posted Jul 9th, 2009 - The NSL News reported the 8-way scores of the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championship 2009 on 15 June 2009. Two 8-way teams attended the first indoor competition, and Paraclete XP won by 12 points over the Golden Knights with a 24.9 average.

The first appearance of the US Army's new 8-way lineup confirms the latest change of the Golden Knights' event priorities.

The 8-way event was the prime discipline for the US Army team for many years. In fact, the Golden Knights are still in possession of the 8-way world record for a single round (31) and also for the meet average (22.4) which were both posted at the World Meet of 1997 in Turkey.

The NSL News reported details of the 8-way history when the French 8-way team challenged these numbers at the USPA Nationals 2008 in Eloy, Arizona. It was a very close call, but France eventually missed a new average record by just a few points. The 22.2 average will remain the best result for the members of this French 8-way lineup, who won two consecutive gold medals. France now continues with a new 8-way lineup.

The Golden Knights switched priorities at the end of the 1999 season and focused on 4-way from here on. It was a successful project, as the new 4-way lineup (Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Kurt Eisenbarger, Chris Talbert) won the USPA Nationals 2002 over Airspeed Vertical and DeLand Majik and competed for the USA at the World Meet 2003 in France.

The Golden Knights continued with priority on the 4-way event with different lineups, but they never again won the USPA Nationals, neither in 4-way nor in 8-way ever since. The 2005 lineup (Brian Krause, Brooks Weiner, Matt Davidson and John Hoover) came the closest after a jump-off with DeLand Fire for the gold medals.

Brian Krause was already in the 4-way lineup of 2005 and has now become the team captain of the new 8-way lineup. The NSL News mentioned the members of the new 8-way lineup in the same story on June 15 (Brian Krause, Matt Davison, Sean Sweeney, Matt Accord, Larry Miller, Josh Coleman, Justin Blewitt and Michael LeRoche).

The team goal is very simple: the Golden Knights plan to win the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2009 and compete for the USA at the World Meet 2010 in Russia.

The new Golden Knights 8-way lineup is very serious with this plan and have already completed a lot of indoor and outdoor training. Brian Krause told the NSL News in June that the 8-way team had already made over 500 jumps since it was recruited this year. He planned to add another 500 jumps and more tunnel training before the USPA Nationals 2009 in October.

The recent shift of Golden Knights priorities increases the chances of a US 8-way team to win back the 8-way Excalibur sword and the gold medals, which have been in French possession since 2006.

The USA owned the 8-way sword before Russia defeated a US team for the first time in 2001, and then again in 2003. Arizona Airspeed brought it back to the USA from Croatia in 2004. France took it in 2006 and defended it successfully in 2008.

There has not been a well enough trained US 8-way lineup at the international Formation Skydiving competitions ever since Arizona Airspeed changed from the main focus on 8-way to the 4-way event. Golden Knights and Airspeed both wanted to win the 4-way titles and competed at the World Meets in 8-way only when the 4-way slot was already taken. This gave the US 8-way lineups usually less than one year to prepare for the pursuit of 8-way Excalibur.

A successful 2009 season for the new Golden Knights 8-way lineup would change this situation. The 4-way battle between Arizona Airspeed, Perris Fury and Spaceland Force XP guarantees a very strong US 4-way team for next year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Russia.

The Golden Knights don't even think of winning in 4-way this year. The USPA Nationals 2009 are supposed to be just a step on the way to the real battle with France next year. The French 8-way world champions know about this situation, and they are observing the progression of the US 8-way teams very carefully.

The 8-way gold medals are not guaranteed for France, as the new lineup has to be brought up to the performance and scoring level of the 2-time world champions of 2006 and 2008. The race is on.