posted Aug 6th, 2017 - The situation on Sunday was completely different at the FAI World Cup 2017. Beautiful summer weather greeted the participants in the morning, and the Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar had all available planes in the air all day long.

Even the teams with more ambitious plans for training jumps before the competition did not have to wait much, and the days are long too in the German summer months. There is still one more training day ahead before the teams will be called to the planes for Round 1 on Tuesday morning.

The NSL-TV camera recorded activities in the boarding area in the morning, which included an early meeting between the Golden Knights and Russia's 8-way team from Tanay. Both teams had scheduled training jumps for Saturday and ended up in the same plane.

The NSL News mentioned earlier that new Golden Knights 8-way member Jennifer Davidson came back to the place of her first international 4-way competition with the Golden Knights lineup that eventually won the gold medals in 4-way Women at the FAI Mondial 2016, together with team videographer Scott Janise who is now Head of US Delegation in Saarlouis. It was not exactly the same lineup, as SDC Rhythm XP member JaNette Lefkowitz had to replace Angela Nichols a few months before the world meet at Skydive Chicago.

Angela Nichols was in the original lineup that finished in 4th place in 2011, far behind the French national team in 4-way Women. The Golden Knights disbanded after winning the gold medals last year, and Jennifer Davison joined her husband Matt in the U.S. Army's 8-way team who now compete six years later at the same location.

Matt Davidson was in Saarlouis 2011, as well, when Jennnifer's last name was still Schaben, and her team started on the road to the gold medals.

JaNette Lefkowitz did not compete at the World Cup 2011. SDC Rhythm XP had not traveled abroad at that time. However, Jennifer Davidson's 2016 world champion piece partner is now in Saarlouis, as well, and her team will try to keep up with the best 4-way teams in the world.

JaNette Lefkowitz has switched to the inside center slot with the current Rhythm lineup, while Jennifer Davidson has to exit the plane in an 8-way formation now.

FAI World Cup 2011			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		7,M,15	8,14,D	5,18,J	B,9,2	Q,K,12,20	21,A,F,10	1,4,E	13,P,H,6	L,19,17	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	23	18	18	19	23	21	25	20	19	186	20.7
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	21	18	19	18	23	19	29	21	17	185	20.6
3	Barkli 8	RU	17	15	14	17	16	15	19	19	15	147	16.3
4	EADS	DE	15	13	14	9	16	15	22	15	14	133	14.8
5	VIVA	CH	15	11	12	14	15	14	18	14	-	113	14.1
6	Brit Chicks	UK	10	10	11	11	13	11	15	13	10	104	11.6
7	Südwest	DE	12	9	8	10	11	11	12	12	11	96	10.7
8	Phoenix 11	RU	11	8	9	11	10	11	9	11	6	86	9.6
9	M8trix	NL	8	6	9	6	9	8	9	11	8	74	8.2
10	Saar 8	DE	7	7	4	7	3	5	5	8	6	52	5.8

Matt Davidson has won three consecutive FAI 8-way world meet titles between 2012 and 2016, and he will probably win the next one in 2018 together with his wife, seven years after the Golden Knights defeated France in 8-way for the first time since the 90s in Saarlouis.

Jennifer Davidson will be facing the toughest 8-way opponent in competition for the first time, as well. Russia's 8-way team Tanay is well trained with the 2017 lineup, even though one of the strongest and most experienced players is on the bench. Evgeny Stashchenko injured his right knee at the spring camp in DeLand and still has to wait for a few more months before coming back into action.

He needed a comprehensive knee surgery and has been coaching his team in the meantime. His Black Cat team mates Valentin Ilin and Vasily Korotkov will compete with Valeriy Gredasov and Alexander Kvochur in 4-way. Alexey Minaev steps in for Evgeny Stashchenko until he has completely recovered. Alexey Minaev is a former Russian 8-way world champion of 2001 and 2003 and knows what he is doing.

Tanay also has Vladimir Pavlenko in the 2017 lineup who is one of the most experienced and successful Russian 4-way and 8-way competitors in history. There will be a very interesting 8-way competition this week...