posted Aug 12th, 2021 - The NSL News headlined the update from the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 on August 10th with the fact that the smallest world meet in the history of the sport is still generating a very exciting competition. The previews of the event had indicated that this situation would most likely occur in Tanay, and it materialized as soon as the competition began.

There was not much movement on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, where things turned out as expected after Round 5. However, the leaderboards in 8-way Open and 4-way Women featured the same battles of the previews in real life, which was after Round 2 in 8-way Open and after Round 4 in 4-way Women, at the time when the update was published.

One of the most exciting parts of the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 was supposed to be the attempt of the three members of the French 4-way Women team (Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout, Gaelle Giesen) to win gold medals in two different events of the same FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

Only one competitor has accomplished this special achievement in the history of the sport (4-way Open and 8-way Open in Menzelinsk 2010), and French national coach Mathieu Bernier thought that Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout and Gaelle Giesen could do the same, this time in 4-way Women and 8-way Open.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		1,9,A		8,6,2		21,10,14		22,G,D,13		20,3,11		Total	Avg
1	Airspeed XP8	US	20		23		22	-1	23		31	-1	23		24		-		-		-		-		166	23.7
2	France National 8-way	FR	20		23		25		24		26	-1	25	-1	22	-1	-		-		-		-		165	23.6
3	Tanay 8	RU	18		21	-1	20		23		26		23		22		-		-		-		-		153	21.9
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	17		17		19		18		22		19	-1	19		-		-		-		-		131	18.7
5	Kazakhstan	KZ	5		9		6	-2	10		7	-1	12	-1	12		-		-		-		-		61	8.7
6	Belarus	BY	4	-1	6		4	-2	5	-2	7		8	-1	2	-1	-		-		-		-		36	5.1

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NSL TV Unfiltered with Gary Smith

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Mathieu Bernier made a plan that matched the French budget and the potential of his selected team members and went to work, first only as the national coach, later as a member of the 8-way team, as well. He wanted to win gold medals in 8-way Open and 4-way Women, and accepted most likely sacrificing the French 4-way Open Class bronze medals of Australia 2018.

Both French 4-way teams have 4-way and 8-way double-duties in Tanay, while all other Formation Skydiving medal contenders at the same event focus only on one competition in one event.

The daily agenda at world meets and world cups usually separates the Formation Skydiving events naturally, and any competitors with double-duties only have very long days, with one event in the morning's half of the meet day, the other event for the rest of the day, and possibly vice versa on the next day.

The French delegation was prepared for the challenge, and the meet director was able to follow the usual pattern on the first two days of the meet. Things changed when the second day of the competition (Wednesday) did not allow much jumping, due to the weather situation. That's when the meet director often has to change plans and make the best out of the situation in the coming days.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		1,9,A		8,6,2		21,10,14		22,G,D,13		20,3,11		Total	Avg
1	Bubbles	RU	21	-1	33	-3	18	-1	33	-3	27		18	-2	-		-		-		-		-		150	25.0
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	24		27	-4	18		34		24	-2	21		-		-		-		-		-		148	24.7
3	No Mercy	PL	15		20	-1	11	-1	20	-2	16		11		-		-		-		-		-		93	15.5
4	Aviatrixx	US	15		25		13		14		0		12	-1	-		-		-		-		-		79	13.2

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The meet director in Tanay, Dieter Kirsch from Germany, who is very familiar with competing in both events as a former member of German Formation Skydiving delegations in the past, cannot pay much special attention to the situation of competitors with double-duties. He has to try his best to get as many rounds completed as possible, which became the situation on Thursday.

That's when it became even more challenging for the French delegation. The meet day was not separated any longer into two halves. All teams in all events had to be ready to get their boarding calls at any time. The only consistency is the completion of a round once it is started in a certain event. The competitors with double-duties cannot focus any longer only on one event for half of the day. Now they may have to switch back and forth between 4-way and 8-way, from one round to the next one.

Mathieu Bernier and his 8-way team knew how hard it would be to win the 8-way gold medals. It seemed to become easier for the defending 4-way Women world champions when British national team NFTO had to withdraw. That changed when Russia's Bubbles exited the world meet planes even stronger than expected. Bubbles were two points ahead in 1st place after four rounds at the end of the first day.

France is now facing two extremely tough battles on the way to double-gold. The 8-way team is one point behind Airspeed XP8 after Round 7. Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout and Gaelle Giesen, with Pamela Lissajoux in the lineup, won Round 6 by three points and are still two points behind Bubbles. The French 4-way Open Class team will most likely end up as expected in 4th place. There is very hard work ahead for any winner in 4-way Women and 8-way Open, and even harder work for the French delegation...

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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		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		1,9,A		8,6,2		21,10,14		22,G,D,13		20,3,11		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		41	-1	23		43		30	-4	24	-1	-		-		-		-		-		193	32.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	25	-2	35	-5	22		39		26	-4	22		-		-		-		-		-		169	28.2
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-1	38	-2	19		34		26		19	-2	-		-		-		-		-		160	26.7
4	Aerodyne Cypres Lille	FR	23		33		19		32		24		21		-		-		-		-		-		152	25.3
5	Papea Masculino	ES	18	-2	27	-2	14		24	-4	19		16	-1	-		-		-		-		-		118	19.7
6	Kazakhstan	KZ	19	-1	23	-1	13		24	-1	17		15		-		-		-		-		-		111	18.5
7	Out of the Blue	NL	12	-2	25		15		23	-2	18		15	-1	-		-		-		-		-		108	18.0
8	Adventure Flyers	PY	12		15		11		14	-1	14		7		-		-		-		-		-		73	12.2
9	Indonesia	ID	3	-2	6	-1	1	-3	10	-4	1	-2	5	-1	-		-		-		-		-		26	4.3

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NSL TV Unfiltered with Gary Smith

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