Shital Mahajan Rane is an Indian extreme sportsperson,

skydiver Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

and the holder of eight world records in the sport. She is known as the first woman to perform an accelerated free fall jump over Antarctica from 10,000 feet, the youngest woman to jump over both the North and South Poles, and the first woman jumper to perform it without trials. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

honored Mahajan in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Biography

Shital Mahajan was born on 19 September 1982 at

Jalgaon Jalgaon () is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is located in North Maharashtra in the subregion of Khandesh, and serves as the administrative headquarters of its namesake district, the Jalgaon district. In the subregion of ...

in the Western Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

to Mamta Mahajan and Kamalakar Mahajan, an engineer working with

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses. T ...

. Her education was at the

Fergusson College Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by Vaman Shriram Apte, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vishnushashtri Chiplunkar, Mah ...

, Pune from where she graduated (BSc) in geology. Her first maiden jump was on North pole on 18 April 2004 without any training. Till Jan 2022 she has completed 766 jumps. Shital is married to Vaibhav Rane, a software engineer working in Finland. The solemnization of the marriage was performed on a hot air balloon, 600 feet above ground, on 19 April 2008, a feat which has been recorded in the

Limca Book of World Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorised into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adve ...

. The couple has twin sons. Shital Mahajan is the founder of ''Phoenix Skydiving Academy'', a skydiving training centre based in Pune. The academy, established in 2012, provides training facilities for aspiring students and prepares students for skydiving competitions around the world.

Achievements

Shital Mahajan is the first woman to perform a free fall jump over the South Pole, which was completed on 15 December 2006. She also became the first woman to perform successful jumps over the North and South Poles, without trials, when she completed her jump over the South Pole. The attempt also made her the youngest woman to achieve the feat at the age of 24. The first Indian woman to perform a

wingsuit Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift (force), lift, which allows extended air time (parachuting), air time ...

jump, Mahajan is a US certified coach. Mahajan was a part of the team that created a world record as the first team to perform free fall parachute jump over Antarctica. She has also led a team of 85 Indian skydivers to achieve a record for maximum tandem jumps in an hour, the jumps performed on 25 August 2014 at Spain. Her jump from 13000 feet performed on 19 April 2009 is also a record for the height in women's category. She is also credited with a free fall jump from a hot air ballon at 5800 feet and a jump at 24000 feet.

Awards and recognitions

Shital Mahajan was awarded Godavary Gaurav Puraskar in 2005. The same year, she received the Shiv Chatrapati Maharashtra State Sports Special Award which was followed by the Venutai Chavan Yuva Puraskar. In 2004, after her successful jump over the North Pole in 2004, Mahajan was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, making her the first civilian to receive the award. In 2001, Mahajan was included the list for Republic Day honours for the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahajan, Shital 1982 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri Indian sportswomen People from Pune Indian skydivers Sportspeople from Maharashtra Recipients of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

Biography

Achievements

Awards and recognitions

See also

References

External links