posted Aug 13th, 2021 - Nothing happened on Friday at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. The weather did not allow the jump planes to drop any of the Formation Skydiving teams for a single competition jump or even a whole round. Saturday is the last competition day, and the finish line has already been pushed to 18.00 in the afternoon. It is still possible to complete all ten meet rounds, while it requires much better weather than on Friday. The next round might be the last one in each event, or the current standings could even be the final ones.

The British national teams shifted their focus towards their national championships as soon as the British Skydiving Federation withdrew the complete delegation from participating at the world meet. The cancellation was most painful for NFTO, the national team in 4-way Women, who were ready to challenge the French team for the gold medals. The current leaderboard in 4-way Women is showing that NFTO would have had a realistic chance to win in Tanay.

It was still just as painful for Chimera (4-way Open) and Microclim8 (8-way Open) to miss the world meet, even though they were not really planning to win any medals. However, this year's British Outdoor Nationals are the qualifier for next year's world meet in Eloy, and the national teams have to win again to compete for the British delegation. The situation is interesting enough, and Chimera member Laura Hampton provided an update from the United Kingdom.

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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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FAI World Cup 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		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	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	17	19	25	20	20	19	20	23	25	21	209	20.9
2	NFTO	UK	17	17	23	19	17	17	19	21	23	20	193	19.3

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British teams are getting used to training in the UK as travel restrictions remain in place in the run up to Nationals

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NFTO, Chimera and Eros have all been taking advantage of the bursts of good weather with training jumps at Skydive Langar and Skydive Hibaldstow. The British delegation had already been stood down for the upcoming World Meet at Tanay, meaning the UK teams are now fully focused on the British National Skydiving Championships at the end of August.

Chimera have been continuing their work with coach Niklas Hemlin remotely through video debriefs and have competed in two UKSL events over the summer. Two members of the team - Pete Harries (camera) and Laura Hampton (outside center) - also achieved their AFFBI ratings in June, and all have been providing FS coaching (tunnel and sky) and load organising at their home DZ Skydive Langar.

The 2020/21 season has been a tricky one for Chimera, who - as well as Covid related restrictions - also had bouts of illness in the team, most notably when tail flyer Will Cooke was taken out of training for a 2-month period due to a respiratory issue. Their push to regain their currency has been curtailed at various stages due to the inability to travel and therefore the lack of in-person training from Niklas, who has been based at Paraclete XP in recent months.

In spite of this, they have been able to make the most of the upgraded Cessna Caravans at Skydive Langar and the Dorniers (the Nationals planes) at Skydive Hibaldstow and have been at the latter for stints of training throughout July and August.

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UK Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		2,H,7	17,M,J,4	F,13,A,P	20,15,Q	10,21,1	12,22,C	9,E,11	D,K,L,8	O,18,B,16	6,5,19	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	21	22	28	17	15	15	18	18	20	19	193	19.3
2	Chimera	UK	20	20	26	15	15	13	22	20	17	19	187	18.7
3	Eros	UK	21	20	25	17	15	14	19	19	18	17	185	18.5
4	4mula	UK	19	18	24	16	14	14	19	18	18	15	175	17.5
5	Pajama Pumas	UK	16	17	19	12	11	11	16	16	14	12	144	14.4
6	H40	IE	13	15	17	13	11	10	14	16	11	11	131	13.1
7	Game of Clowns	UK	15	11	17	9	11	10	13	14	11	12	123	12.3
8	Quadriga	UK	13	14	17	7	10	11	14	14	5	11	116	11.6
9	Draconis	UK	11	12	16	8	10	8	16	11	11	11	114	11.4
10	Alola	UK	12	12	17	8	9	8	14	12	12	9	113	11.3
11	Team	UK	13	11	11	7	10	8	12	11	10	10	103	10.3
12	Barely Grown Ups	UK	12	11	14	8	0	8	9	9	0	0	71	7.1
13	Free Burds	IE	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	9	5	7	30	3.0

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When they're not able to get in the sky together, Chimera have been keeping fit both mentally and physically through visualizing and through exercise including running and yoga, and are regularly found doing team runs around the peri-track after training.

The competition at the British Nationals will be interesting with the training challenges faced by all of the 2019 podium. There are various new teams expected to turn up as well, comprising members of previous high-ranking lineups, meaning the 2021 event will be one to watch.

Both NFTO and Chimera were due to compete at the World Meet in Tanay this month but due to insurmountable challenges in travelling to Russia, British Skydiving have elected not to send a delegation. Meanwhile, fellow world meet qualifiers Microclim8 - British national 8-way team - have been facing their own challenges due to ill health, and their final lineup for the British Nationals remain unconfirmed. Will new 8-way teams emerge as a result of the perceived "open podium"? Will 4-way teams decide to combine to take a swing at an 8-way medal? Time will tell.

The British Outdoor Nationals in 4-way are scheduled for next weekend (August 27th), the 8-way teams will follow up a week later.

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Chimera at the FAI World Cup 2019

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