posted Oct 17th, 2019 - The U.S. delegation at the FAI Outdoor World Cup took full advantage of the world cup rules, which allow registration of up to four teams per event, and the NSL News pointed out the U.S. sweep in 4-way Open on October 14th.

There were also four U.S. 8-way teams at Skydive Arizona last week. They could not copy the unique success of the 4-way teams (Arizona Airspeed - SDC Rhythm XP - Airspeed Odyssey - Defiance). In fact, the visitors from other countries dominated the 8-way competition, with Russia's national team in 1st and France in 2nd place.

Paraclete XP8 took the bronze medals, and Airspeedish placed 4th. Monster and Amphibious Attack Tigers could leave only the British team Groomed behind and were not able to keep up with the well trained German national 8-way team, Airbus. The Qatar Falcons were out of reach for the two U.S. teams, as well as for the Germans.

The U.S. delegation could have had a stronger showing near the top of the leaderboard if the Golden Knights had attended the world cup, too. The U.S. Army team was not eligible, according to the USPA qualification rules, after missing the national championship in 2018.

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FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		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	Tanay 8	RU	19		26		18		20		23		21	-1	20		24		20		16		207	20.7
2	France	FR	20		24		18		19	-1	21		22	-1	19		23		19		17		202	20.2
3	Paraclete XP8	US	21	-1	24	-1	16	-1	18		21		20	-2	19		22	-1	19		18		198	19.8
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	18		21		16		18		16	-3	21	-1	17		17	-1	16		14	-1	174	17.4
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	-1	20	-1	14	-1	13	-3	17	-1	12	-5	15		19		15		14		155	15.5
6	Airbus	DE	14	-1	15		12		15		15	-1	15		12	-1	15		14	-1	12		139	13.9
7	Monster	US	12		13	-1	10	-1	12		14		13		12		15		11	-1	10		122	12.2
8	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	11		16		10		11		9	-3	13	-1	14		10	-1	13		11		118	11.8
9	Groomed	UK	7	-2	9		8	-1	9		10		7		8	-1	10		13		7		88	8.8

Paraclete XP8 - Arizona Airspeedish - Monster - Amphinious Attack Tigers at the FAI World Cup 2019 - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/IPC/OmniSkore!HD

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The Golden Knights did not get their re-match with Paraclete XP8, as Arizona Airspeed had it in 4-way Open.

Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP both competed at the USPA Nationals 2018, and again last month at Skydive Paraclete. Rhythm won the U.S. 4-way title, and Airspeed had the opportunity for redemption at the world cup.

The Golden Knights finished only eight points behind XP8 in September and became stronger towards the end of the competition. In fact, they had the highest total for the three rounds on the second meet day and would have been in medal contention at the world cup, together with XP8.

SDC Rhythm 9 XP was in a similar situation. The 8-way team placed 4th at this year's USPA Nationals and would have qualified for a world cup slot. They outscored Monster, who eventually competed in Eloy after qualifying at last year's national championship.

SDC Rhythm 9 XP and Monster found their own way how to deal with the situation and merged the two lineups as much as the USPA rules allow. Coach Doug Barron, Brian Ball, Greg Oldendick joined the Monster lineup for the world cup.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	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	16	17	19	201	20.1
2	XP8	US	19	24	22	19	24	20	17	16	17	19	197	19.7
3	Golden Knights	US	18	23	17	18	24	19	16	17	18	19	189	18.9
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	16	21	21	17	18	19	16	15	15	16	174	17.4
5	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	9	13	12	12	13	9	10	11	8	10	107	10.7
6	SDC Rhythm 9 XP	US	12	10	9	10	11	12	10	9	11	10	104	10.4
7	Monster Mix	US	7	10	9	9	9	10	9	9	8	9	89	8.9
8	Perris Riot!	US	9	7	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	7	83	8.3
9	Fusion XP	US	7	8	8	9	9	10	6	7	7	9	80	8.0
10	Lite 8	US	7	4	6	6	4	6	6	4	5	7	55	5.5

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Monster 2018 members Louis French, James Hall, Mario Mauro, Jack Ronalter and Brian Festi on camera provided the eligible foundation for the Monster team at the world cup, and Lauren Byrd completed the lineup.

Monster had finished behind the Amphibious Attack Tigers in 2018 and 2019, and they also got their re-match with the new and stronger lineup. Amphibious Attack Tigers had won by 24 points in 2018 and by 18 points at this year's USPA Nationals. This time, the new Monster lineup at the world cup won the U.S. duel by four points (122 - 118).

The 10.0 average at the USPA Nationals 2013 was Monster's highest result so far, and the 12.2 last week is the new team record number. Amphibious Attack Tigers finished with a higher average than at the USP Nationals in September, as well. However, the team is usually on a higher scoring level, and Monster found a weak AAT spot at the world cup.

The 2020 season has the world meet only for the national teams on the meet schedule. The next world cup with four teams per nation will take place in 2021.