posted Aug 9th, 2008 - Maubeuge woke up this morning with blue skies all over. It did not take very long until the first Pilatus Porter was in the air. There is a fleet of eight of these jump planes in Maubeuge, which are very popular in France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. The critical weather conditions could make it necessary to take full advantage of the large number of planes and get as many teams in the air as possible and at the same time. However, the conditions on Saturday morning did not indicate any potential for problems with the weather.

There are 334 competitors at the World Meet 2008, and they are coming from 30 different nations. These numbers include the participants in the artistic events. Formation Skydiving is by far the largest category with 232 competitors (160 in 4-way, 72 in 8-way).

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The jump planes have to fly 320 loads to complete all rounds in all events. It would take a total of 3,200 skydives to get to the perfect situation at the end of the event on Thursday.

The fields of teams in the three Formation Skydiving categories have changed since the last World Meet in 2006. 25 teams competed in Germany. Japan, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Ireland and Spain have not registered national teams for this year's 4-way competition.

This brings 18 nations back to France. China, Finland, India, Slovakia, Switzerland and Turkey did not have 4-way teams at the World Meet in 2006 and bring the number back up to 24 nations.

The new 4-way team from Switzerland, Viva, has Marcel Aeby in its lineup. He is the only 4-way world champion in Maubeuge and in the modern age of 4-way Formation Skydiving who is not from the USA or from France. His Swiss team Blue Magic won the gold medals at the World Meet 1983 in South Africa.

Blue Magic won the competition with a meet average of barely over 10.0 in 1983. This performance level was very impressive by then. The Swiss team with Marcel Aeby in Maubeuge, Viva, posted already an 18.8 average at the Nuggets Cup 2008 in July. This scoring level will probably just be enough to get to the Top Ten this year.

Things have changed 25 years later, and Marcel Aeby's skills are still up-to-date. Welcome back and good luck to his team.

The six missing nations of 2006 finished in the lower positions of the leaderboard. Only Spain made it to the Top Ten with a 16.8 average. Some of the six new nations will probably place themselves in higher spots. Marcel Aeby's team Viva and the Tigers from Finland both have chances to get to the Top Ten. The 4-way community welcomes India, Slovakia and Turkey with their lineups in Maubeuge.

The 4-way field includes the defenders of the three sets of medals (USA, France, Italy). However, there is not even one medal winner of 2006 who will try to defend the honor. All three nations have new lineups. The NSL World Meet poll in 4-way has the USA (Airspeed Odyssey) and France once again in the race for new medals, while Italy is not considered a top contender in this category.

DeLand Fire had the 4-way sword Excalibur in Florida for the last two years. Two of the five reigning world champions are in Maubeuge, but they will not compete this time. Shannon Pilcher is coaching the Canadian team Evolution, and Gary Smith is working with a few other teams. They brought the sword to Maubeuge, and they have five more days as the official reigning 4-way world champions...

18th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2008
Who will win medals in the 4-way Open Class?	USA - Airspeed Odyssey France - Maubeuge Russia - Sky Panthers Belgium - Hayabusa Defence Norway - Arcteryx Canada - Evolution
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