posted May 30th, 2016 - The poll results for the expected bronze medal battle in the 4-way Open Class Formation Skydiving competition at the Mondial 2016 have not changed much since the last update on May 25th, even though the Qatar Tigers have taken away a percentage point from the leader in the polls, the French national team in 4-way Open, FLY-IN France.

It is an interesting aspect of this preview series that the poll results have reflected exactly the final standings at the World Challenge 2016. However, the distances between the five contenders in the poll are significantly wider than the results after the 10-round indoor meet in Bedford.

Only Satori XL is as far behind the other four bronze medals contenders in the poll as the British national team was at the World Challenge.

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
3	FLY-IN France	FR	24	26	26	34	32	23	33	23(-1)	27	28(-1)	276	27.6
4	Black Cat	RU	21(-1)	26	25(-1)	33	31(-1)	22	33(-1)	25	26(-1)	33	275	27.5
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	26	25	31(-1)	34	23	33(-1)	23	27	31	275	27.5
8	Satori XL	UK	23	25	22(-1)	30	29	20(-1)	33	24	24(-1)	28	258	25.8

Satori XL is the youngest of the four teams, not of age, but of time together with the new lineup. It was not a big surprise that the British national team would have to start at the bottom of the world class 5-team group potentially in contention for a set of medals this year.

The audience placed Satori XL accordingly at the bottom of the bronze medal leaderboard from the very beginning of the preview series. In fact, Satori XL has even hardly been considered an underdog ever since, while the Qatar Tigers have moved more and more from the underdog position to becoming a serious bronze medal contender.

Satori XL on the other hand has shown several times that the new lineup may have even more than enough potential to be an underdog.

Wind Games 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		7,H,15	12,A,22	O,10,E,G	P,2,D,19	5,21,14	C,4,J,11	L,M,18,6	20,3,13	17,9,1	16,N,8	Total	Avg
3	Black Cat	RU	29	23	28	25	25	26	27	21	27	24	255	25.5
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	29	21	28	26	21	22	27	20	26	24	244	24.4
7	Satori XL	UK	26	21	28	24	22	25	23	19	27	22	237	23.7

Satori XL has met other bronze medal contenders at each of the three meets this year that the British team attended. There has not been one competition yet where Satori XL was not able to at least tie the scores for a round of any of the other bronze medal contenders.

Satori XL has also maintained the same progression that the other teams have shown this year, even though the young history of this lineup forces the team to catch up from behind. It's a big job to do; however, the major bulk of the team training was still ahead after the 25.8 average at the World Challenge 2016.

There is also a wealth of competition experience in the 2016 lineup that will eventually be helpful if the battle at the Mondial 2016 became the expected thriller.

Shamrock Showdown 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,13,9	G,6,21	10,20,11	18,4,B	F,1,14	19,5,7	P,Q,16,A	C,15,M,12	J,L,K,2	E,O,22,17	Total	Avg
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	22	16	21	19	19	29	20	28	22	215	21.5
5	Satori XL	UK	19	18(-1)	16	20	19	20	26(-1)	18(-2)	24	22	202	20.2

All team members have competed at world meets before. Julia Swallow and John McIver have been Satori team mates since 2009 (Menzelinsk 2010), and Ian "Milko" Hodgkinson joined the team in 2011 (Dubai 2012). Julia Swallow also won a gold medal in 4-way Women with the Airkix lineup in Germany 2006 before joining the original Satori lineup.

John McIver and newest Satori XL member Pete Allum together have even more than enough experiences in pursuing bronze medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving with Sebastian XL. They tried the first time in 1999 and ended up one single point (190 - 191) behind the DeLand Norgies. Two years later, XL ended up seven points behind the same Norgies (199 - 206), and again in 4th place. The same battle took place once again in Gap 2003 and ended with the same 1-point deficit (205 - 206) as in 1999.

John McIver and Pete Allum were no bronze medal underdogs with XL in 1999, 2001 and 2003 and ended up in 4th place. This time, there seem to be no serious bronze medal expectations, and it could be a better position for Satori XL to come from behind...

Mondial 2016 - Bronze Medals in 4-way Open
Who wins 4-way Open Class bronze medals at the Mondial 2016?	Evolution (Canada) Black Cat (Russia) FLY-IN (France) Tigers (Qatar) Satori XL (Great Britain)