posted Sep 1st, 2018 - The 4-way AAA/Open Class and 8-way events at the German Outdoor Nationals 2018 were officially over after Round 9, even though most of the 4-way teams completed Round 10, and the last round was also in progress in 8-way.

Several 4-way teams competed in 8-way, and the combination of the weather conditions and the coordination of the double duties eventually made it difficult to complete all rounds of the meet.

Airbus 8-way was one of the teams with double duties, even though the main focus was on the 8-way event. In fact, the two 4-way teams (Paranodon Bardarbunga - Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull) of the 8-way lineup hardly had any 4-way training at all this year, as they invested all resources into the qualification as the German national 8-way team for the FAI World Meet 2018.

The NSL News covered the journey of the team to earn the tickets to Australia with a few stories. The last update on 29 July 2018 reported a successful conclusion when Airbus easily mastered the required 13.0 average condition that the German skydiving federation had set for the team at a special qualification event in July.

German Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	B,11,7	C,9,3	K,4,1	5,L,H,G	18,19,M	D,17,13	22,P,12	E,20,8	O,14,N,10	Total	Avg
1	Airbus 8-way Illertissen	14	14	20	12	13	12	14	10	14	123	13.7
2	Skyweed Wolfpack	6	6	9	7	6	7	5	5	5	56	6.2
3	Luftschl8	6	5	6	3	6	5	5	5	5	46	5.1
4	M - 8	6	6	9	1	6	4	4	4	5	45	5.0
5	MeightO Meissendorf	5	4	6	5	6	4	4	4	3	41	4.6

Airbus did not have to beat the 13.0 average any longer at this week's national championships where the performance requirement was back down to the previous 12.5 average for the FAI/IPC sanctioned events in 2019. However, Airbus confirmed the 13.0 average once again quite easily with 13.7 after Round 9 this time.

The team would have liked to complete the meet, as the sequence of Round 10 (16-O-J-15) would have offered the second easier scoring opportunity of the German competition draw. Airbus needed 17 points or more in Round 10 to improve the previous meet average to the team's first 14+ average.

Airbus had shown in Round 3 (K-4-1) that the team could handle a faster sequence and posted 20 points for the fastest sequence in the 10-round draw. The German national 8-way team will soon have the opportunity to try again at the world meet in Australia where the international opponents will put more pressure on Airbus than the other German 8-way teams did at the national championships this week.

German Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,11,7	C,9,3	K,4,1	5,L,H,G	18,19,M	D,17,13	22,P,12	E,20,8	O,14,N,10	Total	Avg
1	Airbus 4-way FSZ Saar	22	24	19	26	19	19	15	19	18	181	20.1
2	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	20	18	16	21	18	16	13	14	16	157	17.4
3	Paranodon Bardarbunga	19	17	15	16	16	14	14	15	15	141	15.7
4	Dark Energy	17	19	13	17	15	14	12	14	14	135	15.0
5	NeVa FSZ Saar	17	14	12	16	13	12	10	13	13	120	13.3
6	Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull	16	15	14	13	11	11	11	14	11	116	12.9
7	Skynamite FSZ Saar	17	14	11	15	12	11	11	13	11	115	12.8
8	Skyweed Illertissen	14	14	12	14	11	10	8	12	11	106	11.7
9	Wolf Pack	14	13	10	15	12	11	9	12	9	105	11.7
10	HorschD FSZ Saar	14	13	8	11	11	6	9	11	8	94	10.4

The two 4-way teams of the Airbus 8-way lineup (Paranodon Bardarbunga - Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull) were the only ones who missed Round 10 in their second event. Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull actually has the team roots in 4-way competition before they were recruited at the beginning of this year by the Bardarbunga veterans for the new 8-way team.

Olaf Biedermann, Steffen Schiedek, Uli Sehrbrock, Thomas Spielvogel and Wolfgang Hagedorn on camera are some of the most experienced 4-way and 8-way competitors in the history of German Formation Skydiving competition. They did not need 4-way training to come up with a 15.7 average that secured the bronze medals in the 4-way AAA/Open Class competition, and they fended off successfully the Dark Energy challenge that was headed by their 8-way coach, Marco Arrigo, and DFV President Henning Stumpp.

Airbus team member Uli Sehrbrock celebrated his 63rd birthday at the end of the competition with a gold medal in 8-way and a bronze medal in 4-way. He and videographer Wolfgang Hagedorn are probably the oldest medal winners in German competition history, and Uli Sehrbrock alone might be the oldest competitor at the upcoming world meet. Congratulations and Happy Birthday...