Wakefield native Matt Davidson and his team, the U.S. Army Golden Knights, are the new World Champions of 8-Way Formation Skydiving after beating out 15 other teams from around the globe at the World Parachuting Championships held last week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Knights earned their slots on the U.S. Parachute Team, the country’s most elite aerial athletes, at last year’s U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships. They joined a delegation of more than 60 U.S. skydivers in multiple disciplines to represent the United States at the biggest and most prestigious skydiving competition in the world.

In 8-way formation skydiving, the team leaps from an aircraft more than two miles above the ground and then races against the clock to form prescribed geometric formations in freefall while falling at speeds upward of 120 mph before opening their parachutes.

Davidson, 38, has completed an astounding 17,500 skydives and has been jumping since 1990. He is currently stationed in North Carolina where he trains with the Golden Knights. He has a nine-month-old daughter and enjoys CrossFit, mountain biking and kayaking.