posted Jan 15th, 2018 - The history of French national 4-way teams at the Shamrock Showdown in DeLand began with the first visit in 2008. National coach Jerome David sent his 4-way Open Class team to Florida in March to face off with Arizona Airspeed's Odyssey lineup at the beginning of the world meet season. The outcome in Maubeuge 2008 turned out to be the same as in DeLand, only even closer with a 1-point difference after eight rounds.

Both teams were back in DeLand a year later, and the start of the 2009 season featured a 3-point battle over ten rounds, with Airspeed once again on the top at the end.

The Shamrock Showdown was also the 2010 season opener for the same French national team in 4-way Open, while Airspeed Odyssey skipped the meet this time. Jerome David also sent his 4-way Women team, Aerokart Deep Blue, to DeLand in March 2010. France won ahead of NMP PCH HayaBusa, and Deep Blue finished with a 20.1 average in 4th place behind Perris Fury.

Both French teams then won gold medals at the FAI World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk less than half a year later.

Shamrock Showdown 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		12,2,B	E,K,M,H,11	L,3,22	C,4,18	13,D,J,1	20,16,17	Q,14,8	O,F,6,10	21,G,9	P,19,5	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	21	32	21	19	26	21	22	26	29	27	244	24.4
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	33	17	22	23	19	19	22	26	22	223	22.3
3	Perris Fury	US	19	30	16	19	21	18	21	18	27	19	208	20.8
4	Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge	FR	17	29	16	17	19	18	18	21	24	22	201	20.1
5	Paraclete XP4	US	18	29	16	17	20	16	17	22	20	22	197	19.7
6	Black Cat	RU	17	28	17	19	18	18	16	23	21	18	195	19.5

Airspeed was back in DeLand a year later with the new lineup, and new French national coach Jeremie Rollett sent his own new 4-way Open Class, as well. He also bought tickets to Florida for his new national team in 4-way Women, the Deep Blue Defenders.

Airspeed had the better start into the 2011 season, while France could still fend off NMP PCH HayaBusa at the Shamrock Showdown.

France, Airspeed and HayaBusa all had a year behind them with their new lineups when they came back to launch the next world meet season in March 2012. The Belgians pushed France into 3rd place in DeLand, and the outcome at the FAI Mondial Dubai 2012 was identical with the Shamrock results.

Airspeed was back again with a new lineup in March 2013 and won the next Shamrock without a French challenge.

The complete French 4-way delegation was back in DeLand though a year later, and the new French 8-way lineup competed with the Golden Knights at the beginning of the new world meet season. Airspeed won again, and the French 4-way Open Class team ended up behind Evolution from Canada. The finishing order between the three teams was once again identical half a year later in Prostejov 2014, where HayaBusa won the first FAI gold medals for Belgium. The French Girls won in DeLand and then in Prostejov, where the French 8-way team Venturi ended up in 3rd place behind Russia.

Shamrock Showdown 2018 Information: Cessna Caravan and Twin Otter both confirmed as jump planes

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		Q,8,H,22	16,19,13	10,14,2	E,C,20,K	5,M,9	A,6,F,17	D,21,N,B	P,O,G,J,1	18,4,7	12,15,3	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	25	20	18	35	36	25	33	31	23	20	266	26.6
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	23	21	20	33	34	29	30	30	20	21	261	26.1
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	23	21	19	33	29	28	28	29	23	21	254	25.4
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	21	17	15	28	29	23	27	27	19	18	224	22.4
5	Thunder	BE	20	17	16	27	27	22	27	26	17	17	216	21.6
6	Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders	FR	19	16	15	23	27	23	24	24	16	14	201	20.1
6	Deland Norgies	NO	18	16	15	22	26	20	26	26	18	14	201	20.1

Airspeed was alone on the top of the leaderboard again at the Shamrock Showdown 2015 before the new French Girls lineup visited DeLand in March 2016, together with the Qatar Tigers and Satori XL.

That was the world meet year when France lost the 4-way Women title to the Golden Knights, despite a strong start in March 2016.

The Shamrock Showdown 2017 was a preview of the duel between Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP at the USPA Nationals 2017 where Airspeed defended the U.S. top position successfully.

This year's first major outdoor competition brings the French national 4-way teams back to the Shamrock Showdown 2018 where they will be facing Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP both, which creates a preview of the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia and the USPA Nationals, as well.

It is a very important year for Airspeed and RealFly-Sion who both want to win FAI gold medals in Australia. The French Weembi Girls will use the combined AAA Class leaderboard in DeLand to feel performance pressure in a year with apparently light opposition on the 4-way Women leaderboard.

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		18,2,O	D,19,22	G,C,P,10	9,A,L,H	K,16,B,Q	7,4,21	11,15,F	M,3,E,8	6,1,17	20,12,J	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	20	28	46	33	24	23	20	19	21	254	25.4
2	Evolution	CA	21	22	25	40	30	21	23	23	20	19	244	24.4
3	VoltR	FR	20	19	24	36	29	21	20	22	20	16	227	22.7
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	21	18	24	34	28	20	20	22	16	17	220	22.0
5	Aerodyne French Girls	FR	20	19	23	32	25	20	20	21	18	18	216	21.6
6	Carolina Turbo XP	US	18	15	20	30	27	18	19	20	18	16	201	20.1

RealFly-Sion started with a very new and young lineup at the beginning of the 2015 season and won the team's first set of FAI medals with the 3rd place at the FAI World Cup 2015 in Teuge. Then they confirmed the world's bronze medal position at the FAI Mondial 2016.

The French 4-way Open Class team had a 2-year head start when Airspeed's new lineup with Ari Perelman began with training in 2017. Both teams with their current lineups have never competed with and against each other yet, and the Shamrock Showdown 2018 will be the first and maybe the only outdoor opportunity for both teams to define their starting point in the race for the desired FAI gold medals this year in Australia.

The complete French lineup had competed with Airspeed's 2016 lineup for the FAI medals at Skydive Chicago. Niklas Hemlin, Thiago Gomes and Mikhail Markine will meet the same RealFly-Sion lineup in DeLand in March, where Ari Perelman and videographer David French take on the best French 4-way competitors for the first time at an outdoor competition.

Both teams need as much pressure as possible to move forwards, as the biggest obstacle on the way to FAI gold medals from Belgium is in the team's 4th year and has already collected two sets of FAI gold medals in 2014 and 2016. The scores at the Shamrock Showdown will also indicate the outdoor distance to the reigning world champions...

Shamrock Showdown 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,13,9	G,6,21	10,20,11	18,4,B	F,1,14	19,5,7	P,Q,16,A	C,15,M,12	J,L,K,2	E,O,22,17	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	22	24	24	29	25	29	24	243	24.3
2	Aerodyne French Girls	FR	21	22	17	21	23	20	27	21	27	22	221	22.1
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	22	16	21	19	19	29	20	28	22	215	21.5
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	19	15	19	21	20	26	19	25	21	204	20.4
5	Satori XL	UK	19	18	16	20	19	20	26	18	24	22	202	20.2
6	TurBu 2.0	US	15	19	15	15	19	20	24	15	21	20	183	18.3