posted Sep 19th, 2019 - The 8-way competition of the USPA Nationals 2019 offers the insights that the Formation Skydiving fans have been waiting for.

The Russian 8-way team from Tanay is impressing opponents and audience with a 21+ performance on the very top of the leaderboard and ahead of Paraclete XP8 and Golden Knights both. XP8 had finished 19 points ahead of Tanay (316 - 297) at the FAI Indoor World Meet in April. The Russian 8-way team then trained hard for the outdoor competition and posted a 20.9 average at their national championship on Tanay home turf in July.

Now they are on the top of the leaderboard with a 21.3 average that coach Craig Girard expected the team to show in Raeford. He is competing with Arizona Airspeed at the same time. Tanay were four points ahead of XP8 after Round 7 at the end of the first competition day and claimed or tied six of the seven highscores.

XP8 is still well within striking distance, and the 4-point difference is not a secure lead. However, the Russian national team has delivered a solid and reliable performance and will probably not show any weaknesses. XP8 may have to pick up the pace to cut into the difference.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		13,16,20		C,B,M,D,1		N,Q,17,D		5,L,E,21		P,15,12		14,4,22		10,O,9		F,19,8		11,7,18		2,6,A				Total	Avg
1	Tanay 8	RU	20		23		23		19		26		21		17		-		-		-		-		149	21.3
2	Paraclete XP8	US	19	-1	24		22		19		24		20		17		-		-		-		-		145	20.7
3	Golden Knights	US	18	-1	23		17	-5	18	-1	24		19	-1	16		-		-		-		-		135	19.3
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	16	-2	21		21		17		18	-2	19	-1	16		-		-		-		-		128	18.3
5	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	9		13		12		12		13		9	-1	10		-		-		-		-		78	11.1
6	SDC Rhythm 9 XP	US	12		10	-2	9	-3	10	-1	11		12		10		-		-		-		-		74	10.6
7	Monster Mix	US	7	-4	10		9		9		9	-1	10	-1	9		-		-		-		-		63	9.0
8	Perris Riot!	US	9		7	-2	8		8		8	-1	9		9		-		-		-		-		58	8.3
9	Fusion XP	US	7		8	-1	8	-1	9	-1	9		10		6	-1	-		-		-		-		57	8.1
10	Lite 8	US	7		4	-2	6		6		4	-1	6	-1	6		-		-		-		-		39	5.6

8-way competition on Wednesday at Skydive Paraclete XP

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The Tanay team will continue their visit to the United States after the USPA Nationals and not return to Russia. They plan to travel to Arizona next and train in Eloy until the start of the FAI Outdoor World Cup. There they will have a re-match with the 8-way teams in the U.S. delegation who are on the current leaderboard, including XP8.

The U.S. Army team had a promising start and was only one point behind Paraclete XP8 in the first two rounds. Team captain Andrew Starr started with a different lineup than the new one he had at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship. Previous team captain Sean Sweeney and former 8-way member Jeshua Stahler were back in the lineup for Round 1 in Raeford.

The re-building of the brand-new lineup did not seem to bring the Golden Knights close enough to the expected XP8 performance and scoring level, and the start with a different mix of old and new members was promising in the first two rounds.

However, Round 3 caused another change. The Golden Knights lost five points due to penalties, instead of the first tie with XP8. Andrew Starr then decided to bring in alternate and Airspeed 4-way member Matt Davidson, as well. There was a 10-point difference between XP8 and Golden Knights after Round 7, which is most likely more than enough for XP8 to win the U.S. qualification.