posted Aug 23rd, 2019 - The USPA Nationals have always been a 1st Category event in international Formation Skydiving competition, even though it is a national championship. The winning teams in any event will most likely compete for FAI medals at the next international high-profile competition, and guest teams from other countries often visit to measure up with the best U.S. teams.

This year, and next month at Skydive Paraclete in Raeford, the reigning 4-way world champions from Belgium, NMP PCH HayaBusa, will try to finish once again on top of the USPA leaderboard, as they did two years ago in Perris, California. HayaBusa cannot compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup in Eloy in October, as their military commitment requires them to compete at the CISM World Championship 2019. The visit at the USPA Nationals is a great alternative to face the toughest opponent, Arizona Airspeed.

The Qatar Falcons 8-way team were using the same USPA opportunity for a definition of the current performance level a few times in the past, while they will use the German Nationals for the same purpose this year. Then they will compete at the world cup a month later on the U.S. west coast in Eloy. Last year, the Qatar Falcons finished in 3rd place at the USPA Nationals 2018 at Chicagoland Skydiving Center, after a previous 3rd place in 2017 at Skydive Perris. Then they won the first set of FAI medals for their country with the 3rd place at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia.

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USPA Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		8,B,6	P,3,C,M	1,18,Q	22,E,16	11,17,H	L,12,13	7,A,20	19,14,9	J,5,4	G,15,10	Total	Avg
1	XP8	US	17	20	19	17	14	13	17	14	21	17	169	16.9
2	Arizona Airspeedish	US	13	22	19	18	15	15	15	13	16	19	165	16.5
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	21	18	14	15	15	16	13	17	16	161	16.1
4	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	12	14	13	14	10	9	10	9	14	13	118	11.8
5	French Monsters	US	10	9	10	10	9	10	5	10	10	11	94	9.4
6	Blocksmiths XP	US	10	10	10	6	6	6	8	7	10	7	80	8.0

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After the impressive achievements of the Qatar Falcons in the past two years, it may be difficult to imagine that it would be very difficult for a world-class 8-way team to copy the previous 3rd place finishes at the USPA Nationals next month. Golden Knights and the Belgian Fly-In Machine 44 took the first two places on USPA's 8-way leaderboard in 2017, while the Qatar Falcons were able to outscore Arizona Airspeed's 8-way pickup team.

They were able to copy the 3rd place finish last year only due to the absence of the Golden Knights who had to abandon the national championships due to a hurricane threat at their headquarters in North Carolina. Airspeed's 8-way lineup was almost two average points stronger compared to 2017 and left the Qatar Falcons behind by four points.

The upcoming 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals will probably feature the highest performance and scoring level in the history of the USPA Nationals, and in the battle for the one 8-way slot in the U.S. delegation for the next FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving. The Golden Knights will be back, and the defending 8-way USPA champions of Paraclete XP8, reigning indoor world champions, will be facing a U.S. Army team that has been "eating, breathing and dreaming 8-way this year".

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Paraclete XP8 - Arizona Airspeedish - Qatar Falcons at the USPA Nationals 2018

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However, it's not only the duel of the two U.S. 8-way top contenders who would be in the way of the Qatar Falcons or any other 8-way team in the world to a TOP 3 spot on the USPA 8-way leaderboard. Arizona Airspeed has also put together a trained lineup that is probably as strong as any other previous 8-way team in the team's 8-way history.

Airspeed's 8-way lineups at USPA Nationals are usually making a few warm-up jumps after the conclusion of the 4-way competition and before Round 1 in 8-way Open. It is different this year, where the 8-way team has completed a good number of training jumps before traveling to Raeford.

The combination of 8-way knowledge and experience and talent in this year's lineup is unprecedented and will probably even impress Paraclete XP8 and Golden Knights. Eliana Rodriguez, Dan BC, Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, Kurt Isenbarger, Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Nick Grillet will score for Airspeed 8, with David French on camera. Last year's Airspeedish member Ben Liston is the alternate.

Five previous 8-way world champions (Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, Kurt Isenbarger) are forwarding their expertise to the two members of the current Airspeed 4-way team (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine), and there will probably be a lot of pressure on Nick Grillet who completes this year's lineup. It would be a great accomplishment for the Qatar Falcons if they were able to just finish within the TOP 3 in Raeford, while they will most likely be on the very top of the German leaderboard as a guest team next week...