Elise Brown has spent the past five years perfecting her indoor skydiving skills - and her hard work paid off last week.
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The talented teen was crowned Australia's best indoor skydiver at the Australian Open Indoor Skydiving Nationals held in Penrith on August 24.
"It has been five years of training and four years of competing to finally end up in the top spot," Brown said.
"I had to wait six hours after my last run to before they announced the final scores.
"It was good to see all of my hard work had paid off - but I'm not going to lie, I was pretty tired too."
The competition was largest event of its kind held in the southern hemisphere.
Brown said competition was particularly tough this year.
"It was intense because my original coach was competing against me and he ended up coming third," she said.
"One of the girls I work with at iFly in Penrith was also competing and I had no idea how I would stack up against them.
"The international competitors were really tough as well - it was a good competition."
Indoor skydiving requires competitors to perform a series of moves or tricks inside an air tunnel which mimics the feeling of outdoor skydiving.
Competitors can take part in a range of categories with more structured, set routines or freestyle events.
Brown said this was the first time she had cracked the top spot at a championship event.
"I had come fourth, third and second at other events," she said.
"I think this time I had finally found my own style and focussed on that along with understanding what the judges were looking for."
The 19-year-old trains regularly in the gym to keep hersefl fit to compete and takes part in gymnastics yoga to stay flexible.
Brown said indoor skydiving was great for people looking to keep things interesting.
"The progression is constant - you are always looking for ways to shake things up or for new tricks to perform," she said.
"There is always more to learn and new ways to be creative and that is what I enjoy most about the sport."
Brown said there was no way she would slow down now.
"The world championships are being held in April so I am focussing on training for that," she said.
"I will be bringing a whole new routine to worlds because I like to bring something fresh to each competition."
