posted Mar 20th, 2014 - The 4way story of the new French national team Volt'R begins with the 4way history of two members, Mathieu Bernier and Julien Degen. They both collected three 8way gold medals in 2006, 2008 and 2010 and added 4way training and competition to their agenda in 2007. The starting point was a 22.8 average at the World Cup, one point behind NMP-PCH Hayabusa with Luc Verstrepen in the Belgian lineup. Jeremie Rollet and Guillaume Bernier were the other two members, with Alexandre Pereira on camera.

Mathieu Bernier and Julien Degen have been through all 4way ups and downs ever since, which included world meet silver medals in 2008 (24.3) and gold medals in 2010 (27.7) with the same lineup, plus a 3rd place at the Mondial Dubai 2012 with a 26.5 average and Manu Sarrazin for Jeremie Rollett in the lineup. Olivier Henaff has been on camera since 2010.

The new and current lineup came together at the beginning of the 2013 season, with two new and young FS competitors, Pierre Emmanuel Balages and Damien Gouriou, who posted a 22.1 average in 3rd place at the World Cup in Banja Luka.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2014		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	K,13,22	15,3,10	D,B,6,9	G,7,E,18	11,4,L	A,21,1	J,Q,N,12	C,F,8,O	P,17,M,14	2,16,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	27	25	43	33	30	28	33	35	30	25	309	30.9
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	24	19	45	31	24	27	26	35	34	22	287	28.7
3	Evolution (CA)	23	23	38	28	26	28	29	34	31	22	282	28.2
4	VoltR (FR)	23	22	38	30	26	27	28	34	31	21	280	28.0

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2014		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	18,2,O	D,19,22	G,C,P,10	9,A,L,H	K,16,B,Q	7,4,21	11,15,F	M,3,E,8	6,1,17	20,12,J	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	20	20	28	46	33	24	23	20	19	21	254	25.4
2	Evolution (CA)	21	22	25	40	30	21	23	23	20	19	244	24.4
3	VoltR (FR)	20	19	24	36	29	21	20	22	20	16	227	22.7

A significant change came for the new Volt'R lineup after the team's only competition in 2013 when Mathieu Bernier switched from his Point slot to Center Inside. Jeremie Rollett, former French 4way and 8way world champion and now French national coach, is aiming at 4way gold medals in 2016, which will be the 10th 4way season for Mathieu Bernier and Julien Degen.

The current Volt'R results at the Paraclete XP Indoor and Outdoor Championship 2014 are the first ones after the slot scramble and a milestone on the road to the World Meet 2016 in the USA.

The long term goal makes planning easier and reduces some of the pressure. However, the French national team still has to show success to the French federation in the meantime. There has not been a world meet since 1985 where France did not win a set of medals. There will be pressure on Volt'R at the World Meet 2014 in the Czech Republic, as Evolution from Canada is seriously challenging not only France.

The new Volt'R competition videos from the Paraclete XP Indoor and Outdoor Championship 2014 are showing what France has to offer in 4way Open at the moment, and the indoor scores are closer to the winning level than the outdoor scores.

The gold medal position seems to be out of reach for the new French team, as NMP-PCH Hayabusa demonstrated as clearly at the indoor competition as Arizona Airspeed did at the outdoor meet. It seems as if Volt'R will fight with Evolution for the bronze medal position, unless Russia comes up with a 4way surprise at the world meet, which is always possible.

On the other hand, nothing is impossible for the Evolution members and their coach Shannon Pilcher, and the French team, with a dynamic mixture of experience and talent, might feel the same way as the young Canadians do. NMP-PCH Hayabusa and Arizona Airspeed both have to watch their back, and a tight competition can always produce unexpected results. France in a medal position would surely not be a surprise...