posted Nov 24th, 2016 - History's first 4-way Women competition at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving in Empuriabrava 2001 was at the same time the toughest battle ever for any medals in this event. Four teams (Unites States - Norway - Sweden - Great Britain) were in contention for the three top positions, and they ended up within six points after ten rounds.

V-Max, the British team in 4th place, posted five highscores and still ended up without any medals, two points behind the bronze medals and three points behind silver.

Two Scandinavian teams finished in the medal positions behind Synchronicity. The Norgie Girls placed 2nd, and 4Pleasure brought the bronze medals to Sweden, while V-Max ended up empty-handed. However, the British team came back strongly two years later and won the gold medals in Gap 2003.

FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	Norgie Girls	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
5	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
6	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	-	113	12.6
7	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
8	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
9	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
10	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1

The Scandinavian 4-way Women power in the early years of the new category was not a surprise. The Swedish team 4Pleasure was the strongest all-female team at the FAI World Cup in Evora (Portugal) in 1998, one of the test events before the official introduction of 4-way Women at the FAI World Meet 2001.

4Pleasure also competed at the next test event, the FAI World Meet 1999 in Corowa (Australia), where the three top teams finished within four points (Great Britain - Australia - Sweden).

The Swedish team completed the international journey with bronze medals at the first official 4-way Women event at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2001 with a 14.3 average. Sweden came back in this event only twice in 2010 (11.3 - 7th) and 2012 (13.6 - 7th) and the 14.3 average of 2001 is still the country's standing record average.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	21	21	30	20	17	19	24	35	20	17	224	22.4
2	French Girls	FR	21	18	30	23	17	18	24	34	18	14	217	21.7
3	NFTO	UK	17	15	21	19	13	16	18	26	17	13	175	17.5
4	Montreal Fuzion	CA	18	15	19	16	14	16	17	25	17	14	171	17.1
5	Les Stunts	BE	15	14	20	16	11	13	16	24	15	13	157	15.7
6	Bellatrix	AU	13	12	20	16	12	13	15	22	13	14	150	15.0
7	Skymix	DE	13	11	15	15	12	13	14	23	12	12	140	14.0
8	No Mercy	PL	14	14	19	13	9	11	12	19	14	11	136	13.6
9	Infra Red Band	RU	15	12	16	13	9	11	13	17	14	10	130	13.0
10	CZ Ladies	CZ	11	11	14	13	9	10	12	19	9	10	118	11.8
11	Valkyria	DK	10	8	16	10	9	10	11	17	12	10	113	11.3

Vana Parker was not the only competitor who attended both world meets in 2001 and 15 years later the FAI Mondial 2016. Ann-Marie Jarzebowski trained and competed for Sweden and 4Pleasure between 1998 and 2001, and she has even more in common with this year's NFTO bronze medalist.

Ann-Marie Jarzebowski has competed for two different nations, as well. She won her bronze medal for Sweden in 2001 and finished in 6th place with Bellatrix from Australia at the FAI Mondial 2016, after a 10-round battle with Les Stunts from Belgium.

Bellatrix finally outscored Ann-Marie Jarzebowski's 14.3 average of 2001 with a 14.5 at this year's national championships in March and topped this with a 15.0 at Skydive Chicago.

The next FAI World Meet might take place on her current home turf in Australia, who submitted a bid to the FAI/IPC for hosting the event. Vana Parker finished on medal level this year, and Australia's team in 4-way Women might try the same in two tears...