posted Oct 3rd, 2012 - The NSL News has covered the sad story of the German 4way team in the female category, ISB Air Remscheid, since Sarah Hajooze's accident in February 2011. The team has been trying to recover with the same lineup and come back in full power as a medal contender at the World Meet 2012.

ISB Air Remscheid trained and competed with substitutes while the team's Center Outside recovered from the injury, and the complete lineup actually had an indoor comeback at the World Challenge 2012. It was a promising performance after the long break, and the Germans finished only five points behind the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders after ten rounds. The dream of pursuing a gold medal at the Mondial 2012 in Dubai was still alive by then.

The German team could not resume with full steam any time soon after the World Challenge since Sarah Hajooze still had to go through another surgery to remove some metal from her spine. The dream then came to an abrupt awakening when she had to go back to the hospital just a few days before the German Nationals 2012.

World Challenge 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 - Women	D,Q,9,10	17,P,11	2,21,7	14,J,O,M	A,L,18,16	N,H,20,G	C,E,19,22	1,8,4	K,6,3	12,F,5	Total	Avg
1	Just4Fun	25(-1)	22	20	31	23	27	24	18	23	21	234	23.4
2	Aerodyne D.Blue Defenders	26	22(-2)	18(-1)	31	21	27	24	18	21	24	232	23.2
3	ISB Air Remscheid	25	23	20	29(-1)	21	26	23	16	23	21	227	22.7
4	Perris Wicked	25	20(-1)	17(-1)	30(-1)	19	25	21	16	19(-1)	20	212	21.2
5	Polaris	21	19	18	26	18	23	21	17	18(-1)	18	199	19.9
6	Maubeuge NPC B3	20	17(-1)	15(-1)	26	14(-1)	21(-1)	20(-1)	16	19	19	187	18.7
7	Bodyflight Langar	17(-2)	18	15	26	18	20(-1)	19(-2)	15	18(-1)	16	182	18.2
8	Brit Chicks	21	15(-1)	16(-1)	24	17	21(-2)	17(-1)	15	15	19	180	18.0

It was pretty much the end of the ISB Air Remscheid plans to win a medal for Germany in Dubai. The potential of reaching the goal was obvious, but reality turned out to be different after a lot of bad luck that started with the unfortunate accident on an off day from the training camp in DeLand.

However, the 4way competition in the female category in Dubai will take place, and a German lineup will be there to represent the country. Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United Arabian Emirates and United States have registered female lineups, which would be new record participation in this event.

Germany will not be able to win a medal any longer in a field with very strong and well trained top contenders. However, national coach Mathias Maushake still encouraged the German skydiving association to support a team that will honor the host and the event with presence and compete with all other teams in the pack of the field behind the medal contenders.

Two members of the former German national team Chicas (Marion Thomas, Petra Bärenfänger) eventually decided to put a new lineup together and teamed up with Antje Prochnow and Daniela Bätschi, with Antje Grube on camera. The national coach invited the new team to go through a test meet weekend where he applied the NSL competition draw.

The new Chicas scored above the required qualification average, which was set at 11.8 and finished with a 13.0 average after four training jumps and eight meet rounds. The Chicas had also prepared themselves for the qualification event with some tunnel training at Indoor Skydive Bottrop, the former partial home of ISB Air Remscheid.

Marion Thomas has recently competed with Airfix Fehrbellin, winner of the Nord Cup 2012, after her previous Chicas career. Petra Bärenfänger won the Open Class bronze medals at the German Nationals 2012 with Gamma Ray Kassel and her husband Henning Stumpp in the lineup.

Antje Prochnow knows the Chicas, as she competed with three of them (Petra Bärenfänger, Marion Thomas, Sylvia Maier) at the 1st Dubai Cup in December 2010. She replaced Susa Serra who competed for ISB Air Remscheid at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia. The Chicas finished with a 13.6 average in Dubai, and ISB Air Remscheid followed up with an 18.0 average in Menzelinsk. Daniela Bätschi is a new 4way competitor.

The bad luck for the Germans takes one medal contender off the top spots on the expected leaderboard. Golden Knights (USA), Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders (France) and Polaris (Norway) seem to be the favorites for any medals. However, there are still a few questionmarks.

Russia has registered a team in the female 4way category, and any lineup with four of the Russian female top competitors can rise to the top quickly, as Illusions showed it in 2011. Nobody knows how far the teams from China have come in the meantime and after they were showing their talent at a training camp in DeLand a few years ago. Fact is that there will be a very intense battle for the top spots behind the medal positions.