posted May 26th, 2016 - The annual leaderboard of the World Challenge also serves as the first view of the national medal contenders in the United Kingdom for the coming outdoor season.

15 teams competed in the AAA Class, including the two teams in 4-way Women, who will not have their own leaderboard at the UK Nationals.

The two best British 4-way teams at the World Challenge 2016 consisted together of five female and three male competitors.

Two of the 4mula members, the only missing British top team in Bedford, competed for Volition and finished in 2nd place.

Satori XL, Vision and 4mula will most likely and once again share the three sets of UK medals this year. Satori XL is already qualified as the British national team in 4-way Open at the Mondial 2016, where NFTO will compete in 4-way Women. Vision 99 represented Great Britain at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 before the new Satori XL lineup took back the 4-way reigns at the UK Nationals 2015.

The only question this year is probably how close Vision and 4mula can get to Satori XL.

World Challenge 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	P,2,10	8,F,15	G,14,17	L,H,E,13	M,7,O,1	16,21,11	N,D,4,9	18,20,A	Q,19,3	C,K,B,22	Total	Avg
1	Satori XL	23	25	22	30	29	20	33	24	24	28	258	25.8
2	Volition	19	18	21	29	29	19	29	21	21	26	232	23.2
3	Vision 99	19	24	22	27	28	20	28	19	21	22	230	23.0
4	ACM	17	22	21	24	25	19	20	18	19	24	209	20.9
5	Co-Motion	18	24	20	23	23	16	22	18	22	22	208	20.8
6	Chimera	16	20	18	24	27	16	22	16	22	21	202	20.2
7	NFTO	19	20	18	22	26	14	25	15	20	20	199	19.9
7	Eclipse	18	18	17	22	25	17	23	18	19	22	199	19.9
9	Phoenix	19	20	17	20	24	17	24	18	19	16	194	19.4
10	Antimatter	15	18	16	20	20	20	15	14	17	18	173	17.3
11	Helios	16	18	16	19	21	15	20	13	18	16	172	17.2
12	VooWho?	15	13	15	18	22	15	19	9	16	17	159	15.9
13	Heros & Zeros	13	14	12	19	22	13	18	13	15	16	155	15.5
14	Skyfool	11	15	13	17	20	10	20	13	15	17	151	15.1
15	Funnel Vision	10	13	13	13	17	9	13	10	13	14	125	12.5

Vision 99, with Steve Hamilton back in the lineup, posted the team's best meet average ever at the World Challenge 2016. The 23.0 average was still far behind Satori XL (25.8), with Steve Hamilton's two former XL team mates Pete Allum and John McIver, and two points behind Volition.

Volition will not compete at the national championships, and Vision will probably have to battle with 4mula for the silver medals, while Satori XL will be in the final preparations for the Mondial 2016.

The situation behind the British top teams is also extremely competitive. ACM and Co-Motion, both with new lineups this year, were separated by one single point after ten rounds at the World Challenge. Co-Motion lost the 4th place on the internal British leaderboard to ACM by one point in Round 10.

The new team Chimera was within striking distance of the 4th place, as well. Even Eclipse, tied in 7th place with NFTO, could still claim a highscore for a round within this pack of teams behind the 3rd place. Four teams tied the 18-pointer in Round 8.

Chimera is the only new team name on the UK leaderboard of the World Challenge. James Wood trained and competed with ACM in 2015, Sarah Ashworth came from the ChatterChicks.

Chimera traveled to Florida shortly after the World Challenge for a training camp in DeLand. James Woods' sister Katie, still the world's reigning 4-way bronze medalist in 4-way Open, was coaching Chimera. The outdoor competition season has begun in the United Kingdom, and the Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up shortly.