Skydiving Canadian claims third record for flips during flight after completing over 40
With zero hesitation, Marc-Olivier Desmarais (Canada) jumped out of the jet, hurtling himself towards the ground at breakneck speed with a practiced confidence.
Whereas most skydiving amateurs would spend the brief time enjoying the ride or thinking about when to pull the chute, Marc-Olivier was only focused on claiming another world record – and like a circus performer, he began twisting his body into somersaults, flipping back-and-forth dozens of times within the whistling wind.
This year, the experienced skydiver accomplished two new adventurous Guinness World Records titles to claim the Triple Crown of acrobatic air tricks.
On 24 June, he flung himself into freefall at 13,000 ft (3,962 m) at Parachute Montreal in Saint-Esprit, Quebec, to conquer the record for the most somersaults in a sky dive. Before deploying his parachute at 3,000 ft (914 m), GoPro footage captured him completing a dizzying 41.
His record absolutely smashed the prior amount held by Craig Lewis (Australia) in November 2020, who had pulled off a total of 32.
Nevertheless undeterred by his past success, Mark-Olivier returned to the record books again a month later on 25 July, when he attempted the title for the most consecutive barrel rolls while skydiving.
This time, he rolled sideways like a spinning log, retaining stability despite the shivering conditions to finish with a total of 59.
These two new titles bring Mark-Olivier’s total count to three, as he accomplished his first record in September 2024 for the most backwards somersaults in a skydive with 36.
He nearly doubled the previous record of 19, set by Harry Shimmin (UK) in 2017.
In an interview with GWR in 2024, the seasoned skydiver told us that breaking a record is something that you can “differentiate yourself with” – adding that: “it’s very special and an experience that few people can have, and if you have the chance to do an attempt it can be very fulfilling.”
However he did mention that the skydiving community can be very competitive, so he wasn’t sure how long his record would stand.
“I won’t let that happen too easily, so bring it on,” he said at the time – and clearly, he was willing to do something about it!
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With more than enough practice under his belt, he prepared for these two new records by having several practice jumps to test the optimal performance condition.
Mark-Olivier has been skydiving since 2009 – since he was 17 years old – and has accumulated over 3,750 dives during his quest to claim records and obtain his USPA D-license. This is the most advanced certification a skydiver can get, and requires among other things at least 180 minutes of controlled freefall time.
And with clear experience, he turned his passion into results by flipping his way back into the record books this summer.
So congratulations, Mark-Olivier, on your extended skydiving successes – you are Officially Amazing!