posted Nov 13th, 2014 - The 5th FAI World Canopy Piloting Championships 2014 were recently held at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, Florida. The Sun Path Products NSL News covers almost exclusively Formation Skydiving competition and events, and the swooping meet does not really fit into the SKYLEAGUE.COM territory.

However, it would not be the first time at all that Canopy Piloting and Formation Skydiving competition have something in common, and the connection comes with the athletes. Former 4-way world champions Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo and Jonathan Tagle (DeLand Fire - 2006) made the news here and there when they placed on the top of the Canopy Piloting leaderboards later in their competition careers.

The Sun Path Products NSL News studied once again the results of this year's swooping world meet and found several familiar names.

The top performer across the disciplines came from France this time, and it was also a different cross-connection compared to the ones in the past. Julien Guiho finished in 2nd place of the overall rankings, where only swooping expert Curtis Bartholomew placed ahead of him.

Julien Guiho was a member of Team4speed, the French VFS 4-way team who won this newest Formation Skydiving event every time since it was included in world meets (2010 - 2012 - 2014). The Sun Path Products NSL News had met with him and his team after the conclusion of the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 for NSL Talk, where Team4speed announced the retirement as the national team for France.

Julien Guiho obviously did not retire from skydiving competition, as he won his overall silver medal in Canopy Piloting two months later.

Another French Formation Skydiving world champion placed only two ranks behind Julien Guiho. Guillaume Bernier won 8-way gold medals for France in 2006 and 2008 and a 4-way gold medal in 2010. Then he added Canopy Piloting to his repertoire and won another two silver medals in 4-way and 8-way at the Mondial Dubai 2012.

Guillaume Bernier did not compete for France in Formation Skydiving in 2013 and 2014. However, his name came recently up again when French national coach Jeremie Rollett announced his lineups for the next two years. Guillaume Bernier and his brother Mathieu, who made history by winning double gold in Menzelinsk 2010, are both back in 8-way competition, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 21 October 2014.

That's not the end of the list of swooping Formation Skydiving competitors. Thunder's videographer Grim Swinnen just missed the Top 10 at Skydive City with his 11th place. Alexander Golovkin, who competed with Barkli's 8-way lineup for Russia at this year's world meet, finished in 19th place.

Brian Vacher, former UK team videographer, placed 23rd, clearly ahead of former Rotor Out videographer Darren Griggs (37th) from Australia. Former Russian 8-way competitor Sergey Romanyuk finished in 44th place. He placed 3rd with Evolution Pro in Germany 2006 when Guillaume Bernier won his first 8-way gold medal.

Kenneth Gajda trained and competed with Denmark's national 4-way team Voluntas until 2010 and finished in 55th place at this swooping world meet. Nikolay Sukharnikov from Russia placed 78th. He was in the 8-way lineup that won the first gold medals for Russia in 2001. He competed again in 8-way for Barkli this year and won a bronze medal in Prostejov.

The list is probably incomplete, and the detailed results of the 102 canopy pilots can be found by clicking here.