posted Aug 6th, 2021 - The situation in 8-way at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 is even more exciting than in 4-way. The NSL News pointed out long ago that the 8-way competition could become the most exciting battle in the history of the event.

In the 8-way case, even the implications of the corona virus crisis have not changed anything, as the same four 8-way top contenders will be present in Russia and compete for the three sets of FAI world championship medals.

Generating the NSL Power Rankings for the 4-way Open Class competition was like a walk in the park compared to the expected situation on the 8-way leaderboard. In fact, three of the four top teams seem to be so close to each other that they are tied in 1st place on the leaderboard of this preview. An extra round in Tanay to break a potential tie for the medal positions would be no big surprise.

The power rankings in 4-way Open were based on the results at the previous world championships in Australia 2018, where the same four nations in the top spots will be back with their selected national teams almost three years later, even though the teams and/or lineups are different next week.

---

FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	France 8-way	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Tanay 8	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	ASXP8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Kazakhstan	KZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Belarus	BY	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

---

It was much more complicated in 8-way Open, where France had not even sent a team to the world meet in Australia. National coach Mathieu Bernier is now bringing back a very promising new 8-way team, while Tanay 8 and Qatar Falcons have trained and competed with the same lineups.

The Golden Knights won the 8-way gold medals without any serious opposition for the U.S. delegation in Australia, 15 points ahead of the same Russian 8-way team. However, the U.S. Army team had a complete makeover, and Paraclete XP8 won the USPA Nationals in 2019.

A lot has happened since the 8-way competition at Skydive Paraclete, where Tanay 8 took the top spot as a guest team. Paraclete XP8 eventually turned into Airspeed XP8 when Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine joined the 8-way lineup, and when Paraclete XP and Skydive Arizona decided to support the team together.

The new U.S. 8-way team competed a month later at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019, where the Russian 8-way team won again, while the new French 8-way team finished ahead of Airspeed XP8.

---

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-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	Tanay 8	RU	19		26		18		20		23		21	-1	20		24		20		16		207	20.7
2	France	FR	20		24		18		19	-1	21		22	-1	19		23		19		17		202	20.2
3	Paraclete XP8	US	21	-1	24	-1	16	-1	18		21		20	-2	19		22	-1	19		18		198	19.8
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	-1	20	-1	14	-1	13	-3	17	-1	12	-5	15		19		15		14		155	15.5

---

Tanay 8 - France 8 - Paraclete XP8 - Qatar Falcons at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019

---

It became most complicated when the same four teams participated in the 8-way competition of the Shamrock Showdown 2021, partially live and partially virtual. The live event took place with Airspeed XP8 at Skydive City in March this year, while France, Tanay 8 and Qatar Falcons uploaded their videos of the identical sequences.

Only the first four rounds were completed and submitted by all four teams, and the ranking order after these rounds was different again. The young French 8-way lineup with player-coach Mathieu Berrnier in the active lineup, won the virtual competition by six points after Round 4.

France completed and submitted all ten rounds and finished with a 22.0 average, which was not far from the Golden Knights winning average (22.4) in Australia 2018. Tanay 8 and Airspeed XP8 both finished with higher averages after the fast four opening rounds, while the Qatar Falcons made a big step forward after all ten rounds.

Now it will a live event for all four teams at the same place for a real showdown. Airspeed XP8 still had to digest an unexpected personnel change, as Matt Davidson has not recovered well enough from his hip surgery. Christopher Kuhlmann replaces him as the third Airspeed 4-way member in the final U.S. 8-way lineup for the FAI Tanay 2020.

---

Shamrock Showdown Cloud 2021			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		1,J,3		Q,K,D,H,L		F,B,C,22		18,E,21		M,5,10		4,G,2		15,8,11		16,19,O		7,P,14		9,12,20		Total	Avg
1	France	FR	30	-2	25		28		19		(18)		(23)		(20)		(22)		(17)	-2	(18)	-1	102	(22.0)
2	Tanay 8	RU	29	-2	26		25		16	-2	-		-		-		-		-		-		96	(24.0)
3	Airspeed XP8	US	28	-2	23	-3	24	-1	19		-		-		-		-		-		-		94	(23.5)
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	23	-3	19	-2	21	-1	15		(17)		(18)	-1	(15)	-3	(19)		(17)		(17)		78	(18.1)

---

France 8 - Tanay 8 - ASXP8 - Qatar Falcons at the Shamrock Showdown 2021

---