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.

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

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.