The NSL News had reported on 23 March 2018 how the French team has been setting new standards in this category. The 23.5 average at the Shamrock Showdown 2018 was the highest outdoor average in 4-way Women history without a Super Sequence, and the same lineup followed up with the highest indoor average (31.0) at the French Indoor Nationals 2018.

The Aerodyne Weembi Girls did not only leave all other teams in 4-way Women in the dust in Norway. Together they also left the 32+ benchmark behind, just a week after Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis had posted a 34.5 average with Weembi Mix at the World Challenge 2018.

However, there was serious competition for the silver medals in 4-way Women, and the battle between NFTO and Bubble Trouble included all the drama that was missing on the gold medal level and that any 4-way competition can possibly create.

3.2.2.1 (until 2013 and back in 2018):

If two or more teams have equal scores the following order of procedures will be applied to determine the final placings:

i. one tie break round, if possible (for the first three placings only). The tie break round will be the next drawn round of the competition,

ii. the highest score in any completed round,

iii. the highest score starting with the last completed round and continuing in reverse order, round by round until the tie is broken,

iv. the fastest time (measured to hundredths of a second) to the last formation scored without infringement by both teams in the last completed round. Starting time must be that used for original evaluation of the jump.

However, the tie-breaking rules have changed in different ways over the years, and especially Bubble Trouble have been faced directly with the most recent procedures. The Russian 4-way Women team was tied with the Canadian national team in 4-way Women, Fuzion Voltige, at the FAI World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis after Round 5, and the weather did not allow any more competition rounds.

The FAI/IPC rules had changed after the FAI World Cup 2013, as the NSL News explained on 19 May 2016. The new winner was the team that was the best at the finish line, either after Round 10, or after a jump-off round, or after any last round of a meet that could not be completed.

Bubble Trouble won the silver medals in Saarlouis due to the rules that defined the fastest completion of the last scoring formation as the ultimate tie-breaking procedure.

3.2.2.1 (2014 to 2017):

If two or more teams have equal scores the following order of procedures will be applied to determine the final placings::

i. one tie break round, if possible (for the first three placings only). The tie break round will be the next drawn round of the competition,

ii. the fastest time (measured to hundredths of a second) to the last common scoring formation in the last completed round.

In fact, the rules were changed back to the previous tie-breaking procedures, which were in place when the Golden Knights lost the competition at the FAI World Cup 2013 in Banja Luka. The trouble was also detected in the same event that created the tie-breaking situation in Norway, the 4-way Women category, first between Golden Knights and France in Banja Luka 2013 and then again between Bubble Trouble and NFTO last weekend.

The FAI/IPC officials decided at the annual plenary meeting in February this year that, as years ago, the highest round in any completed round of the meet will win the competition for the team in a jump-off or any other tie-breaking situation. NFTO scored the highest number in this duel with the 40-pointer the day before in Round 8, and the scores for Rounds 9 and 10 and the extra round on Saturday became irrelevant for finding the winner.

Bubble Trouble won silver medals in Saarlouis 2017 and lost silver medals in Norway 2018 due to two different sets of rules. Both teams may face each other again in a very similar situation at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia...