posted Aug 11th, 2008 - The French 8-way team maintained the 5-point lead through Round 2. The US team made up the two points to Italy and is now tied in second place. Germany's EADS team is still working on the silver or bronze medal position after Round 1. EADS had 18 points on the scoreboard after the first attempt and did not receive the 19th scoring point due to weather conditions.

The German 8-way team had 20 points within working time after the rejump, but this score was downsized to 16 points, once again due to weather conditions. They are now going up again for another rejump of Round 1. The team has the 20-pointer in mind to hang on to the Italian team.

The 5-point difference between France and USA happens at a very unfortunate point in time. There was no doubt that both teams were in very different positions before coming to Maubeuge. The French team is the reigning 8-way world champion and has trained with almost exactly the same lineup for three years. The US team has been together for less than a year, and the lineup changed a few times.

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The US competitors are highly skilled and very experienced, as the NSL News explained earlier. However, that counts for the younger French 8-way experts, too. How would a serious challenger try to go after the top contender?

There is only one way. The challenger has to push the limits all the time, while the reigning and well trained champion can perform almost in a relaxed situation.

The US team showed in the training round that the potential is there to challenge the French 8-way machine. Team USA 8 then proved it once again in Round 2. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

Pushing the limits has a risk, and the French team didn't have to do that. The meet psychology was all on the French side. The audience had surely hoped that the US challenger would keep it together, especially at the beginning, to gain confidence and make it a real tough race.

The French 8-way team expected this situation, as well, and was even a little bit nervous about the position of the US team. They thought that Team USA 8 could just go for it round by round and see how far it would go. That could have brought both teams very close to each other.

Round 1 was the worst time for a major breakdown on the US side. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here in 8-way. The French competitors know that they cannot set a new world record for a single round. The competition draw does not allow this. However, they still have the 22.4 average of the Golden Knights at the World Meet 1997 in Turkey in mind.

Serious pressure from the US team would be helpful to push the French 8-way team to its best. Team USA 8 had a good Round 2 and will come back with even more power in the coming rounds. France is far ahead, but the competition is far from being over.

18th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2008
Who will win medals in 8-way?	France - Maubeuge USA - KnightTrax Italy - Ex3mo Germany - EADS United Kingdom - Connextion
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