posted Oct 6th, 2017 - The story of the AAA Class competition at the ESL Championship 2017 and the 4-point battle between AtomiX YUU from Germany and 6.1.0. from Italy actually began at their respective national championships.

Both teams had posted impressive scores with new team record averages, and they were in the mix for national medals. Sei Uno Zero (6.1.0.) ended up in 3rd place on their home turf in Fano, and AtomiX YUU even challenged the top favorite FSZ Saar Airbus 4-way team for the 4-way championship title in Germany.

Airbus still held off the challenger, this time by eight points (184 - 176) while AtomiX has now moved into serious striking distance. The team's consistent progression from a 12.2 average at their first national championships in 2013 to the 17.6 average at this year's German Nationals indicates that the established 4-way teams and competitors in Germany are now facing a serious threat.

Airbus won the 4-way title and will compete for Germany at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia; however, AtomiX does not stop at the 17.6 average and has made new plans for the 2018 season. Goal is to win the national championships next year and take the top position in Germany a year before the next qualification for the world meet in 2020.

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

AtomiX YUU and coach Luc Verstrepen, former NMP PCH HayaBusa member, have been collecting international competition experiences for the team without qualifying as the national team for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

AtomiX has attended the FAI World Cup in 2015 and this year and competed for Germany at the World Air Games 2015. The team also won the ESL Championship consecutively in 2016 and 2017, after a 2nd place in 2014. The 1st place in the AAA Class over 6.1.0. helped to secure the 1st place of the German delegation at the ESL Championship.

AtomiX YUU was apparently not ready for the team's top performance during the rainy week at the FAI World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis, where home team Airbus delivered a 20.0 average after Round 4 and was only one point behind the strongest amateur team in the world, the Mass Defiance lineup in Germany.

The situation was very different two weeks later when both teams met again, this time in the northern part of Germany. Airbus underperformed (18.4) while AtomiX finished with the team's new record average. Result was the 8-point difference between the two teams, which is the smallest margin in the history of the two teams.

German Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open Class	P,D,3,16	13,14,9	F,11,N,2	J,7,5	17,14,M	B,8,18	22,Q,O,20	K,10,15	E,1,G,6	A,L,19,21	Total	Avg
1	Airbus FSZ Saar	19	16	20	22	20	17	17	15	18	20	184	18.4
2	AtomiX YUU Skydive	18	15	18	22	18	16	17	15	18	19	176	17.6
3	NeVa FSZ SAAR	16	12	16	17	17	12	12	12	14	15	143	14.3
3	Dark Energy	16	13	13	17	15	13	15	12	15	14	143	14.3
5	SKYNAMITE	16	12	15	17	15	13	13	13	14	14	142	14.2
6	Skyfall Illertissen	15	11	12	17	13	12	13	11	13	14	131	13.1
7	Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull	11	11	14	15	12	12	14	12	13	13	127	12.7
8	Skyweed	14	9	13	14	15	12	12	10	13	13	125	12.5
9	Wolf Pack	14	11	12	11	12	12	12	10	14	14	122	12.2
10	FlashFour - Soest	8	10	12	12	12	9	12	10	13	10	108	10.8
11	HorschD FSZ SAAR	10	7	11	10	9	9	7	7	12	12	94	9.4
12	4 xmpl	8	8	11	8	10	8	9	7	8	10	87	8.7
13	Jump	8	8	10	9	6	8	10	6	7	9	81	8.1

AtomiX did not come back to the 17+ average at the ESL Championship three weeks later back in Saarlouis and also benefited from a weaker 6.1.0. performance compared to the Italian Nationals 2017.

However, the 1st place in the AAA Class won the 10 ESL points for the German delegation, and the AtomiX thoughts were already focused on the 2018 season.

Team speaker Peter Ingenhaag, in the tail slot for AtomiX since 2013, said that his team was very happy with this year's results: "All in all we had an awesome season – way way better than expected if you know that our new member Mark came from a 12.0 average team. He quickly adapted to our speed and flying style, and we could even increase our own previous performance level by a point average with him after only 200 training jumps."

AtomiX feels that there is much more potential in the new lineup for the 2018 season: "Plans are almost ready and agreed on. We will surely stay together and try to beat the German national team next year." Once again, AtomiX has several meets on the 2018 schedule, and "a lot of training", as Peter Ingenhaag said...