posted Aug 5th, 2021 - Round 1 of the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 is scheduled for Tuesday morning (August 10th), and another withdrawal had to be registered just a week before the start of the competition. The Czech national team in 4-way Open, Flying Circus, needed Jan Klapka to fill the point slot last week at the national outdoor championships due to an injury of original team member Dagmar Bezdeková, and the team decided to withdraw.

The total number of 4-way Open Class teams is down to eleven, which is the lowest number in the history of FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985. The FAI World Meet 2016 at Skydive Chicago had the previously lowest attendance with 17 national teams.

It is not a big surprise that the attendance at the upcoming world meet is as low as it is. The host did not really have a chance to change the outcome, as the corona virus crisis had an impact on the sport like never seen before. Even the wildfires in 2010 could not keep 19 teams from traveling to Menzelinsk in Russia.

The corona virus crisis was the only reason why the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 was canceled and rescheduled last year. There was hope that the postponement by a whole year would be enough time and allow the host to still run a first-class and successful event in Tanay this month. However, the same bad luck of the ongoing worldwide health crisis was still the same large obstacle for many teams.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Aerodyne Cypres Lille	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airborne VDV	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Papea Masculino	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Adventure Flyers	PY	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Kazakhstan	KZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Indonesia	ID	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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The good news is the fact that it will still be a very competitive and exciting event. The NSL Power Rankings are showing that the Top 4 nations of the previous world meet in Australia 2018 are back in the 4-way Open Class field for the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. Four additional countries were represented in 2018 and are back this month in Russia.

Not much is the same though as it was in 2018. The Qatar Tigers are the only team in medal contention who still train and compete with the same lineup. This consistency is one of the reasons why the Tigers have climbed up to the bronze medal position in the power rankings, while they are aiming at even higher goals.

The Qatar Tigers' hope for more is based on the fact that none of the teams in the medal positions of 2018 are the same three years later.

It will be difficult for any 4-way team to challenge the reigning indoor and outdoor 4-way world champions from Belgium, who have prepared their personnel change (Michele Silvi for David Grauwels) very carefully. However, Arizona Airspeed, who threatened NMP PCH HayaBusa very seriously in Australia, are not competing for the U.S. delegation this time. Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine, silver medalists of 2018 and current AZXP8 members, will watch SDC Rhythm XP trying to get close enough to the Belgians.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
5	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
6	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
7	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
7	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1
9	Evolution	CA	21	-1	13	-2	22		18	-1	15	-3	43	-2	15	-5	15	-2	19		15		196	19.6
10	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	-1	14	-1	17	-5	17		16	-1	45	-1	15	-3	14	-1	18	-1	15		192	19.2
11	Tanay Wolves	RU	22		14		18	-1	17		16	-2	35	-3	17	-3	14	-1	18	-1	14		185	18.5
12	Rotor Out	AU	21	-1	13	-1	18	-2	14	-1	16	-1	32	-3	13	-7	13	-1	18		14		172	17.2
13	CTR Optimum	BR	19		10		17	-1	15		13	-1	31		14		14		18		13		164	16.4
14	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	13		18		13	-1	13		28	-3	14	-1	14	-1	13	-2	12		155	15.5
15	Out of the Blue	NL	16	-1	11	-1	13	-3	14		15	-1	28	-2	15	-1	15		14	-2	12	-1	153	15.3
16	Meraki	ZA	14	-3	11		14		14		13		28	-1	12	-1	12		14		12		144	14.4
17	Method	NZ	10	-4	9		12		11		10		21		7	-3	11		10	-1	11		112	11.2
18	Paraguay	PY	10	-1	8		10	-1	7	-2	9		17		7	-4	8	-1	10		8	-1	94	9.4
19	Cyprus	CY	13	-1	8		9	-2	8		7	-2	19	-1	7		8		9		5	-2	93	9.3

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The French 4-way Open Class team is a new one, as well. Only Damien Gouriou, Kevin Mansion and videographer David Ricard are back to compete for FAI medals. Aurelien Lemaire and Alban Rumolo are their new 4-way team mates, and the complete lineup has very little 4-way training at all. They compete in 8-way too, with the main goal to win gold medals in this event.

The French 4-way team will still try to defend the bronze medals, even though it will be difficult to fend off the Qatar Tigers who will probably not even be looking over their shoulders. Coach Gary Smith could become the biggest winner of the 4-way competition, with a gold medal for NMP PCH HayaBusa and another medal position with the Qatar Tigers.

Russia's 4-way Open Class team in Australia 2018 were the Tanay Wolves, and the new national team, Airborne VDV, had to deal with unexpected personnel changes, as well. The Dutch team Out of the Blue may have very good chances to become the most improved team of the world meet. The national 4-way Open Class team of the Netherlands finished in 15th place in Australia 2018, and the 5th place could be in reach in Tanay next week.

Spain and Paraguay complete the group of returning nations on the 4-way Open leaderboard, while Poland has registered a team 20 years after the last showing, with the 31st place and a 4.8 average at the FAI World Meet 2001.