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Did You Know...

... that the Golden Knights won the 4th consecutive 8-way world championship title?

First Formation Skydiving medals for Qatar: Falcons 8-way team
posted Oct 19th, 2018 - The leaderboard of the 8-way competition at the FAI World Meet 2018 looked very similar to the one of the previous world meet at Skydive Chicago in September 2016.

In fact, the rankings between the participating nations were identical, with one exception and disregarding the countries that did not send 8-way teams to this world meet, France and Canada. Only Australia (JYR8) and Germany (Airbus) swapped positions on the 8-way leaderboard in Australia.

The Qatar Falcons benefited from the absence of a French 8-way team, which happened for the first time in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

The Falcons won the first set of Formation Skydiving medals for their country with the 3rd place. The 17.0 average was a new team record number, even though it was well below the bronze medal average in 2016.

However, two more years earlier, in Prostejov 2014, Russia and France were tied in 2nd place with a 17.1 average after ten rounds, and the Qatar Tigers will probably be a serious medal contender again in Tanay 2020 - with or without a French 8-way team.

FAI World Meet 2018
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Avg
Rank 8-way Open 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 Golden Knights  US  24    21    18    24    19 -2 29    21    18 -1 17    33    224 22.4
2 Tanay  RU  21 -1 21    17    22 -1 20    28    16 -1 18    18    28 -1 209 20.9
3 Qatar Falcons  QA  19    16    15    18 -1 14 -1 21    16    14 -1 14    23 -1 170 17.0
4 MicroClim8  UK  17    15    12    14 -1 15    21    15    12 -2 13    18 -1 152 15.2
5 JYR8  AU  14 -1 14    13    17    11 -1 20    14    14    12    21    150 15.0
6 Airbus  DE  13    15    9 -2 15    11    16    12    12    10    16 -2 129 12.9
7 Brazil  BR  11    10    9    12    9    12    9    10    9    16    107 10.7

The Golden Knights won the 4th consecutive 8-way title for the U.S. delegation, despite the challenging Russian 8-way team from Tanay. On the way to the gold medals, the U.S. Army team tied their own standing world record for a single round with the 33-pointer in Round 10.

4th consecutive gold medals: Golden Knights
This time, it was a sequence of three of the fastest blocks (4,1,3) in the 8-way dive pool that allowed the highest score in 8-way history. The Golden Knights had posted the previous 33-pointer for a sequence of five random formations (F,L,B,G,P) in Round 2 of the World Air Games 2015.

The highest meet average in history that the Golden Knights had posted at the FAI World Meet 2016 was not in jeopardy in Australia. The 22.4 was still more than enough to hold off the Russian challenger this time.

The Tanay team finished on the highest Russian 8-way level in history, including the days when Russia won 8-way gold medals in 2001 and 2003. Only the 1999 lineup had posted another 20.9 average, which happened at a different place in Australia (Corowa).

Vladimir Pavlenko posted both 20.9 averages in 1999 and 2018, and Tanay alternate Alexey Minaev was in the 1999 lineup, as well. 1999 member Oleg Shalamykhin competed in 4-way with the Tanay Wolves at Gold Coast.

FAI World Meet 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 -1 22    20    22    19    26    24    24 -1  239 23.9
2 France  FR  22 -1 20 -1 25    18    16    19    17    23    19    20     199 19.9
3 Tanay  RU  23    19    25    17    14 -1 16    16    21    20    19     190 19.0
4 Qatar Falcons  QA  19    16    20    15    7 -2 10 -4 13    16 -1 15    15     146 14.6
5 Microclim8  UK  15    14 -1 16 -1 14    11    13    13    14 -1 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 -1 12    9 -1 13    12    15    10    14     125 12.5
8 Divergence  CA  11    10 -1 9 -2 11    8    10    8 -1 10    11    11     99 9.9
9 Brazil  BR  11    8 -1 10    9    5 -2 9    9    11    8    13     93 9.3
20.9 in 1999 and 2018: Vladimir Pavlenko with Tanay 8-way team
Tanay's 8-way team will continue for two more years and try to win the next set of 8-way gold medals for Russia on home turf in 2020. The chances will be much better than they were this month.

It's not only the 20.9 average as a starting point that promises a strong position in two years. The 4-time world champions from the United States are also facing significant changes from here on. Only half of the Golden Knights world champions will continue, and several new members have to be recruited and introduced to 8-way competition. The NSL News will follow up with more details soon.

MicroClim8 had to work hard to defend the 4th place against the strongest Australian 8-way team in the country's history. The 15.0 average is a new Australian record number and beats the previous 14.7 average that was posted by the 1999 lineup, also on home turf. MicroClim8 needed their own new record average to hold off the Aussies by two points.

The new German Airbus 8-way lineup could not keep up with the two well trained 8-way teams and dropped down in the rankings. It became even more difficult for the Germans when the most experienced player, Thomas Spielvogel, had to sit on the bench with an injury. Airbus 4-way member Thomas Mack was helping out and accepted the tiring double duties.

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