posted Oct 4th, 2017 - The ESL Championship 2017 was completed after ten rounds on the day when the U.S. teams were in the final training for Round 1 of the USPA Nationals 2017.

Two of the Belgian teams could not contribute to the total number of ESL points for their country, as NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash competed in Perris. Belgium ended up in 2nd place behind the German delegation (34 - 30), and the missing points could have been collected by either team in the AAA Class.

Jetmax won two ESL points for Belgium in the AAA Class for the 7th place, and eight more points with HayaBusa or FireFlash in 1st place would have brought the Belgian total to 38 ESL points. The ESL Spirit would have gone back to Belgium where it was in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2013. In fact, Belgium would have won three of the four categories. Falco (AA) and Aeropotams (Rookie) each won 10 ESL points with 1st places, and Ayro added a 2nd place in the A Class.

However, the two other Belgian teams impressed the U.S. audience in 4-way and 8-way a few days later. NMP PCH HayaBusa finished ahead of both U.S. top teams (Arizona Airspeed, SDC Rhythm XP) and ISR FireFlash made the Top 10 on the combined AAA Class leaderboard. Both teams scored higher than the ESL winner in the AAA Class, and together (Fly-In Machine 44) they impressed even the Golden Knights in 8-way at the USPA Nationals.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		ESL	3,10,11	J,H,14,4	C,21,B,2	18,Q,G,M	13,A,5	E,22,K,17	20,19,D	16,F,L,P	7,N,15	6,12,1	Total	Avg
1	AtomiX YUU	DE	10	14	17	17	21	16	16	16	22	18	11	168	16.8
2	610	IT	8	13	17	17	19	16	14	15	22	17	14	164	16.4
3	Dark Energy	DE	6	12	15	14	18	12	14	13	19	15	11	143	14.3
4	Ookpik	FR	5	11	16	14	16	12	14	13	21	15	9	141	14.1
5	NeVa	DE	4	12	15	13	15	11	14	13	21	14	11	139	13.9
6	HF Flying Circus	CZ	3	11	12	13	14	11	14	13	19	13	9	129	12.9
7	JETMAX	BE	2	11	12	14	15	11	9	10	17	13	11	123	12.3
8	4theQueen	UK	1	10	11	12	13	9	10	8	12	11	7	103	10.3
9	HorschD	DE	1	8	10	12	12	8	8	11	11	11	8	99	9.9

Germany's ESL delegation had won the ESL Spirit for the first time last year and defended it successfully by matching the two 1st places (AtomiX YUU - AAA, Bazinga - A) that Belgium won in the other two of the four NSL categories (AA – Rookie), and by adding a 2nd (Das KOs - AA) and a 3rd place (Flying Cowboys - Rookie) to the winning account of 34 ESL points.

It was probably the maximum score for the German ESL delegation this year. Das Kaos was the silver medal winner in the AA Class at the German Nationals 2017, and even the German champion in this category (Blue Horizon FSZ Kassel) would not have been able to take the 1st place from Falco.

Germany does not have a Rookie Class competition at the national championships, and other A Class teams could have probably improved the position on the Rookie Class leaderboard.

German and Belgium were the only delegations with teams in all four categories and had naturally the better chances to win the ESL Spirit. However, all other participating nations actually have the potential to be competitive with teams in all four categories, and organizer Mike Pennock is hoping that the event will continue to gain popularity in Europe.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		ESL	M,J,F,Q	2,H,18	13,D,L	O,4,8	11,C,6	14,19	22,21	B,7,20	E,K,G,N	1,A,15	Total	Avg
1	Falco	BE	10	26	10	12	10	11	9	9	10	15	9	121	12.1
2	Das KOs	DE	8	23	9	7	11	9	6	8	12	13	8	106	10.6
3	Dimension	NL	6	22	9	9	8	9	7	8	11	11	7	101	10.1
4	Blok 43	NL	5	17	10	7	10	7	8	9	12	9	9	98	9.8
5	Windfall	DE	4	17	8	5	8	7	6	5	9	11	6	81	8.1
6	4midable	NL	3	15	4	5	8	7	4	7	7	8	4	69	6.9
7	Manticore	UK	2	12	7	4	7	2	3	4	8	6	5	58	5.8

ESL Championship 2017 - Written by ESL Director Mike Pennock

The ESL was founded 17 years ago in 2000 by Mike Pennock (Netherlands), Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle (Germany) and Willy Boeijkens (Belgium). In that period there was no FaceBook, and the only way to compete against each other was via a “fax” competition. The concept was that the same draw was used in different countries at different dropzones, and at the end of the day the scores where faxed to each other.

We saw that the teams where looking for a possibility to compete against other teams, and meet not only the teams they would see at their nationals. Our first goal was to provide a competition on international level, for teams in all categories, as the world championships and world cups are only for the national teams in the AAA Class.

There are two big differences between a World Championship of Formation Skydiving and the ESL Championship. The ESL allows as many teams to participate as a country wants to send, and the composition of the teams is different.

The ESL allows teams with members of multiple nationalities to enter and compete. The battle between Hayabusa and Thunder in 2012 is exemplary for this open concept. Our second goal is to give competitors the opportunity to learn about the rules, meet competitors from other countries and get better in the category of your choice.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		ESL	21,19	K,F,B	D,G,C	J,N,8	9,A	P,7	4,L	O,Q,6	M,E,2	H,N,K	Total	Avg
1	Bazinga	DE	10	8	18	10	10	10	11	8	12	11	15	113	11.3
2	Ayro	IT	8	7	16	12	8	10	11	8	9	12	13	106	10.6
3	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	6	3	13	5	7	7	7	5	8	10	11	76	7.6

What makes the ESL unique is the fact that besides the medals for each category there also is the trophy for the country with the best overall results.

This Trophy is called the ESL Spirit, and its name symbolizes the spirit to compete for your country, the fun and excitement of competing and also that winning is just as rewarding for a Rookie Class team as it is for an AAA Class team.

So it is very important for every country to go to the ESL with as many teams as possible in each of the four categories. The best example is Germany who won the Spirit in 2016 because a Rookie team won their category, giving Germany a 2-point lead over the UK delegation.

At first this team thought the ESL was too big for them, but after competing they had the best competition ever. They competed again in 2017, helping Germany to win the second title.

In 2018, the ESL Championship will be held once again in September (21 - 23) and at the same location (FSZ Saar in Saarlouis) as in the last two years. Since the start of the ESL Championship, Germany and the United Kingdom have won this title twice, Belgium four times and the Netherlands five times. The goal for 2018 is to get at least ten countries and 30 teams to compete.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie		ESL	P,F,J	E,H,Q	O,G,D	K,M,N	A,B,L	C,M,J	P,K,L	E,G,H	N,D,A	C,O,B	Total	Avg
1	Aeropotam's	BE	10	17	15	8	11	12	15	11	14	9	17	129	12.9
2	Scratch That	UK	8	6	6	4	6	4	4	5	7	1	6	49	4.9
3	Flying Cowboys	DE	6	4	3	4	2	5	1	4	0	2	0	25	2.5