posted Jul 18th, 2015 - The history of modern 8-way Formation Skydiving competition has been dominated by the three FS powerhouses. USA, France and Russia have won all medals since 1985, with two exceptions: Canada in 1985 (bronze) and Italy in 2008 (bronze).

Of the three leading 8-way nations, the US teams have won 11 of the 16 sets of gold medals. The Golden Knights have claimed ten of the 11 US world titles and are by far the most successful 8-way team project in history.

The US Army's 8-way team won all gold medals at world meets between 1987 and 1997 after the Coors took the 1st place for the USA in 1985. The Golden Knights were forced into 2nd place in 1998 by Arizona Airspeed, who won gold for the USA in Australia 1999.

World Meet 2010				Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way			3,21,N	6,20,9	E,G,17,5	K,16,2	12,C,22	B,D,M,1	7,15,J	13,L,P,11	4,18,O	10,14,19	Total	Avg
1	France	FR	News	25	19	16	21	22	25	18	19	23	15	203	20.3
2	Golden Knights	US	News	23	17	18	20	22	27	20	17	21	11	196	19.6

Then the Russian national 8-way team had their turn in 2001 and 2003 before Arizona Airspeed won again in 2004. Two years later, France launched a 6-year dominance in 8-way and won the gold medals in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

The Sun Path Products NSL News story on October 29th, 2009, explained how the Golden Knights came back into 8-way business at and after the USPA Nationals 2009. Arizona Airspeed had won the USPA 4-way and 8-way titles and decided to focus only on 4-way.

Golden Knights team captain Brian "BK" Krause was in the middle of re-building a world champion 8-way lineup when Airspeed forwarded the 8-way slot in the US delegation for the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk to the team in 2nd place, the Golden Knights. Six members of the 2010 lineup (Sean Sweeney, Justin Blewitt, Joshua Coleman, Matthew Davidson, Kurt Isenbarger, Larry Miller) are still the foundation of the current lineup, and 2010 videographer Andrew Starr has moved to a slot in front of the camera. Jeshua Stahler completes the lineup, and Sherri Jo Gallagher is filming the team.

World Meet 2012				Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way			N,21,B,5	14,C,13	22,M,20	17,H,16	J,E,12,4	7,19,15	G,K,8,2	O,L,F,P,A	10,11,18	9,Q,D,1	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	News	21	19	27	26	26	18	20	28	19	25	229	22.9
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	News	22	19	22	23	27	20	20	28	19	25	225	22.5

The same six Golden Knights who were in the 2009 lineup have been through several battles with the French national teams and know each other very well, while the duel continues.

France won the 8-way gold medals in 2010, even though three of the 2006 and 2008 world champions (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Guillaume Bernier) were pulled out of the world champion 8-way lineup of 2008 and assigned to winning 4-way gold medals for France, together with Mathieu Bernier who competed in both events.

The same Golden Knights 6-way, with Brian Krause and Mike LaRoche, then won the gold medals in 2012 where they defeated an even stronger French 8-way team with six of the 2006 and 2008 world champions (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier, Manu Sarrazin, Bruno Perin) plus 2010 world champions Julien Olek and Thomas Perrin Gachadoat.

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	8-way			E,3,C,5	F,G,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	Golden Knights	US	News	24	22	15	26	22	21	19	26	21	20	216	21.6
3	Venturi	FR	News	19	16	14	23	18	13	18	19	15	16	171	17.1

The Golden Knights replaced only Brian Krause with Jeshua Stahler for the next two years and won the gold medals in Prostejov 2014 after a 10-round walk in the park.

France had tried to re-build the 8-way lineup when Julien Degen, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier went back to 4-way competition only, with Manu Sarrazin in the lineup. The new 8-way lineup ended up in 3rd place after a jump-off with Russia's Barkli lineup, and the French 8-way plans for the next two years changed again.

The World Meet 2016 will bring back together the same Golden Knights 6-way of 2010, now with Jeshua Stahler and Andrew Starr, and the complete French 8-way lineup of 2012. Both teams will check each other out this year, as both are registered for the World Cup in Teuge. The 8-way battle is back on, and it begins early...