posted Sep 15th, 2020 - It was apparently only a matter of time when the Austrian 4-way team Black Mantis would take the country's top position. It was after the Austrian Outdoor Nationals 2019 when the Austrian 4-way champions of the past decades, combined in Final Fire, realized that there was serious competition growing.

Final Fire were actually excited to see that a worthy domestic opponent was getting ready to create a more competitive situation in Austria. In fact, they encouraged and supported Black Mantis in their efforts to get to the level where both teams could battle for the top spot. The NSL News story on 3 October 2019 provided more details of the background and history of 4-way competition in Austria.

The final rise of Black Mantis to the top spot in Austria began with indoor competition and an impressive 22.0 average at the Wind Games this year. The team was well prepared after working with top coaches like David Grauwels, Dennis Praet and Roy Janssen.

Final Fire is an outdoor team and did not even compete at the Austrian Indoor Nationals 2020. Black Mantis won their second national 4-way title with 24.0 at the indoor competition a month after the Wind Games and planned to compete for Austria at the next indoor world meet or world cup.

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Austrian Indoor Nationals 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		11,8,13		F,22,16		21,3,1		10,D,15		L,M,C,9		12,2,G		J,O,Q,A,14		18,6,N		P,B,7,H		17,20,K		Total	Avg
1	Windabona Black Mantis	AT	18		22		17	-2	21		42	-2	18		29		18	-2	34	-2	21		240	24.0
2	Lucky Boys	HU	15	-2	20	-2	17	-1	17		32		17		29		19	-1	22	-5	18		206	20.6
3	SkyRaiders	AT	13	-2	20		17		16		35	-1	9	-3	29		21		27	-2	15	-3	202	20.2
4	HSV Red Bull AerodynamiX	AT	10		16		13		14		19		13		23		13		14		14		149	14.9
5	UPCS Team Restmüll	AT	12		12		9		15		19		11		22		15		20		11		146	14.6
6	UPCS Fliegende Fetzen	AT	5		8		8		4		11		7		10		5		7		7		72	7.2

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Black Mantis at the Austrian Indoor Nationals 2020

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Next step was the much more challenging task of dethroning the national outdoor champions of Final Fire. Coach Dennis Praet, NMP PCH HayaBusa's point, could not help the team at the competition site, due to the corona virus travel restrictions and implications.

Black Mantis were planning to use the Paranodon Cup in Illertissen, Germany, as a warm-up opportunity. The timing seemed to be perfect, as the event was scheduled two weeks before Austria's national championships. It was a great opportunity, as two German 4-way teams (Airbus, NeVa) would be competitive enough to create a pressure situation that Black Mantis would face two weeks later.

However, the weather did not cooperate very well in Germany. Only two rounds were completed at Skydive Paranodon, and Black Mantis arrived at the Austrian competition site in Wels without much additional competition experience.

Final Fire's performance and scoring level was somehow predictable. Black Mantis knew that it would take the team's top performance to defeat the defending champions of the past decades, even though Final Fire was barely training any longer at all. In fact, even the few training jumps that Final Fire have been doing prior to the national championships year by year did not happen in 2020, also due to the corona virus crisis.

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Austrian Outdoor Nationals 2020		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open Class	10,P,F,16		15,11,B		C,J,12,N		6,K,20		Q,22,L,9		H,3,19		1,7,13		M,18,O,8		17,5,21		A,14,D,2		Total	Avg
1	Black Mantis	17		13		14	-2	14		14		13		14		15		14		9	-3	137	13.7
2	Final Fire	14	-1	10		17		14	-1	13	-2	10	-4	13	-1	13	-1	17		12	-2	133	13.3
3	Slow Motion	11	-1	8	-1	12	-1	11	-1	12	-1	12		8	-1	12		12		11		109	10.9
4	cAIRberus	10	-1	8		10		10		9		10		9		8	-2	8	-1	10		92	9.2
5	Familyair	6		6		7		6		6		5	-1	7		4	-1	5		5		57	5.7
6	Blue Wombats	1	-1	1	-1	5		5		4		5		6		5		2	-2	1	-1	35	3.5
7	Airvolution	2	-1	1		3		5		2		2	-3	5		4	-1	2	-1	2	-1	28	2.8

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Black Mantis at the Austrian Outdoor Nationals 2020

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It was foreseeable that Final Fire would not be able to pull off the 18+ and 17+ averages of the earlier years (2014 - 2017). The team's winning average was down to 16.4 in 2018 and 15.4 last year without any serious training efforts. Even less training this year would bring Final Fire possible within Black Mantis' striking distance.

It became even more difficult for Final Fire when the team's videographer was not available for the national championship event. They substituted on the camera slot and lost several points due to camera angles after the exit.

The competition still became a 10-round thriller, as Final Fire fought back against the challenger round by round, after falling six point behind in the first two rounds. It was eventually the combination of video busts and too many additional penalties that generated the 4-point difference after Round 10. Final Fire completed more formations within working time (145 - 142) and lost a total of 12 points, while Black Mantis finished on the same level as in 2019, where Final Fire was still 14 points ahead.

Black Mantis can now prepare for their first trip to a World Championship of Formation Skydiving. Final Fire congratulated and wished Black Mantis the best of luck. They will probably be back again next year to offer the new Austrian 4-way champions a new competition for the national title...