posted Aug 15th, 2017 - The 8-way results at the FAI World Cup 2017 did not reveal any unexpected developments for the present and the near future. The Golden Knights 8-way machine is running without any hiccups and as smoothly as the Formation Skydiving competition community has become used to.

Coach Kurt Isenbarger has fully integrated the two new members, Jennifer Davidson and David Flynn, and the new lineup is on its way to set new 8-way standards on the 24+ level. Only the shortened 3-round meet might have been in the way to post a new record average already in Saarlouis last week. However, the USPA Nationals are coming up soon, and the Golden Knights will have the next opportunity to impress any potential opposition.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any serious challenger in sight for the 8-way world champions of 2012, 2014 and 2016. Russia's Tanay lineup keeps improving performance and scoring level significantly and made in fact an even bigger step than the Golden Knights.

The US Army team was well below the team's highest meet average (23.9) after Round 3, while Tanay finished with the team's highest average (19.7) after the same three rounds. However, the distance is so long that it seems impossible to get close enough for a serious challenge within one year.

FAI World Cup 2017			1	2	3	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		L,O,F,K,11	C,3,7	13,2,G	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	24	18	66	22.0
2	Tanay	RU	22	20	17	59	19.7
3	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	19	20	14	53	17.7
4	VR8 France	FR	17	19	11	47	15.7
5	Project: Ride the Dragon	UK	6	9	8	23	7.7
6	Awkward Turtles	UK	7	8	4	19	6.3

The third 8-way powerhouse, France, did not even finish in a medal position for the first time in history, as the NSL News pointed out on 11 August. France had still won the silver medals at the FAI Mondial 2016 with a different and more experienced lineup.

This time, the French 8-way team was not even close to Russia and had to allow the Belgians their first 8-way success with bronze medals in the World Cup standings.

It seems to be very unlikely that any French 8-way lineup could close the distance to the Golden Knights within one year, and the French trouble does not stop there.

The French federation has lowered the support for the French national 8-way team to almost nothing, which means practically that France could drop out of the medal positions for a longer time period.

The big question behind the French 8-way situation is whether the federation will change and reverse this policy that hurts the French 8-way pride and history. The empty medal hands in the World Cup standings could not be a more meaningful message to the federation, even though the team members did not want any of that and were disappointed.

The bronze medal winners from Belgium, the Fly-In Machine 44 combination of NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash members, might have the talent and potential to get to the Golden Knights level with enough training. However, it would require a full time commitment to 8-way by all members to have a chance, which is an impossible requirement.

The NMP PCH HayaBusa half of the Fly-In Machine 44 does not even know yet whether they will be able to continue in 8-way or not. The results at the USPA Nationals 2017 will probably be a factor in this decision. HayaBusa may drop or reduce the 8-way efforts if Arizona Airspeed is too close in 4-way. The main HayaBusa goal for Australia 2018 is still the 1st place in 4-way Open.

The Golden Knights could once again just be their own major competition next year. They had to work hard for the first set of gold medals in the new "Decade of Excellence" in Dubai 2012 and won by four points over France. The distance to Russia and France in Prostejov 2014 was 45 points after ten rounds, followed by 40 points over France at the Mondial 2016. It seems like only Tanay might be able to at least reduce the distance enough to call it an 8-way competition...