posted Feb 8th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News completes the closer look at the 2015 world rankings of the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) and Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) with the 4-way VFS teams.

As in the 8-way event, there is only a combined leaderboard for male and female competitors in 4-way VFS, while FAI/IPC separates the genders in 4-way Open, and a total of 14 nations were listed in the world rankings.

France is far ahead of all other nations in 4-way VFS after winning all FAI/IPC gold medals ever since the event was added to the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in 2010. The French national team was defeated only once by Dubai Nexus at the FAI World Cup 2013. Team4speed discontinued after the 3rd set of gold medals in Prostejov 2014, and things have changed in France and in 4-way VFS.

Rank	World Outdoor Team Rankings 4-way VFS	Country	Averages	Best 3
1	SDC Core	United States	17.7 - 20.6	19.2
2	Arizona Arsenal	United States	18.3	18.3
3	Evolution	Canada	17.4	17.4
4	Transfert	France	14.8 - 15.3	15.1
5	Arizona X Force	United States	13.1	13.1
6	Vertical Flystation	Russia	13.0	13.0
7	Golden Knights	United States	12.9	12.9
8	Element	Belgium	12.8	12.8
9	Blue Pelican	Norway	12.0	12.0
10	Amudy	United Arab Emirates	10.8	10.8
10	Super Serious	Unites States	10.8	10.8

The new national team Transfert still won the gold medals for France at the FAI World Cup 2015 and at the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships 2015 before Evolution stole the gold medals at the World Air Games 2015 for Canada.

It did not get much better for France at the first VFS competition in 2016. Transfert ended up in 3rd place behind SDC Core and Avalon Realfly Sion at the Wind Games.

The SKYLEAGUE.COM World Outdoor Team Rankings in 4-way VFS were showing the changing picture at the end of the 2015 season. The U.S.A. has five teams in the Top 10 positions, where the current French national team is only in 4th place. The U.S.A. is in 4th place of the FAI/IPC 2015 rankings, while SDC Core has taken the top spot in the world after winning at the Wind Games.

Wind Games 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		14,D,5	16,6,E	J,C,4,3	1,9,A	F,11,N,L	13,12,M	2,G,15	7,I,B,H	Total	Avg
1	SDC Core	US	24	31	27	29	31	29	28	26	225	28.1
2	Avalon Realfly Sion	CH	24	27	30	25	28	25	24	26	209	26.1
3	Transfert	FR	22	24	25	30	25	24	22	16	188	23.5
4	Vertigo	CH	16	15	20	21	18	15	16	13	134	16.8
5	Element	BE	17	18	19	21	18	12	14	13	132	16.5

Transfert finished only in 3rd place at the Wind Games since a new VFS team name appeared on the leaderboard. Realfly Sion is a wind tunnel in Switzerland that is supporting the strong 4-way VFS team.

The question is whether the team can become a Swiss threat for France or the U.S.A. at FAI/IPC events.

The lineup consists of two former Team4speed world champions (Raphaël Coudray, Frédéric Nenet) and two Swiss VFS competitors (Andri Steinmann, Reto Welti), and the team is probably not eligible for any FAI/IPC medal positions in 2016.

Evolution is in 3rd place of the SKYLEAGUE.COM rankings, while Canada is in 6th place of the FAI/IPC rankings. The three Lemay brothers with Jean Christophe Oumet will surely be in the mix for the VFS medals at the Mondial 2016. Russia's Vertical Flystation might be in an underdog position this year, while Great Britain and Norway don't seem to be close to the top medal contenders.