posted Apr 16th, 2017 - The story of the French national team in 4-way Open, RealFly-Sion, has been related much by the Sun Path Products NSL News to the internal French duel with the 4-way Women lineup, the French Weembi Girls.

There were more than enough content and good reasons for this ongoing topic. Both lineups were selected for the national teams at about the same time, after the FAI World Meet 2014, where France ended up without medals in 4-way Open and with gold medals in 4-way Women.

The French Girls had another personnel change at the end of the 2015 season, when Pamela Lissajoux replaced Anais Alspach, while the RealFly-Sion lineup has not changed since the FAI World Cup 2015.

Both teams have been challenging and pushing each other in 2016, supported by national coach Mathieu Bernier, and the internal French duel has continued this year at three different indoor events. The friendly rivalry has been productive for the French national teams, as they have consistently posted new record averages. Both teams are currently standing at 30.3 indoor averages, while RealFly-Sion was ahead in outdoor competition with a 23.8 average at the FAI Mondial 2016. The French Girls posted their highest outdoor average (22.6) at the French Nationals 2016.

French Indoor Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,12,A	21,E,9	M,J,22,G	15,6,Q	4,N,14	19,2,F	18,A,16	D,20,3	B,17,8	P,13,K,1	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	26	36	37	33	29	32	29	30(-2)	29(-1)	32	313	31.3
2	Weembi Lille	FR	26	34	35(-1)	33	29	31	28	28(-1)	27(-4)	29	300	30.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	26	32	33	29	25	29	27	25	29	28	283	28.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	22	32	33	27	24	28	26	27	29	26	274	27.4

World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		D,B,6,22	12,E,17	20,G,C,10	N,M,15,H	Q,19,K,4	8,21,L	P,9,J,7	O,11,1	13,A,16	3,18,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33	29	29	46	34	28	47	28	28	29	331	33.1
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33	31	29	43	35	28	46	29	29	27	330	33.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	30	29	28	38	32	24	43	28	26	25	303	30.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	29	29	26	38	31	26	42	27	24	23	295	29.5

The French Weembi Girls seem to have secured their gold medals at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia, as no serious contender is anywhere near the French scoring level in 4-way Women. The internal duel with the national team in 4-way Open and other world class teams is important for the French Girls to avoid complacency.

The situation is very different for RealFly-Sion. Damien Gouriou was in the French national 4-way Open Class team that ended up without medals in Prostejov 2014. It was the first time that France did not win a set of medals at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving since 1985.

He helped to fix this with the new RealFly-Sion lineup and a 3rd place at the Mondial last year, and silver medals in Australia 2018 could be the next step on the way to new French gold medals in 4-way Open.

However, the live World Challenge TV interview with all RealFly-Sion members during the World Challenge made it very clear that the young French team is not aiming at silver medals next year. RealFly-Sion plans to stay ahead of Arizona Airspeed and catch up with NMP PCH HayaBusa until October 2018.

RealFly-Sion is probably ahead of the U.S. teams at this point in time, as the Airspeed results at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2017 and the Shamrock Showdown 2017 indicate. Confirmation came after the direct confrontation with SDC Rhythm XP at the World Challenge, even though the U.S. top contender increased the scoring level significantly compared to the Paraclete XP results.

France and Arizona Airspeed have had an exciting history of 4-way Open Class clashes at the major events since 2007 and before France dropped out of contention between 2014 and 2015. The gap has now closed again, and RealFly-Sion might have a head start going into the race for 2018 medals.

However, the situation with NMP PCH HayaBusa, the reigning indoor and outdoor world champions, is a very different story, as the second chart indicates. The Belgians are not showing any weakness so far that could allow France or any U.S. team to get close enough next year. Weembi Lille, the only serious challenger at this point in time, is only an indoor team and will not compete in Australia.

On the other side, RealFly-Sion and Arizona Airspeed or SDC Rhythm XP have almost two years to get ready for the downunder showdown with HayaBusa. There is no doubt that Airspeed plans to be on gold medal level by then if they can get beyond Rhythm this year, who want to win in Australia, as well. The RealFly-Sion members made it very clear too that they have only one goal: 4-way Open Class gold medals for France in 2018...