posted Sep 11th, 2016 - The first official day of the Mondial 2016 brought training jumps and the opening ceremony to the teams and competitors at Skydive Chicago.

The slow start in the morning, caused by the transfer of the a few Mondial disciplines from an outscourced event site to Skydive Chicago, did not keep the Formation Skydiving competition teams from getting at least one or two training jumps completed to get familiar with the competition site.

Many of the participants attend a World Championship of Formation Skydiving for the first time, and the actual event site site at Skydive Chicago is new to even more teams and competitors. The training jumps are not really very important to improve the performance level, they are more relevant to get familiar with the competition site, the specifics of the jump planes and the visuals of the ground after exiting from the jump planes.

Joey Jones and Chris Talbert launched the live coverage of the Sun Path Products NSL News with the first live NSL Talk in the middle of the training activities. They went through all four Formation Skydiving categories (4-way Open, 4-way Women, 4-way VFS, 8-way Open) and presented their view of the races for the medals.

Chris Talbert has no doubt that the Golen Knights will carry home quite easily the William H. Ottley Sword for Formation Skydiving Competition - also known as the Excalibur - after the 8-way competition. The forecast is not so easy for the U.S. team in 4-way Women, where the lineup is not representing the U.S. Army. The three Golden Knights (Jennifer Davidson, Laura Davis, Dannielle Albright-Woosley) compete for the U.S. Formation Skydiving delegation and not for the U.S. Army.

Joey Jones and Chris Talbert agreed to expect the toughest battle of the Mondial 2016 for the bronze medals in 4-way Open. One of the main questions related to the Canadian delegation. Will Evolution, defending bronze medalist of 2014, be a part of this battle for the 3rd place or not...?