posted Dec 23rd, 2014 - The rule book of Formation Skydiving competition has always been a topic for the Sun Path Products NSL News.

It was not only the dive pool and its changes over the years that were important enough to bring those topics to the attention of the audience and the skydiving competition community. Other parts of the FAI Sporting Code also have their impact on the actual competition and the scores and the rankings at the major events.

One of those topics has been the eligibility of competitors for their national teams. The last change of the eligibility rules took place in 2005 and kept the Sun Path Products NSL News quite busy for a while.

Well known names in the Formation Skydiving competition world made the headlines by then, and they were mainly related to three former Sebastian XL competitors who represented the United Kingdom until the World Meet 2003 in France: Thomas Hughes, Pete Allum and Steve Hamilton.

Thomas Hughes moved to the USA and is now a 4-way world champion of 2012 with Arizona Airspeed. Pete Allum moved on with Sinapsi PD and won a bronze medal for Italy at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Steve Hamilton followed his former XL team mate later and competed with Sinapsi for Italy at the World Meet 2010 in Russia.

The rule that allows competitors to compete for another country can be found in the FAI Sporting Code. Max Bishop, Secretary General of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in 2005, supported the version that made it easier for competitors to switch, as it was defined since 2006 after the last change.

8.1.3.6.4 Change of Representation - First Category Events If a person has represented a country in a First Category event, that person must not represent another country in any First Category event during the entire two calendar years (1 January to 31 December) following the calendar year in which the person represented the preceding country.

This section of the FAI Sporting Code remained untouched for almost a decade until it recently had a small change with the potential of a significant impact.

The previous version basically required an international competitor to sit out at one World Championship of Formation Skydiving before becoming eligible to compete for another country.

The most relevant event in the sport takes place every other year, while FAI World Cups and other "First Category Events" take place more frequently.

The new version that can now be found in the current FAI Sporting Code changes the situation, at least for the next two years.

The change took place after February 25th, 2013, when the previous definition was still published at the same location of the FAI Sporting Code.

8.1.3.6.4 Change of Representation - First Category Events If a person has represented a country in a First Category event, that person must not represent another country in any First Category Event during the twenty four months following the month in which the First Category Event, in which the person represented the first country, takes place.

The "entire two calendar years (1 January to 31 December)" of the previous definition have now turned into "twenty four months".

Two years are equal with 24 months and vice versa, however, the rest of the new definition makes a significant difference.

Any competitor who represented a country at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 in Prostejov will now be eligible to compete for another country at the next World Championship in 2016 at Skydive Chicago, which is scheduled for September 9 - 22. The restricted time period ends in August 2016.

None of any previous rule versions for representation have allowed such a situation, and it will be interesting to see if any international competitors will take advantage of this easier version, which could also create inconsistencies in the future, as the scheduling of the world meets will become crucial.