The death of Bennett’s father added pressure to the team’s jump at the world championships in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina from August 18 to 22.

The added pressure did not faze the team who beat their own previous record by two points and scored 31 for their performance.

The team exits an aeroplane at 7000 feet and is scored by how many pre-determined canopy formations a pair can complete within one minute.

McConnel and Vaughan perform the formations while Bennett is the team’s videographer. 

The two performers build a series of randomly drawn formations by linking their feet in the lines of each others parachutes while the videographer films for the scorers to judge upon landing. 

McConnel said the team was “stoked” to find out they had topped their previous mark.

“We were not sure whether it was going to be broken or not as the last point was right on time,” McConnel said.

The Australian record is also the current highest scoring round of the championships with two rounds out of eight remaining. 

Ookoonono is the current national champion two-way canopy formation team and has  represented Australia for the fourth time at the 16th FAI World Canopy Formation Championships.

The team of McConnel, Vaughan and Bennett has been together for the past eight years, predominantly training out of Moruya at Skydive Oz.  

“We’re really happy to continue improving our performance and we really enjoy the camaraderie between teams and nations in our sport,” McConnel said.

The group has set 10 Australian records and one world record in that time and is currently ranked third in the world. 

Achievements include the Australian record for most skydives in a day, at 150, and the world record for the largest parachute formation consisting of 100 linked jumpers.

In the previous 15 international competitions Ookoonono won six gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The team’s name was derived from a poorly pronounced Japanese word in a 1986 John West commercial.

“Prior to our first national championships, as a team we asked each other what our team name should be,” McConnel said.

“We looked at each other and thought ‘why not, it’s as good a name as any’.”

McConnel first jumped in 1995 and believed it would be a “fun way to get into aviation”.

She has shared her experience with her family by taking them on tandem skydives.

“I’ve taken my brother, sister and nephews and my non-jumping mates say they enjoy living vicariously through my fun life,” she said.