posted Oct 15th, 2019 - One of the major components of Mathieu Bernier's master plan to win two sets of FAI gold medals next year in Tanay has been his national team in 4-way Women.

He used the time after last year's outdoor world meet in Australia and the beginning of the following indoor competition season to create this challenging master plan how France could get the most out of the current situation after missing the 8-way competition in Australia.

He announced his plan in January this year, and the NSL News has covered the new "French Mission Impossible" with several updates ever since.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier used the indoor winter season to observe the progress of the players in his master plan before they eventually came together with their new 8-way lineup and started with outdoor training and competition in May.

All four members of the 4-way Women lineup competed in different 4-way and 8-way teams throughout the indoor winter season, and their four male future 8-way team mates trained and competed with Martial Ferre's national 8-way indoor team, together with new French Weembi Girls member Gaelle Giesen.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	29	-1	20		24		22		25		56	-1	23		18	-2	22		18	-1	257	25.7
2	NFTO	UK	20	-3	15		22	-1	19		18		38	-2	18		17		19		16		202	20.2
3	Team X	SE	17	-3	10	-3	18		16		14		36	-3	15	-3	13		18		12	-1	169	16.9
4	Phoenix XP	US	17	-2	12		17		14		15	-1	37		16	-1	12	-2	14	-2	13		167	16.7
4	Boomerang Betty	AU	19	-1	11	-1	18		14		15		32	-2	15		13		17		13		167	16.7
6	Fuzion Voltige	CA	17	-1	9	-2	18		14		15	-1	34	-2	14	-2	13	-2	14	-2	13		161	16.1
7	Skynamite	DE	19		12		16	-1	14		14	-1	27	-1	13	-3	12	-1	15		12	-1	154	15.4

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Mathieu Bernier was convinced of his own plan by the end of the indoor season and followed through with the outdoor plans. He did not get the perfect start into the project, as the scoring level of the three 4-way Women world champions (Sophia Pecout, Christine Malnis, Clementine Le Bohec) and new member Gaelle Giesen dropped to the level where NFTO, their main challenger from Great Britain, had finished at the end of the 2018 outdoor season.

The two 20.4 averages in July were over five average points below their world championship level (25.7) with Pamela Lissajoux in Australia. NFTO had won the silver medals at the world meet with a 20.2 average.

However, Mathieu Bernier knew more about his 4-way Women team than what the actual scores and meet videos were showing. He was still convinced that his master plan had a chance and continued as planned. The new 8-way team received the major share of the outdoor training, and the two 4-way lineups had to deal with what was left.

French Weembi Girls and NFTO both had personnel changes, as Kate Lindsley replaced Catherine Anderson in the point slot for NFTO. Eventually, both teams started the 2019 outdoor season at a lower level than in Australia 2018.

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FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		13,11,16		P,22,4		O,7,21		9,20,G		18,15,L		K,10,3		6,14,C		1,M,A,17		F,D,Q,8		2,5,E		Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	17		19		25		20		20		19		20		23		25	-1	21		209	20.9
2	NFTO	UK	17		17		23		19	-1	17		17		19		21		23	-1	20		193	19.3
3	Phoenix XP	US	13		13		17		14		13		12	-1	14		17		18	-1	14		145	14.5
4	Skynamite	DE	13		12		18		16		11	-2	13		13		15	-1	16	-3	16		143	14.3
5	Fly Girls	US	11		11	-1	15	-1	14		11		12		13		14	-1	16		12		129	12.9
6	Victorious Secret	US	9		11	-1	14		10	-2	11		11		12		16	-1	14		14		122	12.2
7	Alola	UK	9	-1	10	-2	13		10	-1	9	-1	9	-1	9	-1	12	-1	16		11		108	10.8

French Weembi Girls - NFTO - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/IPC/OmniSkore!HD

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The intensive 8-way training for the new French team turned out to be very successful, as the results at the FAI Outdoor World Cup were showing. Mathieu Bernier was very pleased with the performance, as he confirmed during the NSL Live Talk on October 13th.

The French 8-way team has established a new presence at the world's top level after half a year of training with the new lineup.

Mathieu Bernier still noticed during the summer training that the 4-way Women team might need a few extra jumps to get back to the performance level of the 2018 lineup. The balance between 4-way and 8-way training was slightly changed, and the results could not have been much better. The 8-way team has a very promising starting point, and the French Weembi Girls generated a 16-point distance after the ten rounds at Skydive Arizona last week.

There is still a lot of work waiting for Mathieu Bernier. The 8-way opponents from Russia and the United States are on highest alert after the French 8-way performance, and NFTO will surely come back to the previous outdoor scoring level and beyond. For now, most of the teams will go back to indoor training before the next serious outdoor meet test is scheduled for March next year, the Shamrock Showdown 2020.