posted Aug 12th, 2008 - Round 5 is complete, at least in the 4-way Open Class. Russia's Sky Panthers completed 30 points in time, more than all other teams. The official score was 28 points after two deductions. Russia is still in the team's infamous 4th place at the moment. However, it is still a very close race for the medals, and everything is possible.

Airspeed Odyssey survived Round 5 without any trouble, in many ways. It was a fast round, and Hayabusa Defence can be very dangerous with the faster sequences, as well as France Maubeuge. Fact is that Airspeed even increased the lead to four points.

It was also a good round for Mark Kirky in Airspeed's tail position. He currently made bad experiences with Block 9 (Cat + Accordeon), which came at the end of the sequence in Round 5. He broke his nose once again in a training jump before the competition began in Maubeuge.

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He still had a black eye when the NSL News met the team, and he looked very similar compared to the World Meet 2003 in Gap, France. The NSL News ran into the Airspeed 8-way competitor by then when he had just boken his nose in a similar freefall collision with a knee.

This time, it was Block 9 of the 4-way dive pool that gave him a little bit trouble and scared his teammates for a few moments. A freshly broken nose is not the prettiest sight, neither in freefall nor on the ground. However, he has already recovered almost perfectly, as the photo shows.

The newly defined scoring rule for the freeze frame time played out to the disadvantage of the French 4-way team in Round 5.

The i-Score freeze frame image showed a complete formation for France Maubeuge, which would have been the 28th scoring point. The judges looked at the image a few times and did not score the point.

Later on, they even re-judged and timed it one more time. The freeze frame image was the same again. The score remained unchanged, as well. The new rule is not very popular in the judging room. However, the application of the new rule has to be the same for all teams and does not allow interpretation. A complete formation that looks like a complete formation has to be scored like a complete formation...

18th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2008
Who will win medals in the 4-way Women's Class?	United Kingdom - Bodyflight Storm France - Aerokart Deep Blue USA - Fastrax Blue Norway - Fortitudo Germany - Chicas
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