posted Dec 17th, 2020 - It was not a surprise that Echochamber, Sweden's national 4-way Open Class team, were not very happy with their 2019 results at the two FAI/ISC events (Indoor World Meet - Outdoor World Cup), and the new year did not start much better with the 8th place at the Wind Games.

Echochamber had made no secret of the team's goal to win FAI medals at the next world meets and world cups, and nothing changed despite the disappointing results. It was not easy to deal with the psychology of under-performing at the main events. However, the ambitious Swedes were aware of the obstacles on the way to FAI medals and kept working their way forward.

Team speaker Ulf Liljenbäck explained that the team's work to make the next step started in May 2019 with a training camp at Skydive Arizona and coach Niklas Hemlin. He said that Echochamber went through a general change of tactics, with the main focus on random work.

The results did not show at the outdoor world cup in October, which made it even more challenging to swallow the next disappointing outcome, after the 7th place at the indoor world meet earlier in April. However, Echochamber did not get discouraged and continued with the plan. Ulf Liljenbäck said that the work and patience "has finally paid off", and the videos of the most recent indoor training at Bodyflight Stockholm confirm his conclusion.

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FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-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	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	-1	22		28		29		21		21	-1	21	-2	29		31	-2	24	-2	246	24.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	-1	22		25		21	-2	20	-1	20		23		25		29	-1	24	-2	228	22.8
3	Airspeed Odyssey	US	14	-2	17	-2	22	-2	21	-2	18	-1	16	-3	21		23		26	-3	17	-2	195	19.5
4	Defiance	US	17		17		21	-1	22		16	-2	15	-2	21		20	-2	26		16	-2	191	19.1
5	Aerodyne Cypres Lille-Bondues	FR	15	-1	16		19		21		16	-1	17		18		22		25		21		190	19.0
6	Echochamber	SE	17		14	-3	22		20	-3	17		16	-1	19		20		23	-1	21		189	18.9
7	Chimera	UK	14	-1	16	-1	21		19	-1	17		16	-1	18	-1	22		26	-1	18	-1	187	18.7
8	Pro Team	FI	15	-1	18		20		17	-1	17		15		18		21		26		18	-1	185	18.5
9	Kinetix	AU	14	-1	17		19		19		15	-1	17		18		19		23	-1	16		177	17.7
10	China	CN	12	-1	17		19		17	-1	14	-1	13	-1	16		20		24		15	-1	167	16.7
11	Eros	UK	12	-2	16		20		18		15	-1	13	-2	12	-4	17	-1	22		16	-1	161	16.1
12	eX3MO	IT	13		13	-2	17	-2	13	-4	12	-1	14		13		16	-1	22	-2	14		147	14.7
13	Pajama Pumas	UK	10	-2	12		17		14	-1	13		12		15		16		15	-2	13		137	13.7

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Echochamber at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/IPC/OmniSkore!HD

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It took even much longer to see the desired results than the team may have been expecting, which cannot be a big surprise considering the corona virus pandemic crisis.

Echochamber changed direction as soon as it became obvious that the pandemic would have an impact on the original plans. The team decided to skip half of the planned training and spend time with their families instead. In doing so they were hoping to put more time aside for training in 2021 and then peak at the FAI Mondial Tanay next year.

Player-coach Mattias Nord is currently working on the training plan for 2021 that will include an intensive indoor schedule until May when Echochamber will switch to outdoor training. All indoor and outdoor training will be held in Sweden, as the team does not expect travel restrictions to be lifted early enough for outdoor training at different locations.

Echochamber made only 75 training jumps in 2020, and the recent restart in the fall added three indoor training camps with 45 minutes of flying time to the team account. Ulf Liljenbäck said that the team's expected progress finally became visible at the last two indoor training camps: "Everything not only started to fall in place - but really fell in place. We are better than ever and fly with a lot more confidence, precision, awareness and speed. What a thrill!!!"

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Promising: Recent Echochamber training at Bodyflight Stockholm

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Echochamber are obviously excited to go back to the indoor next training camps, which are scheduled for January. The team members have also worked on their physical fitness and reduced the wind-tunnel air speed. Ulf Liljenbäck said that the team enjoys the more relaxed flying style: "It is super-fun to have taken this next step."

He also pointed out that his team mate Rikard Rodensjö used the summer break with additional time for the families very well, after becoming a proud father of a son this summer: "Due to COVID, we haven't visited him yet, but his son Måns is apparently already walking around the apartment by himself and reads books written for teenagers..."

Echochamber will be back in the flying chamber for the next indoor training in mid-January and hope to continue with the same progression.

The Swedish national 4-way team had finished in 5th place at the last outdoor world meet in Australia 2018. The road to FAI medals has at least two major obstacles on the way, Qatar Tigers and the new French lineup in 4-way Open. Echochamber's latest training videos are very promising, and the competition for FAI 4-way medals in Tanay could become as exciting as in 8-way...