posted Nov 4th, 2018 - The three national teams in 4-way Junior from Canada (Air Devils), France (Aerokart Ak'demie) and Czech Republic (HF Cubs) have known each other since FAI/IPC introduced the event at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016. In fact, they started with 4-way training and competition already a few years earlier.

The Air Devils won the first of the three FAI events in Poland, where they competed against two different French teams and took the gold medals by four points. The Aerokart Ak'demie 1 team placed 2nd for France, Aerokart Ak'demie 2 finished in 4th place, and the third French team, Ak'demie 3, was in 6th place.

The HF Junior Cubs were not in medal contention in 2016 and ended up behind two of the three French teams in 5th place. The total of eight teams was the highest participation in 4-way Junior at the first official FAI/IPC competition in this category.

A year later, the 4-way Junior teams competed for the first world championship title in Montreal on home turf for the Air Devils. Only four teams traveled to Canada, and the Air Devils lost the second confrontation with the best French team by 22 points.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Junior		6,22	21,P,B	4,20	14,M,N	K,15,C	19,L,7	O,2,H	J,A,18	Total	Avg
1	AirDevils	CA	16(-1)	22	16	24	21(-1)	21	22	21	163	20.4
2	Aerokart Ak'demie 1	FR	17	21(-2)	17	21	23(-1)	18(-2)	21(-2)	21	159	19.9
3	Tunnel Vision	CA	16(-1)	23	13(-2)	21(-1)	20(-1)	17(-4)	22	21	153	19.1
4	Aerokart Ak'demie 2	FR	16(-1)	24	17	14(-2)	22	19	19	18(-1)	149	18.6
5	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	15	18(-3)	13	17	18	16	14(-3)	19	130	16.3
6	Aerokart Ak'demie 3	FR	13	18	12(-1)	14(-1)	14(-2)	15	16	15	117	14.6
7	VossVind Girls	NO	11(-2)	15(-1)	11	15	13(-1)	15	16(-1)	13	109	13.6
8	HF Junior Flies	CZ	12(-1)	10(-5)	8(-2)	13	11	10(-1)	11(-3)	9(-2)	84	10.5

The French national junior team in Montreal was not the same as in 2016. The NSL News has explained in earlier updates that the Aerokart Ak'demie 2 lineup upset the Ak'demie 1 lineup at the French Indoor Nationals 2017 and earned the trip to Canada where they won the first indoor world meet gold medals.

Only one team competes per nation at a world championship, and the HF Cubs won the first set of 4-way Junior bronze medals for the Czech Republic. The HF Chicks added more bronze medals to the Czech collection at the same event in 4-way Women.

The same three 4-way Junior medal winners were back a year later in Bahrain last month. Aerokart's Ak'demie 2 with the same lineup was still the best 4-way junior team in France after the French Indoor Nationals 2018, where they placed 8th on the AAA Class leaderboard. The Ak'demie 3 lineup won the AA Class competition.

Air Devils came to Bahrain with one new team member (Hope Hadfield), and the HF Cubs had one new indoor flyer in their rotating lineup, as well (Sabina Cioleková). The second French team in Bahrain, Aerokart Ak'demie 3, has been training and competing with the same lineup since 2016.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Junior		F,7,L	19,A,K	11,N,E	22,H,9	Q,M,J,8	14,6	B,15,P	O,C,18	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart Ak'demie 2	FR	36(-3)	29(-1)	27	26	34	22	33	23(-1)	230	28.8
2	Air Devils	CA	32	29	26	23(-1)	28(-1)	22	22(-4)	26	208	26.0
3	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	34(-2)	17(-6)	19	19	24(-2)	18	28	22(-1)	181	22.6
4	Skyblockers Singapore	SG	29(-2)	24(-1)	10(-11)	19(-3)	19(-5)	19	21(-2)	22	163	20.4

All four junior teams finished with new team record averages in Bahrain, and the HF Cubs were the most improved team, as the NSL News reported on 31 October 2018. The Air Devils took back their world cup title from France, while the same three medal winners of 2017 have moved much closer together, due to the impressive progression of the HF Cubs.

Air Devils and Aerokart Ak'demie 2 were actually still tied in 1st place when the NSL News pointed out on 26 October 2018 that the 4-way Junior leaderboard did not show one round without a point deduction after Round 3 at the end of the first day.

The first clean round was posted by Aerokart Ak'demie 3 in Round 4, while the three medal winners added more red marks to their score sheets.

The Air Devils eventually reacted best to the penalty situation and cleaned up the performance beginning in Round 5. The Canadian juniors lost only one more point in the second half of the meet, which became one of the winning factors in the competition with the French team in 2nd place. Ak'demie 2 lost a total of 23 points and the HF Cubs even more with 25 deductions. Air Devils won gold with a total loss of only 10 points.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Junior		20,4		14,11		H,2,8		22,P,6		A,15,Q		N,E,M,F		G,K,O,J		19,9		Total	Avg
1	Air Devils	CA	21	-1	18	-2	21	-2	23	-4	34		52		45		27	-1	241	30.1
2	France Aerokart	FR	21	-2	19	-2	20	-4	21	-5	34		44	-4	43	-3	23	-3	225	28.1
3	HF Cubs	CZ	18	-3	14	-5	20	-2	22	-3	24	-5	54	-3	40	-2	26	-2	218	27.3
4	France Aerokart B	FR	16	-1	14	-3	17	-1	20		20	-2	30	-6	27	-6	21	-1	165	20.6