posted Mar 16th, 2019 - The AAA Class field for the World Challenge 2019 keeps shaping up, and the new NSL Power Rankings provide the usual overview at this point in time.

The number of AAA Class teams has almost arrived at last year's number (30 - 35), and there are still three weeks left to sign up for the biggest 4-way competition in the world, which is also a perfect warm-up event for national indoor 4-way teams who will compete for their countries at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2019.

All Top 10 teams of last year's World Challenge will be back in Bedford, with one exception. Weembi High Rollers offer the 2nd place to another team, and they will take on NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed shortly after the World Challenge at the FAI event in Lille.

However, Weembi Lille co-owner and world meet host Julien Degen will still visit Bedford and compete with a new lineup of Weembi Legion, called the Weembi Unicorns this time. Alessandra De Rango, Clementine Le Bohec and Weembi High Roller Julien Degen competed together for Weembi Legion at three meets last year. This time it is Amnesya member Michele Silvi who is taking the 4th slot for Weembi Unicorns. Clementine Le Bohec (Weembi Nephtys), Julien Degen (Weembi High Rollers) and Michele Silvi (Amnesya) will then compete for their own teams at the indoor world meet.

World Challenge 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	IFS-Moscow	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Weembi Unicorns	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Airheads	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	ACM Weembi	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Odin Parachute Systems	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Gavroche Weembi	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Chimera	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	Russian Thunder	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Tenanine	MR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17	Jazz Republic	ZA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	Eros	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Ayro	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	Aladeen	HU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21	Alakran	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
22	Blackjack	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
23	Stardust	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
24	Tempo	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
25	Pajama Pumas	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
26	FlyPonots	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
27	Koloncok	HU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
28	Falco	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
29	Draconis	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
30	Nova	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

New registrations for the World Challenge 2019 in yellow

Weembi Legion/Unicorns have not competed yet at a World Challenge, and the strong lineup can be expected to place within the Top 10 at the first visit. The French/Italian combination will probably outscore the three other French teams in the AAA Class field. Two teams from Italy are registered for the AA Class competition, one for the Rookie Class.

Odin Parachute Systems and Gavroche Weembi just posted their latest scores at the French Indoor Nationals, where Odin won the silver medals with another impressive performance. Jérémie Rollett, Bruno Périn and Thomas Perrin-Gachadoat have not registered their 4th member yet.

Original team member and multiple 8-way world champion Clement Martin Saint Leon has not missed a Gavroche competition since 2008, and he could probably help his three French 8-way world champion team mates to offer Odin a good competition. However, the very strong AAA Class field will make it difficult for both teams to make the Top 10 this year.

World Challenge 2018 - Top 10			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	5,Q,21	15,16,O	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	31	25	25	38	62	32	47	26	31	32	349	34.9
2	Weembi Mix MF	FR	29	25	24	40	59	33	45	27	32	31	345	34.5
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	24	23	35	59	26	43	24	33	28	324	32.4
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	21	23	33	50	26	40	23	29	24	295	29.5
5	ACM Weembi	UK	24	21	21	29	48	21	36	21	25	23	269	26.9
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	23	17	17	31	46	25	35	21	26	26	267	26.7
7	ISR FireFlash	BE	23	17	20	28	45	27	35	21	25	24	265	26.5
8	Chimera	UK	23	21	20	26	44	24	31	21	24	24	258	25.8
9	NFTO	UK	21	19	19	29	42	23	31	19	22	19	244	24.4
10	Odin Parachute System	FR	22	19	18	26	44	23	30	19	23	-	224	24.9

IFS-Moscow is back with a different lineup to defend last year's 4th place. Tanay 8-way member Dmitry Samokhval is not available for the Russian indoor world class team this time. Original members Egor Gusev, Yury Drozdov and Dmitry Komkov have probably found an adequate substitute though.

Alena Chistova is one of the most experienced Russian 4-way competitors. Her last team was Tanay Wolves who competed for Russia in 4-way Open at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia. However, IFS-Moscow will be challenged by several teams for one of the AAA Class top spots.

It will be difficult enough for the Russian team to repeat last year's 4th place finish. SDC Rhythm XP is back in Bedford after a 1-year break, and the U.S. team is stronger than ever after Doug Barron's successful recovery from injury. The exciting battle between Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019 will be continued at the World Challenge, and both teams will be aiming at medal positions in Bedford. IFS-Moscow will also have to deal with the Qatar Tigers, who have not visited Bedford since 2016 and will be in medal contention, as well, probably not only in Bedford...