posted Dec 24th, 2016 - There are not many indoor 8-way competitions in the world, even though there are several 16-foot flying chambers, which can accommodate almost the complete 8-way dive pool.

Paraclete XP was the first wind tunnel hosting 8-way competition as a part of the annual indoor event, and it's still the most popular one. A total of 18 teams competed in two categories at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016.

The Clash of Champions 2015 was a smaller event with only seven 8-way teams.

However, it had the quality of a world meet, as the best 8-way teams in the world made it to Inflight Dubai in November 2015.

France has recently caught up with wind tunnel operation, and the Weembi 17-foot flying chamber in Lille allowed Julien Degen, French 8-way world champion of 2006 and 2008, to invite teams to the newest 8-way competition.

Weembi December 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		5,K,B,18	H,N,6,11	P,A,22,O	19,2,E	17,9,G	10,3,L	J,F,12,4	21,13,Q	C,M,1,8	Total	Avg
1	Fly In Thund8rbirds	BE	27	29	27	23	25	31	36	24	22	244	27.1
2	Weembi Girls	FR	19	22	20	16	19	24	27	20	20	187	20.8
3	Weembi Team 1	FR	15	16	20	14	14	18	21	16	16	150	16.7
4	Veloce	FR	15	16	15	11	13	15	17	12	10	124	13.8
5	Weembi Team 2	FR	11	12	14	11	11	12	14	10	12	107	11.9
6	Bondues	FR	9	8	12	10	8	6	12	9	10	84	9.3
7	Weembi Team 3	FR	6	5	8	4	7	7	7	-	-	44	6.3

Seven teams accepted the invitation, and six of them had lineups with French competitors.

Julien Degen himself was captaining one of the three home teams (Weembi Team 1), while French Girls member Christine Malnis, 4-way Women world champion of 2014, put together the Weembi Girls.

Another French 8-way world champion (Menzelinsk 2010) was back with his Veloce team.

Martial Ferre had brought a different lineup to the 8-way event at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2015, and he had also competed with the international Team White lineup at this year's event.

This time, he did not have to travel far to bring a new Veloce lineup to the Weembi competition in Lille.

Weembi December 2016			1	2	3	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		5,K,B,18	H,N,6,11	P,A,22,O	Total	Avg
1	Fly In Thund8rbirds	BE	27	29	27	83	27.7
2	Weembi Girls	FR	19	22	20	61	20.3
3	Weembi Team 1	FR	15	16	20	51	17.0
4	Veloce	FR	15	16	15	46	15.3
5	Weembi Team 2	FR	11	12	14	37	12.3
6	Bondues	FR	9	8	12	29	9.7
7	Weembi Team 3	FR	6	5	8	19	6.3

The only guest team from a different country did not have much travel distance either.

The Thund8rbirds from Belgium used the opportunity to attend another 8-way competition with the original lineup before NMP PCH HayaBusa's

Weembi 8-way Quarterfinals		19,2,E	17,9,G	Total
Veloce	FR	11	13	24
Weembi Team 2	FR	11	11	22
Weembi Team 1	FR	14	14	28
Bondues	FR	10	8	18
Weembi Girls	FR	16	19	35
Weembi Team 3	FR	4	7	11

8-way plans will give the team a new direction, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on November 10th.

It was the second 8-way indoor meet for the Thund8rbirds, and the average went from 25.0 at the Clash of Champions up to 27.1 at Weembi.

Only Golden Knights and the French national 8-way team have ever scored higher at an indoor competition.

Julien Degen tested a new format at the Weembi competition, which is similar to a qualification part followed by knock-out rounds, with two teams pitched directly at each other, that the NSL Championship applied in 2000.

All seven teams first completed three rounds to set the rankings at the end of the qualification

Weembi 8-way Semifinals		10,3,L	J,F,12,4	Total
Weembi Team 2	FR	12	14	26
Bondues	FR	6	12	18
Weembi Team 3	FR	7	7	14
Fly In Thund8rbirds	BE	31	36	67
Veloce	FR	15	17	32
Weembi Girls	FR	24	27	51
Weembi Team 1	FR	18	21	39

rounds.

After that, two teams competed directly against each other in the quarterfinals and had two rounds for a total that would move the winner into the semifinals.

The team in 1st place moved forward automatically, while the 2nd place team had to fend off the team in 7th place (3rd vs. 6th, 4th vs. 5th).

The duels were not highly contested. Only Veloce and Weembi Team 2 battled in Rounds 4 and 5 for the right to move up with the winning teams into the semifinals. The three losing teams of the quarterfinals competed directly with each other in Rounds 6 and 7 to make it to the following finals (Rounds 8 and 9) and the duel for the 5th place.

The three winners of the quarterfinals (Weembi Girls, Weembi Team 1, Veloce) were paired against

Weembi 8-way Finals		21,13,Q	C,M,1,8	Total	Rank
Bondues	FR	9	10	19	6
Weembi Team 2	FR	10	12	22	5
Veloce	FR	12	10	22	4
Weembi Team 1	FR	16	16	32	3
Weembi Girls	FR	20	20	40	2
Fly In Thund8rbirds	BE	24	22	46	1

each other in the semifinals (Rounds 6 and 7) and only two winners would compete for the championship title in Rounds 8 and 9.

Veloce could not enjoy the 2-point victory over Weembi Team 2 for too long. The Thund8rbirds were back in business for the semifinals and turned out to be the opponent for Veloce.

The two Weembi home teams (Team 1 with Julien Degen, Weembi Girls with Christine Malnis) fought over the right to face off with the Thund8rbirds in the finals at the same time.

Eventually, the outcome of the new format was identical with the rankings on the traditional leaderboard after all nine rounds.

Julien Degen reported from Weembi Lille that French Girls member Sophia Pecout was live-judging the competition and that the participating teams enjoyed the different format. He said that he plans to apply it again next year and extend it to 4-way competition, as well.

The NSL Championship 2000 had six qualification rounds on the first day of the competition with a traditional leaderboard to develop the rankings for the knock-out rounds next day.

Then the teams had two rounds in the quarterfinals, as well, to make it to the next stages (semifinals - finals). However, the format was now a real race against the time, with a starting point and a finishing line.

The outcome of the NSL Championship 2000 was similar to the one at Weembi: DeLand PD Blue (Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo, Kyle Collins, David van Greuningen, with Eric Taylor on camera) won the title easily. Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo became 4-way world champions six years later...