posted Nov 8th, 2017 - The NSL News has covered most of the teams in the 8-way Open Class competition of the USPA Nationals 2017 and left the best for last.

The Golden Knights won the USPA gold medals with a distance to the next U.S. team that was probably the largest ever. Arizona Airspeed won the silver medals in Perris, 55 points behind the U.S. Army team and 8-way world champions of 2012, 2014 and 2016.

It has not been much different ever since the Golden Knights focused back on 8-way in 2009, which was the year when Airspeed won their last 8-way gold medals at national championships. The Golden Knights won a year later by eight points (199 - 191), and Airspeed never got anywhere close ever since.

At the same time, the winning average after the ten rounds in Perris was the lowest one since the USPA Nationals 2010, which was the last event where the Golden Knights posted an average below the 20-average benchmark. The visiting guest teams from Qatar and Belgium were still just as unable to threaten the 8-way world champions as the U.S. teams were, even though the Fly-In Machine 44 outscored the Golden Knights in two rounds. There was still a 17-point difference between the Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa's 8-way lineup at the end.

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		G,22,1	9,6,2	D,7,17	8,J,C,K	Q,B,14,20	19,15,4	A,10,13	12,M,N,P	H,O,3,16	5,21,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	17	16	19	21	22	19	21	28	17	202	20.2
G	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	23	16	17	16	15	21	16	20	26	15	185	18.5
G	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	12	15	12	15	16	13	17	20	13	149	14.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	17	14	11	15	15	17	14	13	18	13	147	14.7
G	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	18	12	13	10	13	18	14	16	15	11	140	14.0
6	SDC Rhythm XP8	US	12	11	12	13	11	15	12	15	14	12	127	12.7
7	Paraclete XP8	US	13	11	10	11	12	14	12	11	14	10	118	11.8
8	Spaceland Gummies 8	US	11	11	8	7	10	12	9	10	10	9	97	9.7
G	Perris Spider Pigs	US	5	7	4	5	6	5	7	5	4	7	55	5.5

The Golden Knights have been performing in their own league for a while, in the U.S.A. as well as internationally. There was a difference of seven points to Russia's Tanay 8-way team after the three rounds at the FAI World Cup 2017, and the Golden Knights won the FAI gold medals at the FAI Mondial 2016 40 points ahead of France.

It was five years ago when an 8-way team finished anywhere close to the Golden Knights. The French national team had tried to defend their gold medals at the FAI Mondial Dubai 2012 and ended up four points behind the new 8-way world champions from the U.S. Army headquarters in North Carolina.

It had been even closer between France and Golden Knights at the FAI World Cup 2011 where the U.S. team won for their first international FAI gold medals by one single point over France.

The days of challenging competition are long gone for the reigning 8-way world champions, which could become a dangerous situation. The 20.2 average at the USPA Nationals 2017 could encourage the major international 8-way rivals.

The promising Belgian Fly-In Machine 44 has withdrawn from 8-way competition for the 2018 season, as NMP PCH HayaBusa will focus on 4-way training and competition. However, a 20.2 average will probably not impress other potential and ambitious medal contenders too much.

FAI Mondial 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		N,21,B,5	14,C,13	22,M,20	17,H,16	J,E,12,4	7,19,15	G,K,8,2	O,L,F,P,A	10,11,18	9,Q,D,1	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	21	19	27	26	26	18	20	28	19	25	229	22.9
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	22	19	22	23	27	20	20	28	19	25	225	22.5
3	Barkli	RU	19	18	22	22	21	15	15	24	16	20	192	19.2
4	EADS	DE	14	13	15	15	18	14	14	16	13	16	148	14.8
5	VIVA	CH	13	13	15	15	14	11	12	17	13	13	136	13.6
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	11	11	12	11	10	10	10	12	12	12	111	11.1
7	M8Trix	NL	11	11	11	12	12	10	10	12	10	-	99	11.0
8	Brit Chicks	UK	11	11	12	11	14	10	11	11	6	-	97	10.8
9	South Africa	ZA	12	11	11	10	13	9	9	11	10	-	96	10.7
10	Qatar Falcons	QA	11	9	11	11	12	9	9	11	8	-	91	10.1
11	Australia	AU	10	8	9	11	12	10	9	13	-	-	82	10.3
12	The 8 Team	BE	8	11	7	11	12	9	10	12	-	-	80	10.0
12	CTR Optimum	BR	9	9	11	12	10	9	10	10	-	-	80	10.0
14	Austria	AT	8	8	9	10	10	6	7	8	-	-	66	8.3
15	Maximum Ride	CA	8	8	7	8	7	8	7	7	-	-	60	7.5
16	Singapore	SG	8	7	8	5	5	6	7	8	-	-	54	6.8

The future of the French national 8-way team is unknown, as the French skydiving federation has not shown much support for any 8-way plans recently. It still would not take too much training for the many former French 8-way world champions and top competitors to get to a 20+ average level within a year.

Russia might even be the bigger threat for the Golden Knights, as the Tanay 8-way team has carefully built up the current lineup to the 20+ level, and there are serious training plans for the 2018 season. Tanay has not yet posted a 20+ average in the team's history, while the last 2017 scores in Saarlouis indicated the potential to leave the 20-average level behind easily in the next 10-round meets.

The Golden Knights are aware of the situation and will be on their toes when it becomes serious again. They have a vast amount of 8-way competition experiences available, not only from the 22-meet winning streak since September 2010. Five of the current team members (Justin Blewitt, Josh Coleman, Matt Davidson, Larry Miller and team captain Sean Sweeney) have also seen all the ups and downs since 2009, together with coach Kurt Isenbarger. They know how to deal with pressure - whenever there is any...