posted Sep 3rd, 2018 - The exciting 8-way duel between the British national team MicroClim8 and Germany's Airbus 8-way lineup was a part of the FAI Mondial 2016 that the NSL News covered live from the competition site at Skydive Chicago.

Two years have gone by, and a similar battle might be on the horizon again, as both teams will represent their countries at the FAI World Meet 2018, as well.

MicroClim8's lineup changed in 2017 when Ane Brentford and Ruth Morrison joined the team, replacing Andy Pook and Chris Cook. Andy Pook then came back for the 2018 season to take Audrey Rowe's slot, and Kate Lindsley replaced Jonny Flowers. Finally, this year's lineup travels to Australia with six members who competed at the FAI Mondial 2016, including videographer Phil Hartree.

Germany's Airbus lineup had more significant personnel changes. The NSL News reported earlier this year that four 2016 members (Uli Sehrbrock, Thomas Spielvogel, Steffen Schiedek, Olaf Biedermann) joined forces with the younger 4-way team Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull for a complete makeover and with the main focus on the 8-way event. The new lineup started with training at the beginning of the 2018 season.

UK Nationals August 27th, 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		N,21,6	G,B,K,20	H,4,M,O	9,Q,15	3,J,19	18,22,10	17,12,L	C,P,7,F	A,11,E,2	D,1,8	Total	Avg
1	Microclim8	UK	13	14	16	13	14	13	12	14	12	14	135	13.5
German Nationals September 1st, 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		M,2,22	11,17,18	19,F,4	13,K,16	B,P,12,3	8,G,6	O,21,14	7,20,A	L,D,H,1	5,N,E,J	Total	Avg
1	Airbus München	DE	11	12	16	15	13	11	12	12	13	14	129	12.9
FAI Mondial - September 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	31	25	26	22	20	22	19	26	24	24	239	23.9
2	France	FR	22	20	25	18	16	19	17	23	19	20	199	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	23	19	25	17	14	16	16	21	20	19	190	19.0
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	19	16	20	15	7	10	13	16	15	15	146	14.6
5	Microclim8	UK	15	14	16	14	11	13	13	14	13	17	140	14.0
6	Airbus München	DE	16	15	17	11	11	13	12	14	12	15	136	13.6
7	Australia	AU	13	13	14	12	9	13	12	15	10	14	125	12.5
8	Divergence	CA	11	10	9	11	8	10	8	10	11	11	99	9.9
9	Brazil	BR	11	8	10	9	5	9	9	11	8	13	93	9.3

MicroClim8 and Airbus both still had a very similar run-up to the upcoming 8-way competition at the FAI World Meet 2018 as they had it in 2016.

Great Britain and Germany had scheduled their national championships shortly before the trip to the United States in 2016, and both teams improved their meet averages slightly in the meantime. MicroClim8 was six points ahead (135 - 129) with the scoring numbers at both countries' nationals and won by four points (140 - 136) over Airbus in the race for the 5th place.

MicroClim8 is a little bit further ahead this year, as the results of both national championships are showing. However, both teams completed different numbers of rounds at their events (UK 10 - DE 9) and the competition draws were neither identical at last year's national championships nor at this year's events.

UK Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		B,6,N,3	21,10,4	O,Q,11,2	7,D,20	P,C,9,H	G,K,F,15	14,16,19	12,8,22	J,1,5	A,18,E,17	Total	Avg
1	Microclim8	UK	16	15	14	14	15	19	14	12	17	14	150	15.0
Roster: Rosalind Ayling, Ane Brentford, Martin Cressey, Phil Hartree (Video), Kate Lindsley, Ruth Morrison, Dennis Parker, Andy Pook, Martin Soulsby, Mark Whitehead
German Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	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	16,O,J,15	Total	Avg
1	Airbus 8-way Illertissen	DE	14	14	20	12	13	12	14	10	14	-	123	13.7
Roster: Olaf Biedermann, Carl Enders, Stefan Knoch, Linda Koeb, Erik Lorenz (Video), Alex Prendinger, Steffen Schiedek, Uli Sehrbrock, Thomas Spielvogel

The situation between the two teams might become more interesting as it looks at the moment. Airbus missed the faster sequence of Round 10 (16-O-J-15) which could have moved the team to the 14+ average level. The 20-pointer in Round 3 indicated that the German team can handle a faster sequence quite well.

On the other hand, MicroClim8 finished with a new team record average, and the 19-pointer in Round 6 (G-K-F-15) finally erased the previous British 8-way highscore that was posted in 2003. The 15.0 average is also the highest British 8-way result in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

Germany managed to move a little bit closer between the nationals and the world meet in 2016, and they will be hoping to copy this and put even more pressure on MicroClim8, while the British team wants to improve the scoring numbers of the UK Nationals 2018 and at least keep the distance.

Fact is that the four returning Airbus and six MicroClim8 members will enjoy a new showdown, this time in Australia. It seems like the 4th place will be on stake this time, as France, silver medalist of 2016, does not have an 8-way team in Australia.