posted Jul 25th, 2018 - Most of the teams in the 4-way world are now in the final stages of their preparations for the national outdoor championships. Most of the winning teams will then continue and get ready for the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving, this year in October in Australia.

The world meet is the most relevant competition in the sport, and it is open exclusively and only for each country's one national team. The federations of the participating countries select their national teams in different ways, and this year's national championships are not necessarily the qualifiers for the FAI World Meet 2018.

In fact, in many countries the winner of the previous national championships qualifies for the next world meet, which gives the national team enough time to prepare as good as possible for the important task.

Every other year, four teams of each country also have the opportunity to enjoy a high-level international competition, the FAI World Cup. The national championships in the world meet year are usually the qualifiers for the next world cup.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		ESL	3,10,11	J,H,14,4	C,21,B,2	18,Q,G,M	13,A,5	E,22,K,17	20,19,D	16,F,L,P	7,N,15	6,12,1	Total	Avg
1	AtomiX YUU	DE	10	14	17	17	21	16	16	16	22	18	11	168	16.8
2	610	IT	8	13	17	17	19	16	14	15	22	17	14	164	16.4
3	Dark Energy	DE	6	12	15	14	18	12	14	13	19	15	11	143	14.3
4	Ookpik	FR	5	11	16	14	16	12	14	13	21	15	9	141	14.1
5	NeVa	DE	4	12	15	13	15	11	14	13	21	14	11	139	13.9
6	HF Flying Circus	CZ	3	11	12	13	14	11	14	13	19	13	9	129	12.9
7	JETMAX	BE	2	11	12	14	15	11	9	10	17	13	11	123	12.3
8	4theQueen	UK	1	10	11	12	13	9	10	8	12	11	7	103	10.3
9	HorschD	DE	1	8	10	12	12	8	8	11	11	11	8	99	9.9
Rank	AA Class		ESL	M,J,F,Q	2,H,18	13,D,L	O,4,8	11,C,6	14,19	22,21	B,7,20	E,K,G,N	1,A,15	Total	Avg
1	Falco	BE	10	26	10	12	10	11	9	9	10	15	9	121	12.1
2	Das KOs	DE	8	23	9	7	11	9	6	8	12	13	8	106	10.6
3	Dimension	NL	6	22	9	9	8	9	7	8	11	11	7	101	10.1
4	Blok 43	NL	5	17	10	7	10	7	8	9	12	9	9	98	9.8
5	Windfall	DE	4	17	8	5	8	7	6	5	9	11	6	81	8.1
6	4midable	NL	3	15	4	5	8	7	4	7	7	8	4	69	6.9
7	Manticore	UK	2	12	7	4	7	2	3	4	8	6	5	58	5.8
Rank	A Class		ESL	21,19	K,F,B	D,G,C	J,N,8	9,A	P,7	4,L	O,Q,6	M,E,2	H,N,K	Total	Avg
1	Bazinga	DE	10	8	18	10	10	10	11	8	12	11	15	113	11.3
2	Ayro	IT	8	7	16	12	8	10	11	8	9	12	13	106	10.6
3	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	6	3	13	5	7	7	7	5	8	10	11	76	7.6
Rank	Rookie		ESL	P,F,J	E,H,Q	O,G,D	K,M,N	A,B,L	C,M,J	P,K,L	E,G,H	N,D,A	C,O,B	Total	Avg
1	Aeropotam's	BE	10	17	15	8	11	12	15	11	14	9	17	129	12.9
2	Scratch That	UK	8	6	6	4	6	4	4	5	7	1	6	49	4.9
3	Flying Cowboys	DE	6	4	3	4	2	5	1	4	0	2	0	25	2.5

The founders of the National Skydiving League (NSL) and the European Skydiving League (ESL) were aiming at offering more teams the exciting experience of international meet atmosphere when they launched the ESL Championship in 2004.

NSL and ESL events include three more categories at their events (AA - A - Rookie) with the same goal. The best AAA Class teams already have their high-profile international events at the world meets and world cups, and the ESL Championship is offering the same opportunity for all other teams in the three additional categories.

The ESL Championship also added a special scoring system to the competition, which gives the performances of the teams in the other three categories even more meaning. They compete in the traditional 4-way format and with their own leaderboards for the medals in their respective categories and are also collecting ESL points for their national delegations according to their placements.

The Dutch delegation has won the ESL Spirit five times, followed by Belgium with four wins. Only the Netherlands have won the trophy three consecutive times so far, and the German delegation will try to match this record this year after winning in 2016 and 2017.

Winning delegations at the ESL Championship since 2004

Many other teams from everywhere in Europe have made the trip to the ESL Championship, as the competition in each category alone is exciting enough - whether their delegation might be able to win the ESL Spirit or not.

The skydiving center in Saarlouis, Germany, is hosting the event once again in September this year, which gives the defending champion, the German delegation, the home advantage. The Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar is a highly experienced host with several high-profile events in the records, including national championships and the FAI World Cup 2017. Last year, all teams at the ESL Championship 2017 completed ten rounds on the same weekend.

The Bastuck family operates the skydiving center with a wealth of meet experiences. Helmut Bastuck has been in charge of many skydiving events, including the Dubai International Parachute Championships (DIPC), which used to be one of the most popular events in the sport. His son Markus Bastuck has been a member of the German national 4-way team for many years, and he will compete once again for Germany with Airbus in Australia this year.

The jump plane in Saarlouis is a Cessna Caravan, which will also drop the teams at the world meet in October. The ESL Championship 2018 could also be a last test for national teams on their way to Australia...