posted Mar 9th, 2021 - The NSL News mentioned in yesterday's update of the Golden Knights performance at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021 that the U.S.Army's 8-way team begins to put pressure on the reigning 8-way indoor world champions, Airspeed XP8.

There was still a 35-point difference between the winner and the team in 2nd place, which is a very large margin on the top of a leaderboard at any Formation Skydiving competition. It was the progression of the Golden Knights that was the reason for the statement.

The Golden Knights are ultimately planning to challenge Airspeed XP8 at the USPA Nationals at the end of the year, where the pressure is supposed to be real and direct. However, there was additional other pressure that was not generated by any team on the 8-way leaderboard at Paraclete XP.

The national 8-way teams from Russia, France and Qatar are following the 8-way action in the United States very carefully. Russia and France both were much closer to Airspeed XP8 than the Golden Knights when they were facing off directly last time at the FAI Outdoor World Cup in 2019. In fact, both visiting teams in Eloy defeated the U.S. team by small margins.

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Paraclete XP Indoor 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	D,B,22,E		K,17,11		C,3,P,5		4,Q,18		16,9,A		2,7,8		G,15,1		F,21,N,H		6,J,12		19,M,13		Total	Avg
1	Airspeed XP8	36	-1	30		35	-1	37	-1	33		22		39	-3	30	-1	29	-1	24		315	31.5
2	Golden Knights	28		26		33		33		27	-1	21		33	-1	27		28	-1	24		280	28.0
3	Rhythm 8	19	-2	18		22	-1	26		18		14		23	-2	19		17		14		190	19.0
4	QRF 1	18		16		23		24		17		14		23		18		17		12		182	18.2
5	Token Male	14		17		19		18		16		13		21		18		16		14		166	16.6
6	Jhabberlution	13		14		16		18		15		11		16		10		15		11		139	13.9

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Airspeed XP8 at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021

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Airspeed XP8 turned the table at least with France a year later at the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020, while the competition was still as tight as can be. France ended up two points behind Airspeed XP8 after the ten rounds that both teams completed.

No other 8-way indoor or outdoor events had taken place in 2020. Neither Golden Knights nor Russia or France had an opportunity to meet XP8 for a live outdoor competition. The Golden Knights did not compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup in 2019 and had their last outdoor confrontation with XP8 at the USPA Nationals 2019.

Both teams had different lineups by then, however, seven current Golden Knights members (Jennifer Davidson, David Flynn, Nik Grimm, Rico Sifuentes, Jesse Stahler, Drew Starr, Andy Sippl on camera) finished only eight points behind the XP8 lineup with six current members (Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, Kirk Verner, Brian Krause, John D'Annunzio, Elliot Byrd on camera).

The two U.S. 8-way teams both had their main focus on 8-way training and competition already by then and have continued to build up their teams just as much as Russia, France and Qatar have done in the meantime.

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Clash of Champions 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

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Golden Knights: 32.4 at the Clash of Champions in 2015

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Airspeed XP8 and Golden Knights will have their next outdoor duel coming up next week at the Shamrock Showdown 2021, a year and a half after their last one. The point difference between the two U.S. teams will naturally be much smaller compared to an indoor competition, and Airspeed XP8 is currently in outdoor training at Skydive Arizona for the final preparations. Russia, France and Qatar will once again follow the outcome of the event very carefully.

Additional pressure at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship came from a very different side. It was created by the competition draw.

The NSL News reported from Paraclete XP on February 27th that Airspeed XP8 were on track to challenge the highest 8-way average in history, which was posted by the Golden Knights at the Clash of Champions in Dubai 2015.

The 32.2 average at the end of the six rounds on Saturday morning, with the fastest sequence of the competition coming in Round 7, indicated that the record average was in jeopardy. Matt Davidson, Drew Starr and Jesse Stahler, Golden Knights members of 2015, discussed the potential of a new record average at the end of the day with the NSL News. The 32.4 of the Golden Knights eventually survived the latest challenge...