posted Apr 18th, 2017 - It is time to catch up with a few indoor meets that happened while the major events took all the attention. One of them was the Canadian indoor qualifier for the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017, which will take place on Canadian home turf at SkyVenture Montreal in October.

The 8-round competition featured three Canadian national 4-way teams. Evolution competed for Canada at the FAI Mondial 2016 in 4-way Open, Parachute Montreal Fuzion in 4-way Women, while the Air Devils are the reigning 4-way Junior FAI Indoor World Cup champions of 2016.

Evolution did not have the complete lineup available, and Nick Grillet replaced Benoit Lemay in February. Fuzion competed with the same lineup of 2016, who would also complete the first ten outdoor rounds a month later at the Shamrock Showdown 2017.

The well indoor trained Fuzion left the untrained Evolution lineup far behind in Montreal. Evolution's substitute Nick Grillet then turned the table at the Shamrock Showdown where he competed with Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard and Shannon Pilcher and finished well ahead of Fuzion in 3rd place.

Canadian Indoor Qualifiers 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	8,P,K,22	14,21,M	C,5,H,F	17,2,L	6,Q,4	A,20,11	3,N,G,15	12,7,18	Total	Avg
1	Parachute Montreal Fuzion	21	19	33	23	23	22	21	19	181	22.6
2	Evolution	19	21	26	19	22	15	18	13	153	19.1
3	Phoenix	12	16	20	15	16	13	12	12	116	14.5
4	Altidude	9	12	11	13	15	13	11	11	95	11.9
Rank	AA Class	20,4	P,9,M	7,D,11	Q,21,14	C,2,N	18,J,6	A,E,15	19,22	Total	Avg
1	Air Devils	16	33	19	17	22	17	23	17	164	20.5

The Air Devils matched their 20.4 average at the FAI Indoor World Cup in October last year almost exactly and added one point for a new team record average. Then they had to wait for little over a month to follow the action at the French Indoor Nationals 2017, where their expected challengers of the French Aerokart Akdemie were completing ten rounds in the AA Class.

The Canadian 4-way juniors had left the best French team four points behind at Flyspot in Poland last October to win the FAI gold medals in this event, but things have changed in the meantime.

Two of the three Akdemie teams at Weembi scored significantly higher compared to their numbers in October, and they seem to be ahead of the Air Devils at this point in time. The HF Junior Cubs were also dangerously close to the 20-average benchmark after the 10-round meet at the World Challenge 2017. It seems like the Air Devils will be facing tough competition on their home turf later this year.

Air Devils and the Czech 4-way Junior teams use the Indoor Cloud League events to get competition practice while they are in training, and the French Akdemie teams have their experienced world champion coaches (Amelie Tirman, Marin Ferre) to get them ready for the FAI indoor event in Canada. NMP PCH HayaBusa member David Grauwels is helping the Czech teams with coaching.

French Indoor Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	P,Q,21	D,B,14	M,H,J,22	C,7,F	O,A,11	13,8	N,K,19	G,E,2	6,15	1,9	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart Ak'demie 2	26	24	24	30	20	12	25	22	20	22	225	22.5
2	Aerokart Ak'demie 1	26	24	25	25	22	15	22	23	20	21	223	22.3
3	EFMP Filles	23	21	20	25	18	12	19	19	13	16	186	18.6
4	The Outsiders	19	22	20	24	17	16	10	19	15	16	178	17.8
5	Aerokart Ak'demie 3	20	17	18	23	17	12	18	14	14	15	168	16.8
6	Shamal'In Clermont	21	21	18	21	17	13	19	9	14	14	167	16.7
7	4Flux	17	18	17	24	18	9	18	16	11	14	162	16.2
8	BonoZorus	10	18	15	19	14	11	14	15	9	11	136	13.6
9	Los Pollos Locos	14	15	14	16	13	11	13	14	9	13	132	13.2
10	Lemniscate ASPU Maubeuge	17	13	13	18	11	10	8	12	11	12	125	12.5
11	Caelestis ASPU	15	15	12	15	13	8	11	10	10	13	122	12.2
12	Toobiz'air Lens Dunkerque	11	12	13	18	8	8	11	12	10	10	113	11.3
13	Canop en Boite	12	11	13	14	9	5	10	11	8	8	101	10.1
14	Yapuka Vannes	12	11	13	14	9	8	11	7	9	5	99	9.9
15	Nev'Air PCP	4	10	17	14	8	9	11	10	5	7	95	9.5
15	Les Anonymous	11	11	11	14	10	7	9	7	5	10	95	9.5
17	Titanium	10	12	11	13	8	6	7	7	9	5	88	8.8
18	Weembi by Fretoy	8	7	7	7	5	4	6	5	6	3	58	5.8
19	Team 47 LCA	8	5	9	8	7	2	4	5	5	3	56	5.6

The internal French competition between the three Aerokart Akdemie teams was very exciting, as it was the qualification event for the trip to Canada, as well. Akdemie 1 and 2 even pushed each other to the top of the AA Class leaderboard and left all French senior teams behind.

The 2-point battle ended with an upset when the B-Team eventually took the 1st place.

Both teams finished so close to each other that it will be difficult for coaches Amelie Tirman and Marin Ferre to decide who deserves the tickets to Canada. Only one team may represent each country at a FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

The Air Devils know by now that the stakes will be higher this October, a year after their victory in Poland. They still have enough time to pick up the pace and be ready for the challengers from Europe...