posted May 16th, 2017 - The World Challenge in Bedford has been the largest 4-way competition in the world for many years, and this year's event attracted once again the impressive number of 64 teams to the United Kingdom.

Besides the world class competition and the social aspect of teams from all parts of the world and of all kind of different performance levels the World Challenge is also a great opportunity to take a closer look at the composition of the lineups.

The field of teams in Bedford is always a very colorful mix of all 4-way categories, which have increased over the years.

World Challenge 2017
Rank	AAA Class		Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33.1
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	30.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	29.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	28.6
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	26.7
7	IFS-Moscow	RU	26.6
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	26.6
9	Volition	UK	24.9
10	ISR FireFlash	BE	24.2
11	Chimera	UK	24.1
12	Amnesya Fly-In	IT	23.9
13	NFTO	UK	23.1
14	ACM	UK	22.9
15	Tenanine	MR	22.5
16	Pro Team	FI	22.3
17	Savoodoo	ZA	21.7
18	HF Flying Circus	CZ	19.9
19	Antimatter	UK	19.2
20	Flyspot Sky4four	PL	19.1
21	Flyzone Les Affranchise	FR	18.5
22	Aladeen	HU	18.1
23	JETMAX	BE	17.7
24	Equinox	LT	17.4
25	Corbas Coyotes JCM	FR	17.1
26	Eros	UK	17.0
27	H4O	IE	16.8
28	Formihyrodynamitevisionx	UK	16.6
29	Skyfool	UK	16.4
30	HF Skycentrum	CZ	15.6
31	Nova	SE	14.3
32	Quasar	UK	13.3
32	Mental BloX	UK	13.3

The World Challenge began with only the AAA Class competition in 2006 and has been offering all four NSL categories (AAA - AA - A - Rookie) since 2011.

There is also the 4-way Women competition as a part of the event, and 4-way junior teams compete in Bedford, as well.

The Sun Path Products NSL News evaluated the composition of the lineups for the first time after the World Challenge 2016, where the female 4-way category was a topic for several interesting discussions.

World Challenge 2017
Rank	AA Class		Avg
1	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	20.6
2	Bahrain	BH	19.7
2	Alakran	ES	19.7
4	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	19.5
5	HF Junior Flies	CZ	16.8
6	Koloncok	HU	16.5
7	Tahma	FI	15.8
8	Zero!	IT	15.7
8	Brain Storming	IT	15.7
10	Salty Jacks	UK	15.0
11	Vantage	UK	14.3
12	Ballista	IE	13.8
13	Lobster Therma4	UK	12.6
14	Manticore	UK	12.5

24% of the teams at the World Challenge 2016 had only male members, while 17% of the participating teams had all-female lineups. 59% of the teams consisted of different combinations of boys and girls.

The genders are only officially separated by FAI/IPC in the AAA Class. Teams of the other three competition classes (AA - A - Rookie) don't compete at FAI/IPC events, except for the 4-way juniors who apply the AA Class dive pool at FAI/IPC indoor events.

The 4-way juniors are not separated by gender at the indoor world meets or world cups.

World Challenge host Paul Mayer offers only the four NSL categories where all teams can find a leaderboard according to the performance level.

However, he will add a new World Youth Championship only for 4-way juniors to his events (World Challenge, Bodyflight Revenge), which will

World Challenge 2017
Rank	A Class		Avg
1	Olczyk Flyspot Team	PL	23.6
2	Space Marines	IT	19.3
3	Random	IT	14.1
4	Poor 4Cast	UK	13.7
5	Reunited	NO	12.8
6	Got Shots	IE	11.0

be held for the first time this year (September 23).

The evaluation of this year's World Challenge is showing very similar results as in 2016.

The vast majority of the teams (61%) still consist of mixed-gender combinations, which are slightly higher than in 2016 (59%).

There is also a slight change in the balance between all-male and all-female lineups, which was already leaning towards the boys who like to

World Challenge 2017
Rank	Rookie		Avg
1	Bahrain	BH	25.2
2	Omega4way	PL	24.6
3	Aeropotam's	BE	21.9
4	ACT One	BE	20.4
5	Janas	IT	16.8
6	VR-UNiQ	IE	10.9
7	3CAAD	UK	10.6
8	HF Junior Blue	CZ	10.4
9	Recruitz 1	UK	8.9
10	CJ Rookies	DK	6.6
11	Recruitz 2	UK	5.0

play alone (24% - 17%).

This year, there were even more boys with their exclusive lineups (28% - 11%).

A few teams switched the gender categories. One of them is Belgium's team JETMAX, who moved up into the AAA Class with a new female team member, Julie Regnier.

One interesting aspect of this topic is the fact that the best three teams at the World Challenge were all exclusive gender lineups, first two all-male teams (NMP PCH HayaBusa, Weembi Lille), followed by the French Weembi Girls.

They had two mixed-gender lineups right behind them in the Top 5, RealFly-Sion with Laurence Herve and SDC Rhythm XP with JaNette Lefkowitz.