posted Aug 14th, 2008 - It is a cold morning in Maubeuge, but the skies are clear, and there is not much wind at all. It is kind of sad that the running round is already the last one. There is no way back, Round 8 is the last one for the 4-way Open Class, the 8-way teams will complete seven rounds, the female 4-way event will be over after six rounds.

All 4-way Women's Class teams are already in the air, and the Open Class teams are following.

The competition in the Women's Class seems to be the only one where the medal positions could still change, except Bodyflight Storm probably. The British team was already performing on the safe side in Round 5, with the security of a quite comfortable lead. However, there is only a 1-point difference between Fastrax Blue and Aerokart Deep Blue. That sounds like a lot of excitement in front of the DZ-TV screens later.

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Fastrax Blue and Bodyflight Storm shared the bus to the boarding area, and they are in the same Pilatus Porter. This situation is not new to both teams, they know each other well after training together at a few camps.

Only a serious mistake could keep Airspeed Odyssey from winning the gold medals in the 4-way Open Class. The sequence of Round 8 (14-20-21) doesn't offer the opportunity for any team to make a big move. Even the 2-point difference between France Maubeuge and Hayabusa Defence makes it difficult for the Belgian team to move up a position. Russia's Sky Panthers will end up once again in the unfortunate 4th place without a medal.

Australia and Germany's Chicas have been battling for a while for the upper hand in the Women's Class. Australia was up by two points going into the final round. Both teams posted 16-pointers, and nothing changes there.

Australia is also only two points behind Norway's Fortitudo who will be scored next. Norway needs at least a 14-pointer, which should not be a problem.

Well, it is only a 13-pointer on the screen for now, and the judges play the video again. There is another surprise in the air...

France has a 17-pointer on the screen to begin with. This might not be enough to make up the one point that is missing for the silver medal position.

The judges deducted a point, which will make it almost impossible. France has the bronze medals.

Norway ended up with 13 points and lost the 4th place to Australia.

Fastrax Blue needs three points to catch up with Bodyflight Storm, which seems to be impossible.

The US team surely gave it all in the last round. It was obvious that they tried as hard as they could. The 19-pointer could be the highscore for the round. Will it be enough to catch up with Storm?

It almost did. The British team had several flaws and struggled to get to a 17-pointer on the screen. Will it stay there?

It did, but it became more difficult and closer than the team may have wished for. However, Bodyflight Storm wins the gold medals with a 20.0 average. Great competition, congratulations to all teams.