posted Sep 10th, 2012 - The NSL News goes back to the aftermath of the World Cup 2012 and the competition in the female 4way category.

It was an unusual situation with the French national team this time. The NSL News has always compared the French female scores with the Open Class leaderboard, which offered more competitive scores whenever Aerodyne Deep Blue and then the Defenders attended bigger meets in the female category.

It was a reversed situation at the World Cup in Prostejov. The Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders had signed up for the Open Class event. There was no lack of competition for the French team, who ended up in 5th place on the Open Class leaderboard. However, there was also more than enough competition in the team's original category, and the NSL News had to create a new leaderboard to compare the scores the other way around this time.

World Cup 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	1,19,2	14,18,15	N,16,20	E,6,J,A	C,K,9,13	F,8,11	Q,22,L,21	B,17,H,P	12,D,0,4	G,10,7	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights (US)	17	15	18	28	23	19	18	27	17	19	201	20.1
2	Aerodyne DB Defenders (FR)	16	15	17	27	21	17	20	31	19	16	199	19.9
3	Polaris (NO)	15	13	14	25	20	17	17	22	17	16	176	17.6

The Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders have to get used to find serious competition in their home category. There is no doubt that the Golden Knights have caught up with the French gold medal scoring level, even if the Defenders did not perform on their top level.

The same three teams on the special leaderboard also competed at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012, and the difference is obvious. The Golden Knights have arrived at the 20.1 average level where France was in March, while the Defenders and Polaris are not showing much scoring progression on the leaderboards.

The new NSL Reality TV clip features Round 10 in Prostejov from the French perspective. It was a rollercoaster for the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders after being seven points behind early in the meet and then coming back for a 1-point lead going into Round 10. There was no happy end for the French team, as serious exit trouble in the last round turned the meet into a great learning experience after all.

Paraclete Outdoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	Q,8,H,22	16,19,13	10,14,2	E,C,20,K	5,M,9	A,6,F,17	D,21,N,B	P,O,G,J,1	18,4,7	12,15,3	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders (FR)	19	16	15	23	27	23	24	24	16	14	201	20.1
2	Polaris (NO)	18	13	10	22	22	19	20	21	15	13	173	17.3
3	Golden Knights (US)	17	12	13	19	20	17	22	22	16	14	172	17.2
4	Crimson Fox (CA)	8	6	6	9	8	6	7	11	5	7	73	7.3

The road for the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders has been much more challenging since the current lineup finally started training at the beginning of the 2012 season. The original Deep Blue lineup of 2009 and 2010 had a smooth ride to the gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010 and only lost one indoor competition at the World Challenge 2009.

The first lineup of the Defenders with two world champions of 2010 (Amelie Tirman, Sophie Deremaux) sailed even easier through the 2011 season and never gave away any of the six meets to another team in the female 4way category.

The current lineup has more and harder work to do, as the World Cup 2012 has clearly shown. The Golden Knights will not slow down from here on forward, and the French team now knows very well what to expect in Dubai. It will be a horse race and the toughest test for a recent French national team in the female 4way category.

The current lineup of the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders learned from the very beginning that it will be a challenging task to defend the 2010 gold medals. Sophie Deremaux left the team at the end of the 2011 season, and Stephanie Texier had to fill the slot as quickly as possible. The new lineup's first experience was a defeat against a British pickup team in Dubai at the end of November 2011.

Then the original Deep Blue lineup, with Patrick Boulogne filling the Tail slot for Amelie Tirman, showed their Defenders at the Aerokart Indoor Championship in February that the new lineup was not ready yet to defend the gold medals.

However, confidence for the new lineup came with the victory at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012, even though Amelie Tirman expected the Golden Knights to catch up during the 2012 season. That's what happened at the World Cup in Prostejov. National manager Jeremie Rollett, himself a reigning French 4way world champion, is still not too concerned. He was expecting a tough deal this year, too, and he trusts that coach Marin Ferre will get the team ready to give the Golden Knights another great battle in Dubai. The outcome has to be different though - from the French perspective...