posted Nov 14th, 2008 - The NSL News reported for the first time on 6 October 2008 what teams, competitors, judges and officials discussed during the open IPC meeting at the World Meet 2008. The future of the freeze frame judging was the topic.

The story on 9 November 2008 followed up with another important topic, the use of slower viewing speed for the judging procedure. Finally, one more issue was discussed at the end of the meeting in Maubeuge, and it was related to the event duration.

The NSL News took on the issue already during the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge when bad weather began to put pressure on the meet management and the participants. The weather was one of the topics of the live interview with French national coach Jerome David in Maubeuge on the third day of the competition, who was not overly concerned at that time.

The weather did not get much better from then on, and all three Formation Skydiving categories (4-way Open, 4-way Women, 8-way) had their winners after a reduced number of competitions rounds. The 4-way Open Class teams completed eight rounds, the 8-way competition was over after seven rounds, and the female 4-way teams made only six competition jumps. Many teams had to take off their jumpsuits even earlier since they were eliminated before the semifinals and finals.

It was a sad situationh for the teams. Australia's national team Airtite was still hoping to catch up with Germany's FSC Eisenach for a slot in the semifinals and would have had two more rounds in a 10-round meet to make up the 3-point difference. The weather and the rules didn't allow for it. The Aussies went back downunder after six rounds.

It was not much different on the very top where France Maubeuge was one single point behind Airspeed Odyssey when the meet was terminated. Two more rounds could have changed this situation easily - in either direction. History would have been made if the four French members of the 8-way team had won gold medals in 4-way and 8-way. Nobody will ever know how it would have been after ten rounds.

The Russian Sky Panthers were only three points behind Belgium's Hayabusa Defence in pursuit of the bronze medals and a had the momentum on their side after winning Round 7 by two points over Hayabusa. Two more rounds would have been enough to change the 3-point difference - or not. And who knows? Maybe Slovakia would have been able to get back ahead of Cyprus and Turkey where the team in last place was after the first two rounds.

It was not much better in the Women's 4-way event where two teams left Maubeuge after only five competition jumps. The teams in the medal positions completed six rounds, and everything was open when the meet was over. There was only a 1-point difference between Bodyflight Storm and Fastrax Blue. Even the French team Deep Blue might have been able to make up the 5-point difference to the top position with four more rounds to go. You never know...

Only the 8-way standings on the top of the field may not have changed much at all with three more rounds. However, UK's Connextion and Belgium's 8-way team were still battling for the 5th place, and South Africa was not too far away - before the team was eliminated after six rounds, together with Spain and Australia.

Most of the national teams that represent their countries at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving put a lot of time, money and effort into their preparations for the most relevant event in the sport. They are prepared to go through all the different techniques and maneuvers of the complete dive pool in a 10-round competition. They all have their strong blocks and random formations and then other parts of the dive pool that they might prefer not to be drawn. However, they surely expect to find their final position in the field after ten rounds.

Weather is a crucial ingredient of the sport, and neither a beginner or a veteran can argue any weather situation. This part of the sport cannot be influenced by anybody. IPC and event organizers consider the weather situation in the bidding process for the important competitions. All involved parties try to make the best of the unknown factor in the game, and there will still always be a questionmark behind the weather situation at the actual event.

However, the event duration is not an unknown factor in the same game. A 3-day event has better chances to be completed than a 2-day event, and a 7-day event has better chances than a 5-day event. There still is no guarantee, but this simple logic of the event duration issue cannot be argued.

World meets used to run over seven days until the IPC changed the duration of the competition to five days after the Mondial 2003 in Gap. Patrice Girardin was the Executive Manager in Gap 2003 and completed the meet slowly but flawlessly. The teams never got under pressure at any time. Some teams and competitors thought that it was even too slow, and the rules were changed later after this event.

It could be a coincidence, however, it is a fact that no World Championship of Formation Skydiving was completed after all ten or eleven rounds ever since this rule change in 2004. The 8-way teams missed the last round in Croatia 2004, and the competition was also close enough for any changes still to come in Round 10. The World Meet in Germany 2006 was over after five rounds in 4-way Open and 4-way Women and after six rounds in 8-way. Everything was still possible in the rankings.

The evidence of the better days with 7-day events is overwhelming. Flemming Nøddegaard, member of the Danish national 4-way and 8-way teams from 1980 to 1991 and in 1995, looked back in time to compare the events with shorter and longer event duration. He was also the Danish National Manager of Formation Skydiving from 2002 to 2005 and witnessed the rule change in 2004. He sent a note to the NSL News during the competition in Maubeuge:

"Thank you for your (as always) excellent coverage. Now that I am not on the World Meet site it's so good to read the NSL News. For your information: The 1987 World Meet in Iguazu, Brazil, finished after only 9 rounds of 8-way. Except the World Meets in South Africa, Australia, Arizona, and Turkey I have been to all World Meets since 1981. Back in 2004 I disagreed with IPC's decision to make the World Meets of shorter duration. I still believe we should go back to longer World Meets. Good luck - I really hope you will make it to max rounds."

It did not work out this year in Maubeuge, as it did not in Croatia 2004 and Germany 2006.

However, IPC's Formation Skydiving Committee, with Chair Fiona McEachern, will look at the options and re-consider the event duration. It was interesting enough to see that the weather conditions improved in Germany 2006 after the five official competition days. It was even more curious in Maubeuge this year when the weather conditions were perfect all day long on the 5th day of the competition.

At least some of the events might even have been completed if the whole day had been used as a jumping day. The event agenda was in the way of more competition rounds. Only one round was scheduled for Thursday morning, the rest of the day was dedicated to a public award ceremony on competition site.

It was a great party for the general public and for the participants, and it is important to present the sport to spectators and media and honor the winners with all respect and lots of celebration.

However, most of the participants said that they would rather complete more rounds and celebrate in the evening or next day. The already short five days should only be used for competition jumps.

The IPC Committee will weigh the options, a change of the rules seems to be necessary. The IPC could go back to the 7-day event and then leave the schedule once again under the discretion of the host. There could also be a 6-day compromise only for competition, and the 7th day would be dedicated to celebration with participants, media and general public. Suggestions can be sent directly to the IPC Committee.