posted Jul 31st, 2014 - The preview of the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 by the Sun Path Products NSL News began when the field of teams was posted for the first time.

Traditional 4-way competition is once again the dominating event, with 22 national teams currently registered. There have been a few updates ever since, mostly when information became available which teams are going to represent each country in Prostejov in August. The latest clarification came from Great Britain where Vision 99 will be the national team for this year's world meet.

The poll was added to the event page later on, and the current results indicate the same 2-team battle for the gold medals that took place at the Mondial Dubai 2012. The situation has changed in the last two years, at least at this point in time. Arizona Airspeed was the top contender in 2012, while NMP-PCH Hayabusa and Aerodyne Aerokart were strong underdogs.

Currently registered 4-way Open teams: Australia (Rotor Out), Austria, Belgium (NMP-PCH Hayabusa), Canada (Evolution), Czech Republic (Bad Boys), Denmark (VAF Warriors), Estonia, Finland (Tigers), France (Volt'R Maubeuge), Germany (Paratec-Saar), Great Britain (Vision 99), Hungary, Italy (Ex3mo), Lithuania (Magic 4), Netherlands (Cool Runnings), Russia (Barkli), Slovenia, South Africa (Savolo), Sweden (eXact), United Arab Emirates (Dubai Asaar Black), Ukraine, USA (Arizona Airspeed)

This year, the battle for gold medals seems to be a 2-team affair between the same teams with a different outcome. NMP-PCH Hayabusa turned out to be much closer to the 1st place in 2012 than the audience expected it. The 1-point drama at the very last second of working time made the history books of 4-way Formation Skydiving competition.

The audience has given credit to the fact that the Belgian team has continued with the same lineup, while Arizona Airspeed came back with two new team members in 2013. Hayabusa has the top position in the polls, while France (Volt'R) and Canada (Evolution) are not considered as serious contenders for the gold medals.

Russia was not even included in the 4-way Open Class poll options after finishing 5th in Dubai 2012. Barkli has focused on 8-way competition in the past two years, and the 4-way lineup has not attended a meet this year so far.

Mondial Dubai 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/Open Class	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	27	34	27	22	23	23	32	25	40	26	279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	25	34	27	21	23	24	32	27	40	25	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart (FR)	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5
4	Evolution (CA)	22	31	24	17	19	21	28	22	30	22	236	23.6
5	Barkli (RU)	19	29	22	21	21	18	28	20	35	20	233	23.3

However, Barkli's current 4-way lineup will once again represent Russia in Prostejov, and three of the members (Sergey Shenin, Nikolay Vylegzhanin, Vladimir Pavlenko) are also competing in 8-way. Andrey Seliverstov is still on camera in 4-way and 8-way.

Barkli's 4-way lineup has a new team member, as Oleg Shalamykhin, one of Russia's 4-way and 8-way icons, only continues with Barkli in 8-way. Dmitriy Samokhval has taken the Center Outside slot. He is a very experienced 4-way and 8-way competitor who was in Russia's national 8-way team Evolution Pro years ago. He switched to 4-way with Ocean 5 and has been a SportLoto member in the last three years.

Dmitriy Samokhval joined Barkli this year and has not had much training with his new team at all. Russia will probably be able to defend the 5th place successfully with the new Barkli lineup, however, the medal positions seem to be as far away as the poll position indicates...