posted Nov 19th, 2017 - The latest FAI world rankings in 8-way are listing the 12 nations that have competed at FAI world meets and/or world cups between 2013 and 2016.

There seems to be nothing easier than defining the U.S.A. as the world's leader in 8-way competition, not only currently but also for quite a while by now.

The Golden Knights have won the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving three times consecutively (2012, 2014, 2016) and are currently without any serious competition.

However, the U.S.A. are in a similar FAI 8-way situation as with Arizona Airspeed in 4-way Open at the end of the 2016 season.

The national teams did not attended the FAI world cups in 2013 and 2015, and even the Golden Knights did not collect enough rankings points between 2013 and 2016 to be on the top of the FAI rankings, as well.

France, Russia and Great Britain had 8-way teams at all four FAI events and are quite far ahead of the Golden Knights in 4th place.

8-way Open 2016 world rankings of the FAI - Federation Aeronautique Internationale

The situation may change at the end of the 2017 season with the next FAI rankings. The U.S. Army team competed at the FAI World Cup 2017 and won the 500 ranking points for the event.

Rank	Team		Averages	Best 3
1	Golden Knights	US	23.9 - 21.0	22.5
2	France 8-way Open	FR	19.9	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	19.0 - 18.4	18.7
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	17.6	17.6
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	14.6	14.6
6	MicroClim8	UK	13.5 - 14.0	13.8
7	Airbus München	DE	12.9 - 13.6	13.3
8	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	12.2	12.2
8	Australia	AU	11.8 - 12.5	12.2
10	SDC Rhythm XP8	US	11.6	11.6
11	Ex-Presidents	UK	11.2	11.2
12	Paraclete XP8	US	11.0	11.0

France, Russia and Great Britain had 8-way teams in their Saarlouis delegations, as well.

They could still defend their positions in the FAI rankings successfully, as the U.S.A. are still missing the ranking points of the 2015 world cup in Teuge.

FAI nations or SKYLEAGUE.COM team rankings - fact is that the U.S.A. are dominating the 8-way world at this point in time, with the Golden Knights ahead of all other teams.

The Top 12 of 2016 included five U.S. 8-way teams, and four of them had to be removed to compare only the best 8-way teams of each nation.

Only Great Britain had more than only one 8-way team in the Top 12, as well. The adjusted Top 9 ranking is once again identical with the outcome of the 8-way competition at the FAI Mondial 2016, where the same nine teams competed in 8-way.

A total of 29 teams are listed in the SKYLEAGUE.COM 8-way Open Class 2016 rankings, and one of them has an all-female lineup, Blocksmiths XP in 25th place.

21 additional 8-way teams competed in a lower 8-way category with different dive pools and rules.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	31	25	26	22	20	22	19	26	24	24	239	23.9
2	France	FR	22	20	25	18	16	19	17	23	19	20	199	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	23	19	25	17	14	16	16	21	20	19	190	19.0
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	19	16	20	15	7	10	13	16	15	15	146	14.6
5	Microclim8	UK	15	14	16	14	11	13	13	14	13	17	140	14.0
6	Airbus	DE	16	15	17	11	11	13	12	14	12	15	136	13.6
7	Australia	AU	13	13	14	12	9	13	12	15	10	14	125	12.5
8	Divergence	CA	11	10	9	11	8	10	8	10	11	11	99	9.9
9	Brazil	BR	11	8	10	9	5	9	9	11	8	13	93	9.3

The three 8-way nations that are in the FAI 2016 rankings and did not have teams at the FAI Mondial 2016 are Netherlands (8th), Unired Arab Emirates (11th) and Italy (12th).

Rank	Team		Averages	Best 3
1	Golden Knights	US	23.9 - 21.0	22.5
2	France 8-way Open	FR	19.9	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	19.0 - 18.4	18.7
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	14.6	14.6
5	MicroClim8	UK	13.5 - 14.0	13.8
6	Airbus München	DE	12.9 - 13.6	13.3
7	Australia	AU	11.8 - 12.5	12.2
8	Divergence	CA	9.9	9.9
9	Brazil	BR	9.3	9.3

M8trix collected enough FAI ranking points for the Netherlands in 2014 and 2015 to maintain the 8th place, ahead of Germany and Brazil.

The Dubai Formation Skydiving competition project was discontinued at the end of the 2015 season, and the Dubai Asaar 8-way lineup attended the team's last meet at the World Air Games 2015. The United Arab Emirates will probably still be listed for another year with the 2014 results from Prostejov before one 8-way nation will drop from the FAI rankings.

Italy, 8-way bronze medalist at the FAI World Meet 2008, had a 1-meet team at the FAI World Cup 2015, the Ex3energy combination of two Italian 4-way teams (eX3MO - Energy). The 5th place in Teuge will probably keep Italy in the FAI 8-way nations rankings for a few more years.