posted Nov 28th, 2017 - It does not happen very often that teams are tied with their total number of points at the end of a 10-round competition.

Extra rounds are meant to break the ties, and additional tie-breaking rules cover the situation when the teams cannot resolve their battles after extra rounds.

Tie-breaking procedures are usually only used when teams are in medal positions, which adds to the drama of extra rounds, as the competition then turns into a duel between two teams, with the very rare exception of more than two teams performing an extra round.

The most recent tie-breaking extra round happened at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017, where Arizona Airspeed and Black Cat battled for the bronze medals in Montreal.

It was a very special extra round, as it generated a new official FAI indoor world record with a Super Sequence of three random formations and Block 9. Arizona Airspeed won the bronze medals by one point with a 59-pointer.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		16,P,12	2,8,H	22,20,3	15,D,4	A,J,6,L	7,M,19	5,Q,21	18,B,17	G,14,C,N	K,E,10,11	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	30	29	25	30	47	33	34	34	37	28	327	32.7
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	30	29	26	30	41	35	32	32	37	28	320	32.0
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	28	24	29	41	32	27	31	35	26	302	30.2
4	Black Cat	RU	30	27	24	30	39	34	32	28	33	25	302	30.2
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	28	21	24	27	36	31	23	27	29	26	272	27.2
6	Satori XL	UK	23	23	21	21	38	29	25	26	32	23	261	26.1
6	Echochamber	SE	24	24	22	25	34	28	27	28	28	21	261	26.1
8	Amnesya Fly-In	IT	25	21	18	23	29	28	24	22	31	20	241	24.1
9	Papea Spain	ES	24	20	18	21	29	26	23	21	26	20	228	22.8
10	Inlaws	CA	23	22	17	21	31	28	20	20	22	18	222	22.2
11	HF Bad Boys	CZ	21	20	17	20	32	21	22	21	23	22	219	21.9
12	China 4-way Gold	CN	19	18	16	18	26	22	19	18	22	20	198	19.8
13	Monaco	MC	17	15	14	15	22	21	19	15	21	17	176	17.6
14	Bahrain	BH	10	13	11	11	17	19	12	8	16	12	129	12.9

It is even more unlikely that the same meet creates more than one situation with two or more teams finishing tied with their scores at the end. This was the case though in Montreal where UK team Satori XL and Echochamber from Sweden were also tied in their own battle for the 6th place. The extra round would have given both teams an opportunity to post national record numbers, as well, while the FAI/IPC rules do not include a tie-breaker for teams behind the medal positions.

Echochamber still posted a new record number in Round 5 (A,J,6,L) on the team's way to the highest indoor meet average for a team from Sweden.

The 34-pointer in Montreal followed the 31-pointer that Echochamber posted at the national outdoor championships in July.

Echochamber started as an indoor team at the beginning of the 2016 season and had no serious plans for outdoor competition. The new team still competed at the Swedish Nationals 2016 and finished 2nd behind Gryttjom Volo. Neither of the best two Swedish teams represented the country at the FAI Mondial 2016, and both competed later at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016, where Volo maintained the Swedish upper hand.

Three indoor meets followed with increasing meet averages, and Echochamber then attended the team's second outdoor meet at this year's national championships. The 20.0 average at the end of the 6-round meet won the national gold medals and was the highest outdoor result for a team from Sweden. Volo has not competed this year, and Echochamber has taken the top position in Sweden.

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FAI World Meet 2006			1	2	3	4	5	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		N,20,16	K,J,C,G,3	D,19,B,6	L,14,10	F,17,M,2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	US	20	27	25	17	28	117	23.4
2	Gap Nice Icarius Autrement	FR	17	25	23	21	25	111	22.2
3	Sinapsi PD	IT	19	26	22	19	24	110	22.0
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	21	23	23	17	25	109	21.8
5	Arcteryx	NO	18	25	21	17	24	105	21.0
6	Spa HayaBusa	BE	19	25	18	17	23	102	20.4
7	EADS	DE	17	23	20	16	18	94	18.8
8	Danez	DK	15	22	15	17	21	90	18.0
9	Spain	ES	16	18	17	14	19	84	16.8
9	Evolution	CA	15	14	19	14	22	84	16.8
11	Team 42	SE	13	20	17	14	17	81	16.2
11	British Army	UK	14	21	16	12	18	81	16.2
13	Voodoo	UK	15	20	15	12	18	80	16.0
14	Punky Fish	NL	16	13	17	14	19	79	15.8
15	Airtite	AU	12	17	17	13	17	76	15.2
16	FILA	AT	13	16	16	12	17	74	14.8
17	Japan	JP	12	18	14	12	15	71	14.2
18	CTR Optimum	BR	13	14	14	12	17	70	14.0
19	Sky Service	CZ	12	16	13	11	14	66	13.2
20	Lithuania	LT	9	14	11	9	8	51	10.2
21	New Zealand	NZ	10	11	11	7	11	50	10.0
22	Kazakhstan	KZ	8	6	7	6	13	40	8.0
23	Estonia	EE	4	7	7	7	9	34	6.8
24	Ireland	IE	6	6	7	4	6	29	5.8
25	Cyprus	CY	3	7	7	5	4	26	5.2

The FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 was also the first time that Echochamber met the team that they ended up tied with after Round 10, Satori XL. Echochamber's new 26.1 team record average was strong enough to keep up with Satori's indoor lineup that also posted the team's highest indoor average since the World Challenge 2010.

Satori's three XL members (Pete Allum, Steve Hamilton, John McIver) have posted significantly higher indoor averages with their various XL lineups at the World Challenges in Bedford, and original Satori member Katie Woods added her own 28+ to the books when she competed with Canada's national team Evolution. However, the Satori XL combination in Montreal ended up tied with Echochamber and the Swedish 26.1 average.

Echochamber and Satori XL may also have their first outdoor confrontation next year in Australia. Satori XL is sanctioned as the British national team in 4-way Open, and Echochamber would be Sweden's team in the same category if this year's national championships were the official qualifier. They could have their tie-breaker in Australia next year at the latest. However, there are many earlier indoor opportunities where both teams might face each other before the trip to Australia.

British teams placed ahead of Sweden at all outdoor world meets since 1985, except in 1993, 1995 and 2008. The 4-way history between the two nations even includes one previous tie. The British Army team and Team 42 both finished in 11th place at the FAI World Meet 2006 in Germany. Neither the weather situation nor the FAI/IPC rules allowed any tie-breaking rounds outside of the medal rankings in 2006...