Meet the professional skydiver who has jumped out of a plane more than 5,000 times - despite being afraid of heights.<br /><br />Laura Hampton, 38, has always been afraid of heights and was scared to climb trees and ladders as a child.<br /><br />But she fell in love with skydiving after having to face her fears in a sponsored event.<br /><br />She has represented Team GB, has a world record and is now a skydiving coach and has jumped more than 5,000 times - despite still having her fear.<br /><br />Laura, from Bingham, Nottingham, said: "Me and some of my housemates did a skydive, which was absolutely amazing and I remember going to do it and being absolutely terrified.<br /><br />"Jumping out of a plane though, I feel like it's so high but you have to look down and it's like down at google maps.<br /><br />"You're so high, it becomes a bit more abstract and once you jump you feel like you're floating. You don't have this feeling of falling, which slightly helps.<br /><br />"I love it and actually part of the reason I still do it is if it doesn't scare me then it wouldn't be worth doing."<br /><br />Laura grew up with a fear of heights and still struggles with it now.<br /><br />She said: "It's one of those things that I have always had, so anytime as a kid I wouldn't climb a tree.<br /><br />"I went on a trip with my boyfriend, many years ago now, but we went up the Eiffel Tower and halfway up and I remember how scared of heights I am."<br /><br />Laura pushed herself to do a tandem skydive in June 2007 for Clic Sargent while at Loughborough University.<br /><br />After loving her first skydive, Laura joined the skydiving committee at the university and from there she learned how to skydive by herself.<br /><br />She lived in an airfield after graduating and worked as a parachute packer.<br /><br />She said: "As I got more into it and I got more serious about it, the expenses around it got a little bit higher. <br /><br />"So I was in a team that subsequently went on to be national champions."<br /><br />Laura's first world championships was in 2016 in Teuge, Holland.<br /><br />She said: "It was mega - eight of us plus a camera flyer - and we were all relatively inexperienced. I met loads of people and teams from around the world.<br /><br />"I usually do formation diving either with four or eight of us. I usually do four of us and we jump out to make different shapes."<br /><br />In 2016 she co-founded Chimera, a formation skydiving team, and went on to enter a variety of competitions.<br /><br />In October 2022 Laura and her team won the world championships in Arizona, US. <br /><br />A year later they came fifth at the World Championships in June, 2023.<br /><br />Laura excels in formative diving in which her and her team make a variety of shapes and sequences mid-air.<br /><br />Amongst being a British champion, Laura is also a world record holder. She was part of a team of 108 skydivers, 18,000 ft in the air. <br /><br />The group became the largest group of skydivers in history to do consecutive sequences mid-air. <br /><br />She said: "For me, being in the team was all about being in a team. We're such a close group of friends, even though we're not competing together we're still really close.<br /><br />"It was a happy coincidence that we were actually quite good and we were able to do those competitions and be a part of the global skydiving community."<br /><br />Laura is now currently a skydiving coach and videographer after her quitting her 9-5 job in PR.<br /><br />"I've been a coach for a number of years now. It was quite an easy switch. It's a little different to what I was doing," she said. <br /><br />"Part of it [the fear] does still get me though as well as when the parachute is open.<br /><br />"If I look up and I can see the clouds are flying by and forget how fast I'm going and I think about what I'm doing, you know hanging they're basically held up by string."
