posted Dec 1st, 2014 - The 4-way Women competition at the 5th Dubai International Parachuting Championship continues to be a French runaway. The three reigning world champions (Laurence Herve, Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout), with new member Anais Maillet and new videographer Michel Laynaud, leave the rest of the field in the dust.

The dominance of the Aerodyne French Girls is as overwhelming as the scores are showing. The highest score for a round by all other teams is a 14-pointer, while the lowest score for the French Girls was the 15-pointer in Round 3. The French Girls are playing in their own league and would be in 7th place on the Open Class leaderboard.

The 7th place in the Open Class will soon not be good enough for one of the team members. Laurence Herve will be the first French female member of the national 4-way team in the Open Class once the new lineup begins to train in January.

5th DIPC 2014		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women	Q,5,6	F,22,18	19,8,21	4,16,K	14,A,H,17	B,12,E,3	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	19	17	15	17	19	20	107	17.8
2	US Women (US)	14	14	12	12	14	14	80	13.3
3	Team XX (UK)	13	12	13	12	12	14	76	12.7
3	Infra Red Band (RU)	13	12	13	13	12	13	76	12.7
3	Chicas (DE)	14	12	12	11	13	14	76	12.7
6	Dubai Asaar Ladies (AE)	14	13	11	14	10	10	72	12.0
7	Tonix (CA)	12	12	11	12	11	13	71	11.8
8	China Women (CN)	11	9	9	13	10	12	64	10.7

The French Girls are alone on the top of the leaderboard, however, this does not mean that the competition in 4-way Women is not exciting enough. In fact, there is a very tough battle for the $10,000 and the silver medals or the $7,500 and the 3rd place.

The US pickup team has solidified the 2nd place with a 4-point cushion after Round 6, while three teams are tied in 3rd place. Dubai Asaar Ladies and Tonix from Canada seem to have fallen out of contention for bronze medals.

None of the seven teams from top to bottom came to Dubai with a lineup that has competed earlier this year, except for the German Chicas. Each team had changes in the lineup or came together just for the 5th DIPC 2014. Home team Dubai Asaar Ladies needed a replacement for Angelique Pierry who is pregnant.

The French dominance in 4-way Women was no surprise for Martial Ferre, the French 4-way and 8-way world champion who took some time for NSL Talk yesterday. He won his last gold medal with the French 8-way team in 2010 and came to Dubai with Monaco Vitalsea's 8-way lineup and competes against France this time.

He provided his insights and expectations as of the new French delegation for the upcoming two years until the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2016 at Skydive Chicago.

The performance of the French teams at the 5th DIPC does not indicate much of the expected performance level to come, as the 8-way team is not the national lineup, and the French Girls are not competing with their complete lineup. The new Open Class team begins with training in January, and there is still a question mark behind the 4-way VFS lineup. Monday brings 8-way and VFS 4-way competition in Dubai.