posted Mar 21st, 2019 - The recent NSL News article that covered the situation of the Golden Knights naturally related also to the team that won the 8-way competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019 and will represent the United States at the FAI Indoor World Meet, Paraclete XP8.

The 8-way competition at Weembi Lille is only a guest and test event, and the winner will not officially be an indoor world champion. FAI/IPC has sanctioned the 8-way competition as the "FS 8-way Challenge": "In addition to the World Indoor Skydiving Championship 2019, the organizer has been authorized to organize a 'FS 8-way Challenge' with the intent to test the format. This event will follow FAI/IPC rules, however the title of World Champion will not be awarded."

The rules are not exactly the same as for usual outdoor 8-way competition though. The working time of 50 seconds is identical, while the dive pool has similar limitations as at Paraclete XP's 8-way competition. Blocks 14 and 20 are completely removed from the draw, and Block 13 requires that only the end solo fliers turn 360 degrees. The front piece of Block 21 and the end fliers of the compressed accordions in Block 17 do not turn. Finally, the tails of the Crossbow (Random Formation K) are only required to have one grip. The 50-second working time begins when the teams break a default formation at the beginning of each sequence.

The winner of the competition will be an unofficial 8-way world champion and the official winner of the FS 8-way Challenge. Six countries have registered teams for the event, including Paraclete XP8 for the U.S. delegation.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 - NSL Power Rankings			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	FS 8-way Challenge		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Tanay	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	MicroClim8	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Flyspot Chicks	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Unofficial or not, fact is that it will not be the Golden Knights competing for the U.S. delegation in 8-way at an FAI event, and that has not happened since 2010.

On the other side, in the Paraclete XP8 lineup, the FAI event will feature a very special occasion, with a world meet comeback for one of the longest standing 4-way and 8-way competitors, Kirk Verner.

He is one of the original Arizona Airspeed members who won the FAI 4-way world championship gold medals in 1995 and 1997. Then he added 8-way gold in 1999, while trying to win the third consecutive 4-way gold medal with the same Airspeed 4-way lineup. It turned out to be only 4-way silver in 1999, six points behind France.

Two FAI 8-way silver medals followed in 2001 and 2003 before Arizona Airspeed won again in 2004. It was Kirk Verner's fourth FAI world championship gold medal, two in 4-way and two in 8-way.

He added one more FAI 8-way silver medal with Airspeed in 2006 before moving to North Carolina and work for Paraclete XP.

More than a decade later, Kirk Verner is now coming back for his next visit to an FAI world meet.

FAI Woirld Meet 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		15,7,13	B,12,E,3	20,K,11	23,H,J	F,2,8	D,6,P,22	N,A,M,G,16	21,L,14	10,C,4	1,9,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	25	20	20	16	22	25	19	21	21	211	21.1
2	Russia	RU	20	23	20	23	14	19	26	19	22	23	209	20.9
3	Maubeuge	FR	15	21	22	23	13	21	26	19	20	20	200	20.0
4	Australia	AU	15	18	12	10	12	16	20	14	14	16	147	14.7
5	Japan	JP	12	12	11	11	11	12	14	13	10	13	119	11.9
6	Germany	DE	13	13	12	12	9	10	15	10	11	10	115	11.5

The winner of the 8-way competition at the FAI Indoor World Meet will not own the official title of a world champion; however, the event will not be the end of the journey for Kirk Verner's and John D'Annunzio's new Paraclete XP8 team.

The USPA Nationals is the team's goal for the 2019 season, and they leave no doubt that they plan to win the 8-way competition. XP8 has a busy outdoor training schedule, and the team has a significant head start over the Golden Knights.

This means that there is a very realistic chance that Kirk Verner might compete again at an outdoor world championship in Tanay 2020, then for FAI's official world champion title. Any U.S. 8-way team has always been competing for gold medals at world championships and world cups, and Paraclete XP8 would most likely follow this pattern, even though there will be tough opponents, with the new French 8-way team, Russia's Tanay team on home turf, and the Qatar Falcons, too.

Kirk Verner could win his next FAI gold medal in Tanay 2020, 25 years after his first Airspeed 4-way gold medal in 1995. However, XP8 have to win the USPA Nationals first, before traveling to Russia a year later, and the Golden Knights will eat, breathe and dream 8-way every day until Round 1 in Raeford...