posted Jul 14th, 2015 - The Sun Path Products NSL News posted the latest TURNING POINTS column in BLUE SKIES MAG's July edition on July 11th. Topic was the official introduction of a new indoor competition class by the International Parachuting Committee (IPC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the 4-way Junior category.

The column related to a sensitive topic that has not been discussed much recently, as the 4-way Women category is as much established in Formation Skydiving competition by now as the two original events, 4-way Open and 8-way Open. 4-way VFS was the latest addition to the Formation Skydiving categories before 4-way Junior recently made it to the indoor competition world. Both new 4-way events have no separate category for female competitors.

World Meet 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	32	29	25	25	33	25	22	18	26	29	264	26.4
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	31	27	25	24	31	23	22	17	24	29	253	25.3
3	Evolution (CA)	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9

The "WELCOME JUNIORS" article mentioned the names of several female 4-way competitors (Dawn English, Eliana Rodriguez, Arianna De Benedetti, Natasha Montgomery, Anais Maillet, Cathy Bouette, Sara Curtis) who have won medals at FAI World Meets and World Cups in the past. Four of them also have their VIP profile pages on SKYLEAGUE.COM.

A review of the profile pages shows that there are also other female world class 4-way competitors who have won medals at world meets (Lise Nansen), or who have been performing on the world's top level in 4-way Open (Christy Frikken).

In addition, there are female 4-way Open Class competitors on the world's top level who do not have their dedicated profile pages after (Katie Woods) or without (JaNette Lefkowitz) winning world meet medals. Last but not least, there are the teams in the 4-way Women category who compare their scores primarily with the 4-way Open Class teams (French Girls, Golden Knights).

Katie Woods won her bronze medal with Canada's national team Evolution at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014, not too far behind Arizona Airspeed.

USPA Nationals 2009			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		13,20,18	D,10,3	16,15,K	G,Q,L,8	B,17,21	A,N,H,P,O	1,14,M	19,12,J	5,11,C	22,9,E	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey		20	21	24	28	26	44	21	21	23	23	251	25.1
2	Spaceland Force XP		18	23	23	25	24	45	21	20	23	22	244	24.4
3	Perris Fury		17	21	22	27	24	43	22	19	23	25	243	24.3

Arizona Airspeed is also the main reason why US top competitors JaNette Lefkowitz and Christy Frikken have not competed at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving, where the US teams have always won at least a bronze medal since 1985.

Together they are now trying to overcome the Airspeed obstacle with SDC Rhythm XP.

The recognition of the missing names in the BLUE SKIES MAG column brought attention to Christy Frikken's NSL Profiles page, which is actually just a copy of a SKYDIVING MAGAZINE article that was published in 2007.

Christy Frikken was recognized by the magazine's audience as the SKYDIVER OF THE YEAR in 2007.

She won the award at a time when she had just launched her own steep competition career. Perris Fury was in the team's third year and began to threaten the 4-way top positions in the USA.

USPA Nationals 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	L,F,3,D	8,C,Q,A	9,G,11	P,1,B,H	16,N,15	6,K,J,19	13,14,17	4,O,20	21,10,22	7,2,12	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	33	31	27	32	24	24	19	22	19	21	252	25.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	31	26	23	27	21	19	19	19	17	18	220	22.0

Perris Fury eventually became one of the best 4-way teams in the world and finished only eight points (25.1 - 24.3) behind Arizona Airspeed in 3rd place at the USPA Nationals 2009. A year later, it was the 2nd place 14 points behind Airspeed (255 - 241).

Then Josh Hall left the team's original lineup, and the Fury era slowly came to an end for Christy Frikken.

At the same time, SDC Rhythm XP moved up towards the top spots in the USA, and Christy Frikken eventually accepted the Inside Center slot with the new Airspeed challenger.

Christy Frikken and JaNette Lefkowitz are now pursuing the same goal, the gold medal position in front of Arizona Airspeed, and they are working together in the center positions of the current Rhythm lineup.

Christy Frikken's NSL Profile needs an update, while Katie Woods and JaNette Lefkowitz deserve their own VIP pages...