posted Aug 11th, 2017 - The Golden Knights were the only 8-way team who completed Round 3 on Thursday. The Belgian Fly-In Machine 44 followed up on Friday afternoon, which has been the only additional 8-way jump so far.

NMP PCH HayaBusa's 8-way team, with ISR FireFlash as the second half of the lineup, made Round 3 with a slightly different lineup. Sven Ibens was not available on Friday, and HayaBusa's former inside center Luc Verstrepen filled the slot.

He was in the air only in 8-way so far, as the 4-way teams have not added a lot of scoring numbers to the leaderboard.

The 8-way competition is in a very unusual situation. There is nothing surprising with the leader, and Russia's Tanay team was also expected in 2nd place. However, it is extremely unusual to see a French national 8-way team not in a medal position.

In fact, it has never happened in the modern history of Formation Skydiving competition since 1985 that France has not won an 8-way medal at a world cup or a world meet. The Belgian addition to the top spots on the 8-way leaderboard has created a difficult situation for the French 8-way powerhouse.

FAI World Cup 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		L,O,F,K,11	C,3,7	13,2,G	1,17,20	5,E,21	6,8,A	D,4,P,22	M,10,J,B	18,H,N,9	Q,15,14	12,16,19	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	48	24.0
2	Tanay	RU	22	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	42	21.0
3	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	19	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	39	19.5
4	VR8 France	FR	17	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	36	18.0
5	Project: Ride the Dragon	UK	6	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	7.5
5	Awkward Turtles	UK	7	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	7.5

Martial Ferre and Aurelien Lemaire are two members of the current French 8-way lineup, and they answered a few questions of the NSL News on Friday afternoon.

Martial Ferre explained that the support for a French national 8-way team has subsided, and the results of the decreased investment is visible. The vast 8-way experiences in the Saarlouis lineup are not enough so far to fend off the Belgian challenge. France had only little indoor and outdoor training before traveling to Germany, while the Fly-In Machine 44 was better prepared with the new and highly talented lineup.

France is currently in 4th place, three points behind Belgium, after two point deductions in Round 1. The weather situation might become a very important factor in the French 8-way history.

The colorful lineup of three different French 8-way generations will not have the opportunity to warm up and pick up the pace in the coming rounds. The current standings could be the final ones, and the French 8-way team would leave Saarlouis empty-handed...