posted Jun 6th, 2005 - The NSL News story on June 1 mentioned that the FAI Anton Malevsky Memorial International Cup 2005 will include the 8-way event for the first time in the event's history. The NSL News does not cover 8-way as regular as 4-way by nature. However, 8-way competition has been covered very extensively at the major events.

The NSL News was live on site when Arizona Airspeed and the Russian 8-way team went into a jump-off and tie-breaker situation at the world meet in France 2003. The 8-way competition was just as exciting at the world meet in Croatia 2004 when the NSL News had also traveled to Europe to cover the event. The scores, stories and some videos of these events are still posted in the NSL 2004 Archive > Leagues > International.

The 8-way competition in France 2003 and Croatia 2004 was already exciting enough, however, it might become even more thrilling at the Malevsky Cup 2005. There is a very good chance that the same three teams will once again race for money and gold medals as they did in Croatia last year.

USA, represented by Arizona Airspeed, and Russia have been in contention for the gold medals at the world meets for quite a while. The NSL News story on January 7 explained the long-time rivalry for 8-way gold medals between Airspeed and Russia. France joined the competition at the very top level in Croatia, and all three nations will attend the Malevsky Cup 2005 with their best line-ups.

The French 8-way team has won several silver and bronze medals in the past. The French national 4-way team of 2003 from Maubeuge supported an effort to bring the 8-way gold medals to France for the first time by joining the French 8-way line-up, as well. It did not work out, at least not for the 8-way. Maubeuge ran away with the 4-way title but placed only third in 8-way on home turf in Gap.

After that, the French 8-way team was completely renewed, and Maubeuge went back to do only 4-way business for the world meet in Croatia 2004. This time, it did not work out well in 4-way, and France Maubeuge had to watch DeLand Majik taking back the 4-way sword to the USA. However, the new and young French 8-way team impressed the 8-way veterans from Russia and Arizona.

France beat the Russian 8-way team in Croatia and took the silver medals behind Arizona Airspeed. It was the way the French 8-way team performed already at last year's world meet that makes it a serious contender for gold medals at this year's international events.

In fact, the battle for 8-way gold medals in Croatia was already a tight 3-way race. USA (4), France (3) and Russia (3) shared the highscores per round almost evenly, and Arizona Airspeed ended up in first place only three points ahead of France with a 19.1 average after ten rounds. Round eight of the French 8-way team in Croatia can still be viewed on NSL-TV in the 2004 Archives, as well as the same round's jumps of USA, Russia and Germany.

France will surely continue with the 8-way charge. 2004 with the silver medal in Croatia was only the first year of a 3-year plan in the pursuit of the first French 8-way gold medals in the history of Formation Skydiving. The French line-up has not changed, while Arizona Airspeed's 8-way team had several open slots at the end of the 2004 season.

The Malevsky Cup 2005 will be the first of two serious international tests this year. All three top contenders will be well trained and ready for the competition. There is still more to the 8-way event in Russia next month. The competition behind the medal rankings in Croatia was almost even more exciting.

Germany and Italy battled it out for the fourth place round by round, and Germany was up by one single point going into round ten last year. Team Remscheid defended the 1-point lead successfully in the last round and ended up with the best placement and a record average of 14.0 after ten rounds.

Both teams have also signed up for the Malevsky Cup 2005, which makes the 8-way field in Russia identical with the top five in Croatia last year. The NSL News is prepared to cover the 8-way event with the same features as for the 4-way competition. The first day of competition is only 28 days away.