posted May 16th, 2020 - Gary Smith and Joey Jones evaluated the current situation in the middle of the corona virus crisis in a Coaches Corner conversation on April 29th, and the NSL News followed up with an outdoor overview on May 6th.

The overview of the current situation in 4-way indoor competition is based on the results of the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019, where four of the Top 5 outdoor teams at the world meet in Australia 2018 represented their countries, as well. In fact, NMP PCH HayaBusa, Arizona Airspeed, Qatar Tigers and Echochamber competed with exactly the same lineups at both events and finished in the same ranking order. However, the placings were different at the indoor world meet, and only NMP PCH HayaBusa (1st) and Qatar Tigers (4th) finished in the same positions in Australia and again at Weembi Lille.

Two more national indoor teams placed between the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions and Echochamber, Airheads from Switzerland and Russia's Black Cat, while Weembi High Rollers took the 2nd place away from Arizona Airspeed half a year after the outdoor world meet in October 2018.

The 2021 season will bring both world meets to the respective national teams, indoors at the Hurricane Factory in Slovakia in April, outdoors in August in Tanay, Russia. This NSL News overview provides more details of the indoor situation.

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FAI Indoor World Meet 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 7		M,K,D,14		Q,4,5		P,E,9,15		3,N,G,2		6,1,8		F,12,11		13,22,J		H,L,B,18		O,20,A,17		21,7,19		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	39		36		42		35		27		32		29		42	-1	38		31		351	35.1
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	38	-2	33	-1	44		32	-1	27		29	-1	26	-2	47		37		31		344	34.4
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	39		33		40		30		27		29		24	-3	39		33		27		321	32.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	34		30	-2	36		29		22	-3	27	-1	28		36		32		28		302	30.2
5	Airheads	CH	35		28	-1	33	-2	29		25		27		24	-1	36		30		25	-1	292	29.2
6	Black Cat	RU	34		29		39	-1	29		25		22	-2	25	-1	36	-1	26	-3	22	-2	287	28.7
7	Echochamber	SE	34		27	-1	35		26	-1	22	-2	25		20	-5	35		26	-3	24	-1	274	27.4

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Belgium

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The indoor situation is probably much more challenging for NMP PCH HayaBusa compared to outdoor competition next year. The new lineup with Michele Silvi needs to get ready for both events, and the indoor opposition is probably even stronger.

The Belgian world champions have to deal with two different U.S. national teams in 2021, and indoor opponent Arizona Airspeed is in a very strong position. The new NMP PCH HayaBusa lineup has not even started with training yet. David Grauwels was still in his inside center slot at the team's last training camp in March at Skydive City.

The reigning world champions had started early with outdoor training in order to defend their title successfully at the FAI Mondial Tanay 2020. Any indoor training until then and the Wind Games were conducted with the same world-champion lineup, as well. The next outdoor world meet in Tanay was canceled and rescheduled after the completion of HayaBusa's training camp in Florida.

The only time that returning HayaBusa members Andy Grauwels, Dennis Praet and Jeroen Nollet have spent so far with their new team member was at the tryouts early last year. However, Dennis Praet said in earlier conversations that it is much easier to train for indoor competition, which should make it easier for the Belgians to get ready for the indoor world meet with Michele Silvi.

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France

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There is a big question-mark behind the French indoor team for the world meet in Slovakia. A comeback of Weembi High Rollers, silver medalist at Weembi Lille in April 2019, would put enormous pressure on NMP PCH HayaBusa. As the U.S. delegation in 2021, France had two different national teams in 4-way Open at the previous indoor and outdoor world meets.

National coach Mathieu Bernier directed all resources for the FAI Mondial Tanay 2020 towards the new 8-way team, and it was a successful move last year. The new French 8-way team impressed with the 2nd place at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019, where the national team in 4-way Women still won the gold medals.

It is highly unlikely that the same French 4-way Open Class team of 2019, which is the other half of the 8-way lineup, will also compete for France at the indoor world meet, if Mathieu Bernier and the French federation apply the same plan for 2021 as it was for 2020.

Weembi High Rollers Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis are an important part of the French 8-way outdoor team and outdoor world champions in 4-way Women. It is very questionable whether Mathieu Bernier would agree to triple-duties (8-way and 4-way Women outdoor, 4-way Open indoor) for Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis.

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United States

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The situation in Belgium and France could make the U.S. national indoor team in 4-way Open the top favorite in Slovakia next year. The U.S. delegation might have an unintended and unplanned advantage.

Arizona Airspeed's new lineup, with former Ranch 2nd Generation members Christopher Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall, have been in full training swing since November 2019. They finished with impressive results at the Wind Games and at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship, while NMP PCH HayaBusa had not started their training with Michele Silvi, and France did not even know who would compete at the next indoor world meet.

The new Airspeed lineup has added more indoor training ever since, as the NSL News recently reported, and the U.S. national indoor team will be many hours ahead of NMP PCH HayaBusa and even further ahead of any French indoor team in 4-way Open. The new lineup already won three rounds over HayaBusa's world-champion lineup and tied two more at the Wind Games. It seems almost more realistic that the new HayaBusa lineup will have to catch up with Airspeed when it comes to the restart of 4-way indoor and outdoor competition.

It is still not at all a free ride for Arizona Airspeed. As NMP PCH HayaBusa, Airspeed is an indoor and outdoor team, and Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine are Airspeed XP8 members at the same time. Airspeed's 4-way team want to win the national championships in 2020 and 2021, and Airspeed XP8 gold medals in Tanay next year have highest priority.

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Qatar

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The Tigers have placed 4th at both previous world meets, outdoors in Australia, and indoors at Weembi Lille in 2019. It is only natural that the team and coach Gary Smith are now aiming at a set of FAI medals next year.

However, it will be just as difficult for the Qatar Tigers to win medals in both events as it is for NMP PCH HayaBusa to defend all of their their gold medals successfully. The two world meets are separated by only four months, and Gary Smith and the Tigers may have to decide which event offers them the better chances to step up onto either podium.

Indoor training has been an important tool for outdoor competition for many years by now, and all top teams use windtunnel training to become better outdoor teams. However, the path to either FAI indoor or outdoor medals is challenging enough in only one event, and tunnel time as a part of 4-way training may not be enough any longer to win FAI indoor medals.

Qatar coach Gary Smith has his exceptional double-gold experiences with NMP PCH HayaBusa. However, a well trained and specialized indoor team, such as Weembi High Rollers, could always interfere without too much time investment, while it is much more challenging to get to the medal level in 4-way outdoor competition. The Qatar Tigers would probably be better off focusing primarily on the FAI Mondial Tanay 2020 next year.

Switzerland, Russia and Sweden could then have a chance to move up the indoor rankings if Qatar Tigers neglect indoor competition until the outdoor world meet.