posted May 28th, 2020 - The USPA Nationals are always a perfect opportunity to meet at least the best Formation Skydiving competitors in the United States.

Often additional world-class teams from other countries visit to get highly valuable competition experiences, as NMP PCH HayaBusa and Russia's 8-way team from Tanay did last time at the USPA Nationals 2019.

The best U.S. competitors are most likely reigning or former world champions at the same time, as the United States is the leading Formation Skydiving nation in the world.

In fact, U.S. teams have won 26 sets of world championship gold medals in Formation Skydiving outdoor competition (4-way Open, 8-way Open, 4-way Women, 4-way VFS) since 1985.

France is in 2nd place with 17 gold medals in the same time period. Belgium is now in 3rd place with NMP PCH HayaBusa's three sets of consecutive gold medals, tied with Great Britain's three gold medals in 4-way Women (2003 - 2006 - 2008). Russia has won two times in 8-way (2001 - 2003).

The NSL News used last year's opportunity for a special feature and collected statements from as many U.S. top competitors as possible. They all had a similar message for the Formation Skydiving world: Go compete as much as you can.

Kurt Isenbarger, Dan BC, Jennifer Davidson, Matt Davidson, Eric Heinsheimer, Brian Krause, John D'Annunzio, Kirk Verner, Mark Kirkby, Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard all had their own words for the same conclusion and shared their incredible amount of experiences from many different angles.

FAI gold medal winners since 1985

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This group of U.S. competitors alone collected at least 32 gold medals as individuals and probably more than half of the U.S. sets since 1985. Event host John D'Annunzio was the only competitor in the group who has not yet won a world championship outdoor title.

Nevertheless, he is a reigning indoor world champion after the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 and plans to win his first outdoor title next year with Airspeed XP8.

All of the reigning and former U.S. world champions who provided their insights for the NSL News feature story are still active and competed at the USPA Nationals 2019 and/or at the FAI Outdoor World Cup last year.

There were more world champions at Skydive Paraclete XP in September last year, even more from the United States. Arizona Airspeed's Niklas Hemlin commented the outcome of the event for the NSL News later, together with his team mate Mikhail Markine.

Niklas Hemlin was in Airspeed's world champion lineup of Dubai 2012, together with Mark Kirkby. SDC Rhythm XP's JaNette Lefkowitz was Jennifer Davidson's team mate when the Golden Knights won the 4-way Women competition in 2016.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		179	17.9
8	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		156	15.6
9	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		150	15.0
10	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	142	14.2
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	-1	17	-1	19		201	20.1
2	XP8	US	19	-1	24		22		19		24		20		17		16	-1	17	-1	19		197	19.7
3	Golden Knights	US	18	-1	23		17	-5	18	-1	24		19	-1	16		17		18	-1	19		189	18.9
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	16	-2	21		21		17		18	-2	19	-1	16		15		15	-2	16		174	17.4
5	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	9		13		12		12		13		9	-1	10		11		8	-2	10		107	10.7
6	SDC Rhythm 9 XP	US	12		10	-2	9	-3	10	-1	11		12		10		9		11		10		104	10.4
7	Monster Mix	US	7	-4	10		9		9		9	-1	10	-1	9		9		8		9		89	8.9
8	Perris Riot!	US	9		7	-2	8		8		8	-1	9		9		9		9		7	-1	83	8.3
9	Fusion XP	US	7		8	-1	8	-1	9	-1	9		10		6	-1	7		7	-2	9		80	8.0
10	Lite 8	US	7		4	-2	6		6		4	-1	6	-1	6		4		5		7		55	5.5

Teams with world champions in the lineup in yellow

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Then there were the international visitors from Belgium and Russia who own their own world championship titles. The complete NMP PCH HayaBusa lineup at the USPA Nationals 2019 won gold in 2016 and 2018. Dennis Praet, David and Andy Grauwels completed a triple-gold in Australia 2018, after their first world championship title in Prostejov 2014.

Five members of Russia's Tanay 8-way team are 8-way world champions of 2001 and/or 2003. The NSL News will continue with the topic at upcoming events and ask the other world champions and top competitors why they are competing frequently.

The video of the statements by the U.S. world champions at the national championships last year is one of the most interesting ones in the NSL TV archives, even though the time for each person was limited. There are so many reasons for attending meets regularly, and different angles explain the benefits and fun of competition. It was difficult to cover everything with such short statements.

However, the idea came across clearly, and Craig Girard summed it all up with the final word of this video clip: "It takes more than once competition to be a good competitor."