DeLand husband-and-wife duo Curt and Jeannie Bartholomew are now some of the most decorated competitive skydivers in the world, and they’re just getting started. The couple’s careers have not only given them a life of adventure, but also the chance to invest back into the sport that they love.
The couple have been at the top of their game for over a decade, but the wins they’ve earned this year have firmly cemented their place at the top of the charts internationally. Curt had a record-breaking clean sweep at the 2023 USPA National Skydiving Championships, winning gold in all five categories, a feat that has never been achieved in the history of the sport until now. Jeannie won silver in the freestyle category, and both earned a spot on the U.S. Parachute Team and will represent the country at the international level for the second year in a row.
“It’s our second year being ranked one and two in the country, and that qualified us to go to Dubai for a major competition [the Dubai international championships]. They can only take the top four in every country, so it’s really cool to get to go and compete together,” Jeannie said.
PROFESSIONAL TRAILBLAZER — Jeannie Bartholomew has to use weights when she competes since her lighter build puts her at a disadvantage against the men. Despite the extra dozens of pounds, she still glides to the top with ease.
This power couple has a résumé a mile long. Curt has earned over 200 medals throughout his career, with at least 140 of them being golds. He’s won eight world titles, and has been dubbed the best canopy competitor in the world, some would argue ever. Jeannie has set 21 world records, and has remained the top female freestyle canopy competitor in the world for years. Their international acclaim is hard to overstate, but what’s even more interesting is the fact that they get to do it all side by side.
“It’s hard to be successful individually, so to have two people as successful as we’ve been together is pretty uncommon,” Jeannie said.
Their shared passion for this extreme sport not only drives their joint competitive efforts, it also inspired them to start several businesses together. Their company Alter Ego Adventures trains and takes enthusiasts on trips all over the world, empowering them to skydive in some of the world’s most iconic sites while also exploring different cultures among friends. Their canopy piloting school The Alter Ego Project uses their 30 instructors across the globe to teach folks how to master parachuting and flying in unison.
And to top it off, they also run the largest canopy piloting league, the U.S. Canopy Piloting Association, which helps skydivers go from novice to pro-levels during their six annual competitions.
The couple’s adventures have taken them all over the world, and have enabled them to fly through the heart of Prague during a festival, past the Sphinx in Egypt, between the skyscrapers and palm island in Dubai and much more. Throughout their average of 15 competitions a year, they’ve helped to cultivate a friendly and supportive community of competitors.
“We’ve made friends all over the world. We get to meet up with them and compete together all the time, it’s really cool,” Curt said. “We help each other out all the time. Everybody just wants the sport to move forward and for everyone to be safer.”
The dangers of competitive skydiving don’t bother these two. Despite a myriad of injuries throughout their careers, including broken bones, injured muscles, torn tendons, dislocations and more, they’ve never stopped competing.
Besides the thrill and glory of competing, the couple’s main focus has been doing their part to ensure the survival of the sport. They hope that the work that they do through their companies and personal projects helps to share their hard-won tools and techniques with others so that the sport outlives them tenfold.
AT THE PODIUM — Seen here are Jeannie and Curt Bartholomew accepting their medals side by side at the 2023 USPA National Skydiving Championships.
“She does a lot of female-only stuff,” Curt proudly said of his wife, “since the percentage of female competitors is so low. She ran the first all-female canopy course ever. She’s been at the forefront of getting more women in the sport and getting them to feel safe and comfortable doing so.”
The both of them have no intentions of halting their efforts anytime soon, and hope that even after they retire from competitions, their investments in educating others about the sport remain a large part of their legacy.
“The further we got into it, the more we realized that we were really impacting the sport. Not just competing, but making an impact on whether people actually stayed in the sport or not,” Jeannie said.
