posted Nov 1st, 2018 - The Airbus FSZ Saar 4-way team and AtomiX have been dueling for several years for the top spot in Germany. Actually, it has not really been a duel on eye level but the challenger AtomiX trying to upset the country's dominating 4-way team.

AtomiX started from far behind (12.2 - 20.2) at the team's first national championships in 2013 and reduced the distance year by year with the goal to get to the top spot one day. AtomiX took the 2nd place on the German leaderboard already a year later (13.8 - 19.2) and reduced the distance again (14.9 - 19.0) in 2015.

The next step in 2016 moved AtomiX up to the 16+ level (16.7 - 19.4) and after the national championships in 2017 (17.6 - 18.4) it seemed like it would only be a matter of time when AtomiX would finally catch up with Airbus and create a serious showdown for the top position in Germany.

It did not happen this year when Airbus finally picked up the pace again, while AtomiX finished below expectations after a training year that did not turn out as planned. Airbus on the other hand was more serious and tried to prepare as good as possible for the world championships.

German Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		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		16,Q,J,15		Total	Avg
1	Airbus 4-way FSZ Saar	22		24		19		26		19		19		15		19		18		19		200	20.0
2	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	20		18	-4	16		21		18		16		13		14		16		17		169	16.9

The current AtomiX lineup still did not give up the same goal, especially after a successful redemption at the ESL Championship 2018 where they finished with a 19.3 average and gained new energy and motivation.

AtomiX recently announced new plans for the 2019 season and added a commitment until the FAI World Meet 2020 in Tanay.

The AtomiX performance at the ESL Championship in Saarlouis included a 41-pointer for the Super Sequence in Round 6 (M,F,A,C,J) which naturally supported the new team record average.

It was an interesting and rare coincidence that another Super Sequence was drawn for the FAI World Meet 2018, where Airbus FSZ Saar had their own opportunity to boost the meet average. The 45-pointer in Round 6 (Q,M,F,C,N) beat the AtomiX score at the ESL Championship, while the Airbus meet average was still below previous results.

AtomiX actually finished with a higher meet average (19.3) in Saarlouis in September than Airbus (19.2) at the world meet in October, after a different Super Sequence for each team.

The new AtomiX plan for the next two years puts even more pressure on Airbus FSZ Saar. The German national champions are facing a serious make-over of the lineup, as Goeran Meyer and Joern Thiele don't continue next year. AtomiX members are not available for the open slots after announcing the new 2-year plan, and the 2019 season will become most challenging for the reigning 4-way champions.

AtomiX are going into the third year with the current lineup. Mark Zimmermann joined the three original members (Peter Ingenhaag, Andrea Kleinschmidt, Holger Sass) and videographer Lars Naeve in the inside center slot in 2017.

Former NMP PCH HayaBusa member Luc Verstrepen will continue as the AtomiX coach, and the goals are clear and simple: "The goal for 2019 is to win our nationals and with that qualify for the world meet 2020 in Tanay."

AtomiX will also try to defend the ESL Championship title in Belgium and travel to Arizona to attend the FAI World Cup 2019. The first AtomiX scores of 2019 will be posted at the German Indoor Nationals in March. The outdoor training will be held at GoJump Oceanside in California and at Skydive Hildesheim in Germany: "Especially with the support of GoJump Oceanside we will be able to make around 400 training jumps in 2019, weather depending in Germany of course..."