posted Apr 13th, 2018 - The World Challenge 2018 was supposed to have a separate leaderboard in 4-way Women. Only two teams were interested in this category this year, and they ended up on the AAA Class leaderboard for all teams, even though host Paul Mayer had separate sets of medals available that he still handed out during the award ceremony.

NFTO, the British national team in 4-way Women, competed in Bedford and made the Top 10 of the AAA Class leaderboard for the first time at the team's third World Challenge. In fact, NFTO was the last team to make the final cut in 9th place.

The 24.4 average in Bedford was also the best one that NFTO has posted at an indoor competition and proves that the British team is on the way to compete for silver medals at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia later this year.

NFTO studies their potential opponents carefully, as they explained during the NSL Live Talk on World Challenge TV on the first day of the competition. They met only two competitors of the 4-way Women category at the World Challenge, who competed with Weembi Mix, Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis. The NFTO members said that they are not really looking at the French national team as an opponent, as Aerodyne Weembi Girls seem to be out of reach for all other teams.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	5,Q,21	15,16,O	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	31	25	25	38	62	32	47	26	31	32	349	34.9
2	Weembi Mix MF	FR	29	25	24	40	59	33	45	27	32	31	345	34.5
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	24	23	35	59	26	43	24	33	28	324	32.4
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	21	23	33	50	26	40	23	29	24	295	29.5
5	ACM Weembi	UK	24	21	21	29	48	21	36	21	25	23	269	26.9
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	23	17	17	31	46	25	35	21	26	26	267	26.7
7	ISR FireFlash	BE	23	17	20	28	45	27	35	21	25	24	265	26.5
8	Chimera	UK	23	21	20	26	44	24	31	21	24	24	258	25.8
9	NFTO	UK	21	19	19	29	42	23	31	19	22	19	244	24.4

NFTO mentioned in Bedford that two of the team members were planning to travel to Norway shortly after the World Challenge and compete for Great Britain at FAI's new European Indoor Championships. They have joined forces with two Volition members (Kate Lindsley, Sian Stokes) who competed for the British delegation at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 after winning the qualification at the World Challenge 2017.

The situation in Norway is now reversed between Aerodyne Weembi Girls and NFTO, compared to the World Challenge. The French national team in 4-way Women is competing with the complete lineup, while NFTO has two new members. However, Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis competed with Julien Degen and Roy Janssen in Bedford, while NFTO's lineup in Norway is eligible for the 4-way Women competition.

Aerodyne Weembi Girls are completely out of reach for the other teams in 4-way Women. In fact, the French team is tied with the leader in 4-way Open, Aerodyne Realfly, the French national team in 4-way Open. The NSL News will soon present the combined leaderboard of both 4-way events that use the identical competition draw.

FAI European Indoor Championships			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		G,12,20	F,16,22	N,E,D,21	17,L,4	18,14,O	19,2,5	7,15,Q	6,B,M,P	K,11,9	8,H,J,C	10,A,3	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	25	30	39	29	25	27	33	45	-	-	-	253	31.6
2	NFTO	UK	21	24	32	25	20	20	25	40	-	-	-	207	25.9
3	Bubble Trouble	RU	17	25	30	24	23	23	24	39	-	-	-	205	25.6
4	Team X	SE	19	24	29	24	19	22	26	31	-	-	-	194	24.3
5	No Mercy	PL	18	20	24	20	19	19	27	32	-	-	-	179	22.4
6	Voss Vind Girls	NO	15	19	22	17	16	16	19	26	-	-	-	150	18.8

The NFTO members in Norway have the next opportunity to study the opponents in 4-way Women. The 25.9 average after Round 8 is the highest one in the team's history, and the two remaining rounds will probably allow all teams to maintain the current meet averages.

However, NFTO is facing very stiff opposition from a team that they expect to be one of the top contenders for the silver medals in Australia.

The Russian team Bubble Trouble had posted a 24.9 average in December last year at the Russian Indoor Nationals and confirms the scoring level strongly in Norway.

NFTO will have to show the team's best to fend off the Russian team that won the FAI silver medals at the FAI World Cup 2017. The indoor showdown with Bubble Trouble will be a good experience for the two NFTO members, who will have their own complete lineup facing the Russians in Australia.

The last two rounds in Norway are scheduled for Saturday, and Phoenix XP (United States) and Fuzion Voltige (Canada) will carefully study the performances in Norway...