posted Aug 12th, 2008 - The teams are still on a hold in Maubeuge. Strong winds have cleared the skies, but it is too windy for any skydiving activities at the moment. The NSL News uses the time to take a closer look at the 4-way field behind the medal positions.

The Canadian 4-way team Evolution, with father Michel and his three sons Martin, Vincent and Benoit LeMay, is quietly doing extremely well. Coach Shannon Pilcher, still reigning 4-way world champion for a few days, has created four clones of his own flying style in freefall.

Evolution was performing a little bit nervously in the opening rounds but got rid of the jitters quickly. Michel, Vincent and Martin competed already at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. The World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge is the first one for 17-year old Benoit.

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The Canadian team had already lost touch with the very top of the leaderboard after the first two rounds. However, the LeMay family kept up very well with all other top contenders in rounds three and four, even tying the highscore of 17 points in Round 4. Seven points separate Canada from the bronze medal position at the moment.

It has been a very expensive adventure for the LeMay family, and it is quite impressive to see how the Canadians handle the financial aspect. They all run the Nouvelair Skydiving Center near Montreal together, but the money they spend for 4-way training and competition comes from the same account.

Canada Evolution (22.8) sets the separation line between the six medal contenders in Maubeuge and the rest of the field, with Italy's Spin Team (18.3) in the lead. It's a tight race for the "amateur title", and 4-way world champion of 1983, Marcel Aeby, is a part of it with his Swiss team Viva.

There were no full time teams around when he won the world championship in South Africa with Blue Magic. His Swiss teammates of 1983 all had normal full time jobs. Teams also had no windtunnels to sharpen their skills. Viva of 2008 is now one point behind Italy with an 18.0 average after four rounds. The Dutch team Dynamic Fource is also racing for the top spot behind the pro teams.

Germany used to own the title of the "amateur champion" for years, and the current 4-way team FSC Eisenach already posted a 20-point average at a 6-round competition last year. However, the highly skilled team has no chance this year to keep up with the much better prepared teams from Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands.

FSC Eisenach is a part of the German 8-way team EADS and has focused only on the 8-way competition this year. The team has hardly trained from the Pilatus Porter at all and falls far behind the trained teams on each first page. FSC Eisenach outscored the Swiss team at the Nuggets Cup (20.4 - 18.8) just a few weeks ago. Viva jumped from a Pilatus Porter and FSC Eisenach from a Twinotter...

The German team is now a part of the 7-pack in the middle of the 4-way field. The most impressive performance is probably coming from Lithuania. Coach Steve Hamilton has guided the team from the former republic of the Russian Sowjet empire in the Baltics to a 16.0 average at the moment.

There is also a serious battle going on at the very bottom of the field. China is not a part of that competition. The host of the Olympics has sent a team to France that has already put enough distance to the 3-way behind. Feng Feng, Liu Hu, Xia Ling, Jian Xiao and Hongwei Zhang on camera represent China at the World Meet 2008.

There was a time when China was competing for 4-way medals in Formation Skydiving.

A team from China attended the World Meet 1989 in Spain. The US 4-way team had to go into a jump-off to finally shake off the Chinese team at the very last minute of freefall. Nathan Polis asked the Team Manager for a few comments in front of the NSL-TV camera. The video of the live interview can be viewed by clicking here.

The same video includes a short interview with the team from Turkey, which is a part of the 3-way that tries to stay away from the very bottom of the 4-way field. Only one team member was able to speak English, and Nathan Polis from the French region of Belgium exchanged broken languages with the Turkish team for a perfect example of the international community at a world championship.

Turkey (Beslan Babaoglu, Muammer Evci, Erdinc Kuflu, Haluk Usanmaz, Gokhan Ucaroglu on camera) competes with Slovakia and Cyprus at the bottom of the field, and this competition has a real and serious meaning. Cyprus placed last at the World Meet 2006 in Germany and again at the World Cup 2007 in Russia. Marios Georgiades, George Kakkis, Stavros Kypragoras, Petros Papargyrou, with Jeffrey Montgomery on camera, still have the motivation to come back and try again.

The Cyprus team has the outspoken goal to beat another team for the first time, and they are closer than ever before. Cyprus is currently one point ahead of Turkey and very close to Slovakia, which is still missing Round 4. The NSL News will surely keep an eye on this exciting part of the competition.

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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