posted May 13th, 2018 - It has happened only twice that three British AAA Class teams finished in the Top 10 of the World Challenge. It was the 2008 event when XL (2nd), Satori (8th) and Bodyflight Storm (10th) accomplished this together for the UK delegation in Bedford, in a field of 30 AAA Class teams.

XL (4th), Satori (8th) and Just4Fun (9th) even placed within the Top 9 in 2012. Then it took six years until ACM Weembi (5th), Chimera (8th) and NFTO (9th) picked up the British AAA Class ball at the World Challenge 2018 and showed off once again the British 4-way power.

It is a new generation of 4-way competitors in Great Britain that placed three teams in the Top 10, which was only matched by France this year. There is not even one team member in the lineups of the three teams at this year's event who competed in 2008 or 2012 for any of the three British teams in the Top 10.

The British 3-team groups of 2008, 2012 and 2018 still have one thing in common. There was always an all-female lineup that helped the British delegation on the top level, Bodyflight Storm in 2008, Just4Fun in 2012 and NFTO at the World Challenge 2018.

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	-1	47	-1	26		31	-2	32	-1	349	34.9
2	Weembi Mix MF	FR	29		25		24	-1	40		59	-2	33		45	-1	27		32	-2	31		345	34.5
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		24		23	-1	35	-1	59		26	-3	43		24		33	-1	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	-4	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	-1	21		20		26	-2	44		24		31	-4	21		24		24		258	25.8
9	NFTO	UK	21		19		19		29		42		23		31	-2	19		22	-1	19	-2	244	24.4

The NSL News covered the NFTO story on 13 April 2018, which included a live interview on World Challenge TV.

Moderator Brian Cumming had invited ACM Weembi and Chimera for a live interview on stage, as well, and both teams explained their situation in Bedford and their plans for the near future.

Chimera's lineup has not changed since the team started their AAA Class 4-way career at the World Challenge 2016. The 20.2 average of 2016 has turned into 25.8 this April, and Chimera has also become one of the top contenders for outdoor medals at the national championships.

In fact, Chimera won bronze medals for the first time at the UK Nationals 2017, behind Satori XL and Team 4mula. Satori will compete for Great Britain at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia, and Chimera will probably turn the bronze medals at the national championships into silver this year.

Chimera's indoor and outdoor scores have consistently increased, and even Satori XL will soon have to watch out for a serious challenge of the British 4-way top spot.

James Woods' sister Katie, FAI bronze medalist for Canada with Evolution in 2014, has been working on the progression with Chimera successfully for a while, and Arizona Airspeed's Niklas Hemlin has joined the Chimera coaching staff more recently.

Team 4mula has not appeared on any leaderboards this year, which has opened up the silver medal position at the national outdoor championship for Chimera and any other top contenders.

Team 4mula members Will Cooke and David Rodgers have joined ACM Weembi, and they explained their situation live on World Challenge TV stage, as well.

The ACM team project was also launched at the World Challenge, just a year earlier in 2015. ACM and Chimera then met for the first time at the World Challenge 2016 where ACM won by seven points (209 - 202).

Only Marc Fletcher and Hari Ganapathy were in the 2016 lineup and still compete for ACM Weembi. In fact, Hari Ganapathy is the only original team member who started with ACM in 2015, together with Gareth Hicks, Debbie Lamsley and James Woods.

ACM Weembi traveled to Norway after the World Challenge 2018 and represented Great Britain at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018. The team had no defined outdoor plans yet for the 2018 season, and Chimera might step up into the silver medal position without serious competition...