BE	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5
5	Arcteryx	NO	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
6	Evolution	CA	25	27	22	17	24	18	26	16	175	21.9

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Airspeed Odyssey at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008

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