posted Oct 14th, 2018 - The NSL News live coverage of the FAI World Meet 2018 concludes with a Fun Flag update, which is directly related to one of the medal winners at Gold Coast.

The Swedish national team in 4-way Women might not even be sure which celebration will be remembered as the more important one, as the Fun Flag story of the world meet in Australia seems to end with a photo of Team X in the most recent possession of the important item. This achievement competes with the athletic one, the 3rd place in 4-way Women and the FAI bronze medals that Team X will bring to Sweden this week.

It is not the first time that a Swedish team won a set of FAI medals. 17 years ago, at the FAI World Meet 2001 in Spain, the Swedish national team in 4-way Women won bronze medals, as well. It was the first time that this event was a part of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving. Ten teams were on the first 4-way Women leaderboard, with the U.S. team Synchronicity in 1st and the Norgie Girls from Norway in 2nd place.

Last week, the first two places were completely out of reach for the rest of the 4-way Women field, while the competition for the bronze medals was as close as the battle for all sets of medals in 2001.

FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	Norgie Girls	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
5	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
6	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	16	113	11.3
7	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
8	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
9	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
10	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1

Four teams were in serious contention for the gold medals in 2001. Sweden's team 4-Pleasure was actually ahead by one point for the gold medals going into Round 10 and ended up in 3rd place with a 14.3 average. Team X member Lena Erlandsson was in the 2001 lineup and needed 16.9 last week to win her second bronze medal.

There were four other teams that she had to leave behind to win the bronze medals with Team X, and two of them were really close. Phoenix XP (United States) and home team Boomerang Betty (Australia) finished tied in 4th place only two points behind Team X.

Boomerang Betty's lineup included Ann-Marie Jarzebowski who was Lena Erlandsson's 2001 team mate with the Swedish team 4-Pleasure. She now competed for Australia at her second world meet. Bellatrix, with three Boomerang Betty members (Narissa Anderson, Kate Vaughan, Ann-Marie Jarzebowski), had finished in 6th place (15.0) at the FAI World Meet 2016. Lena Erlandsson won this internal duel of the 2001 team mates with Team X, and Boomerang Betty lineup ended up two points behind the bronze medals with a 16.7 average and new national records.

It was a very close finish, and Ann-Marie Jarzebowski missed her second bronze medal by these two points, while Lena Erlandsson was on the podium again with the current Swedish national team that competed last week in Australia.

FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	29	-1	20		24		22		25		56	-1	23		18	-2	22		18	-1	257	25.7
2	NFTO	UK	20	-3	15		22	-1	19		18		38	-2	18		17		19		16		202	20.2
3	Team X	SE	17	-3	10	-3	18		16		14		36	-3	15	-3	13		18		12	-1	169	16.9
4	Phoenix XP	US	17	-2	12		17		14		15	-1	37		16	-1	12	-2	14	-2	13		167	16.7
4	Boomerang Betty	AU	19	-1	11	-1	18		14		15		32	-2	15		13		17		13		167	16.7
6	Fuzion Voltige	CA	17	-1	9	-2	18		14		15	-1	34	-2	14	-2	13	-2	14	-2	13		161	16.1
7	Skynamite	DE	19		12		16	-1	14		14	-1	27	-1	13	-3	12	-1	15		12	-1	154	15.4

The leaderboard is showing how close the field in 4-way Women was behind Aerodyne Weembi Girls and NFTO. All other five teams had the potential to win the bronze medals, as the highscores for the single rounds are showing.

In fact, Phoenix XP and Boomerang Betty both claimed or tied more highscores than the bronze medal winner from Sweden, Team X, who collected the highest number of point deductions.

Former national 4-way competitor Seth Ericson, who has recently been training and competing with 8-way indoor team Veloce QRF, had Team X carefully prepared for the world meet. The 16.2 average at the national championships this year was a statement that Team X would be in contention for medals in Australia.

Team X had missed the team's first FAI medals first by two points at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 and then again at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018 with two 4th places in Canada and Norway.

This time, Team X did not only win the tough battle for the bronze medals. The Swedish team may also have the Fun Flag in the luggage on the way back to Sweden...