posted Apr 23rd, 2017 - The World Challenge did not include a separate leaderboard for teams in the FAI 4-way Women category this year. Only three teams had signed up during the registration period, and host Paul Mayer decided to place the three teams on the AAA Class leaderboard, together with all other Open Class teams, and honor their category separately during the award ceremony.

This created a new and unique situation, as the French Weembi Girls were first on the podium as the best team in 4-way Women before they picked up their check and medals for the 3rd place in the AAA/Open Class competition. Volition made the Top 10, and all three teams placed in the top half of the AAA Class leaderboard.

The French Weembi Girls increased the distance to the teams who are expected to place behind them in the medal positions at the next FAI events, the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis and the FAI Indoor World Meet in Montreal, and France maintains the safest FAI gold medal position in the 4-way Women event.

The more interesting situation presented itself behind the French Weembi Girls, where Volition and NFTO keep challenging each other.

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
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	26	24	37	30	26	40	27	24	23	286	28.6
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	27	26	23	35	29	23	39	23	21	21	267	26.7
7	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	26	23	35	29	21	40	24	24	18	266	26.6
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	27	26	23	33	28	23	37	24	23	22	266	26.6
9	Volition	UK	25	24	19	34	23	21	36	24	22	21	249	24.9
10	ISR FireFlash	BE	25	21	21	33	23	21	35	22	21	20	242	24.2
11	Chimera	UK	27	21	22	35	24	21	32	23	18	18	241	24.1
12	Amnesya Fly-In	IT	25	22	20	35	25	21	34	21	17	19	239	23.9
13	NFTO	UK	20	22	21	29	26	20	32	22	21	18	231	23.1
14	ACM	UK	25	15	18	31	25	19	34	21	21	20	229	22.9
15	Tenanine	MR	23	19	21	28	23	21	28	21	21	20	225	22.5
16	Pro Team	FI	23	20	16	32	22	21	30	22	19	18	223	22.3
17	Savoodoo	ZA	22	20	17	31	22	18	33	18	19	17	217	21.7
18	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	18	16	28	19	18	29	19	17	15	199	19.9
19	Antimatter	UK	21	18	17	23	20	17	25	19	17	15	192	19.2
20	Flyspot Sky4four	PL	21	14	16	23	22	18	27	19	16	15	191	19.1
21	Flyzone Les Affranchise	FR	17	16	17	25	19	16	26	18	16	15	185	18.5
22	Aladeen	HU	18	17	15	22	18	15	29	16	16	15	181	18.1
23	JETMAX	BE	17	15	17	24	17	15	24	18	15	15	177	17.7
24	Equinox	LT	18	15	16	23	20	15	25	15	15	12	174	17.4
25	Corbas Coyotes JCM	FR	17	16	17	20	20	16	20	18	13	14	171	17.1
26	Eros	UK	17	16	17	24	14	16	25	17	12	12	170	17.0
27	H4O	IE	17	15	14	20	18	15	23	17	15	14	168	16.8
28	Formihyrodynamitevisionx	UK	16	12	16	22	19	16	24	16	14	11	166	16.6
29	Skyfool	UK	18	15	15	21	17	15	23	17	13	10	164	16.4
30	HF Skycentrum	CZ	16	11	14	21	17	15	20	15	14	13	156	15.6
31	Nova	SE	15	13	13	18	16	13	19	12	12	12	143	14.3
32	Quasar	UK	15	11	12	14	15	12	20	14	10	10	133	13.3
32	Mental BloX	UK	15	11	11	17	12	12	21	13	11	10	133	13.3

There are no official qualification or sanctioning challenges on the stake between the two teams, as they will compete at different events for the British delegations at the FAI events. Volition is the national indoor team for Montreal after winning the qualification at the World Challenge 2016, while NFTO competed at the Mondial 2016 and aims at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia.

This situation could only change if Volition decided to jump from planes, as well, and wins the 4-way Women competition at the UK Nationals 2017.

The qualification as the British national teams is still not the only reason that is driving both teams. Great Britain has a long and successful history and tradition in 4-way Women, including FAI gold medals at outdoor events. NFTO won two sets of FAI bronze medals for the British delegation last year, and Volition added the silver medals at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016.

Both teams are eager to take the sole top position in their country, even though they are separated by the indoor/outdoor environments so far.

NFTO has moved closer to Volition with the new lineup that the Sun Path Products NSL News introduced on 23 February 2017. Both teams were facing each other for the first time at the World Challenge 2016 (23.2 - 19.9) and Volition increased the distance (27.9 - 22.7) in Poland last year, after beginning with indoor training.

The same Volition lineup posted the team's highest meet average (24.9) at the World Challenge 2017, while NFTO competed with the third different lineup at the team's third meet since the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016.

However, the new lineup with Catherine Anderson has plans until the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia and had a promising start in Bedford. The 23.1 average is a new team record number and reduced the indoor distance to Volition to 1.8 after the recent 10-round meet.

The NSL Live Talk with NFTO was recorded by World Challenge TV in the middle of the competition.