posted Aug 20th, 2021 - All four events at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving (4-way Open - 4-way Women - 4-way VFS - 8-way Open) have been using the same numbers and letters for their respective dive pools since the 4-way VFS teams added a few more random formations and blocks to reach the same number as the other three events (22 blocks - 16 random formations).

The dive pools are still different and create sequences with different maneuvers and inters, at least between VFS, 8-way and 4-way. However, the sequences are exactly the same and identical between 4-way Open and 4-way Women, which allows direct comparison between the teams and the scores on both leaderboards.

In fact, the NSL News has generated a combined leaderboard with all 4-way Open and 4-way Women teams together ever since the dive pools and sequences were synchronized. It happens usually only after FAI world meets or world cups and other international high-level events.

Most of the national championships do not separate the teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women. The all-female lineups usually compete together with the 4-way Open Class teams, and they receive their recognition as the new national teams in this event during the award ceremonies, or afterward by their respective skydiving federation.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		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		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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Mixed-gender lineups in 4-way Open at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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There is always a certain number of female 4-way competitors as members of the 4-way Open Class and 8-way lineups, as well. There is no special recognition for these mixed-gender lineups or their positioning on the leaderboards.

This year, at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, the number of 4-way Women teams on their own leaderboard and the 4-way Open Class teams with mixed-gender lineups were identical between these two categories. Four teams competed in 4-way Women, and four teams had female 4-way competitors in their 4-way Open Class lineups.

SDC Rhythm XP's inside center Christy Frikken won the title of the highest-scoring female 4-way competitor with the 2nd place in 4-way Open behind NMP PCH HayaBusa. That's the highest placement since Natasha Montgomery won FAI gold with DeLand Fire in 2006 and Eliana Rodriguez with Airspeed Odyssey in 2008.

Eliana Rodriguez also won FAI silver in 2010, and Christy Frikken is the next female 4-way Open Class competitor in 2nd place. Arianna de Benedetti (Italy 2006), Katie Woods (Canada 2014) and Laurence Herve (France 2016 and 2018) also won FAI bronze medals in the 4-way Open Class.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/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		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	Bubbles	RU	21	-1	33	-3	18	-1	33	-3	27		18	-2	150	25.0
6	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	24		27	-4	18		34		24	-2	21		148	24.7
7	Papea Masculino	ES	18	-2	27	-2	14		24	-4	19		16	-1	118	19.7
8	Kazakhstan	KZ	19	-1	23	-1	13		24	-1	17		15		111	18.5
9	Out of the Blue	NL	12	-2	25		15		23	-2	18		15	-1	108	18.0
10	No Mercy	PL	15		20	-1	11	-1	20	-2	16		11		93	15.5
11	Aviatrixx	US	15		25		13		14		0		12	-1	79	13.2
12	Adventure Flyers	PY	12		15		11		14	-1	14		7		73	12.2
13	Indonesia	ID	3	-2	6	-1	1	-3	10	-4	1	-2	5	-1	26	4.3

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Combined 4-way Open/4-way Women leaderboard of the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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France 4-way Open and 4-way Women at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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Laurence Herve had won two FAI gold medals in 4-way Women (2012 - 2014) before she was selected for the French 4-way Open Class team, where she won the two FAI world meet bronze medals.

The next French 4-way Women lineup (Clementine Praet, Pamela Lissajoux, Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout, Michel Laynaud on camera) took it even further, after a 2nd place behind the Golden Knights in 2016. They won the world meet in 4-way Women two years later in Australia with an unprecedented 25.7 record average in this category. This was enough to place in 3rd place on the combined 4-way leaderboard, ahead of the French 4-way Open Class team (25.1) with Laurence Herve in the lineup.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier was hoping that his 4-way Women team would be able to maintain a scoring level high enough to defend the 4-way Women title successfully and focus only on 8-way training and competition. It was almost a Mission Impossible, with challengers like NFTO just waiting for an opportunity. However, his plan for the double-gold in 8-way and 4-way Women still almost materialized.

Mathieu Bernier and the 4-way Women team were not prepared enough to fend off the Russian challenge by Bubbles, and the French delegation eventually had to leave Russia without any FAI gold medals, one single point behind after seven rounds in 8-way, and two points behind after six rounds in 4-way Women. The French 4-way Open Class team finished in 4th place.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women		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	24	22	62	22	20	27	22	279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	21	27	24	24	60	26	22	27	20	277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	29	20	24	22	25	56	23	18	22	18	257	25.7
4	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	19	24	23	24	52	20	17	24	19	251	25.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	14	24	21	22	53	21	18	20	17	234	23.4
6	Echochamber	SE	25	16	21	17	20	48	14	18	21	15	215	21.5
7	Amnesya	IT	24	14	20	18	18	48	18	14	21	15	210	21.0
8	NFTO	UK	20	15	22	19	18	38	18	17	19	16	202	20.2
9	Satori XL	UK	21	14	21	19	19	37	19	17	18	16	201	20.1
9	Airheads	CH	22	14	19	17	18	44	16	16	18	17	201	20.1
11	Evolution	CA	21	13	22	18	15	43	15	15	19	15	196	19.6
12	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	14	17	17	16	45	15	14	18	15	192	19.2
13	Tanay Wolves	RU	22	14	18	17	16	35	17	14	18	14	185	18.5
14	Rotor Out	AU	21	13	18	14	16	32	13	13	18	14	172	17.2
15	Team X	SE	17	10	18	16	14	36	15	13	18	12	169	16.9
16	Phoenix XP	US	17	12	17	14	15	37	16	12	14	13	167	16.7
16	Boomerang Betty	AU	19	11	18	14	15	32	15	13	17	13	167	16.7
18	CTR Optimum	BR	19	10	17	15	13	31	14	14	18	13	164	16.4
19	Fuzion Voltige	CA	17	9	18	14	15	34	14	13	14	13	161	16.1
20	Papea Masculino	ES	17	13	18	13	13	28	14	14	13	12	155	15.5
21	Skynamite	DE	19	12	16	14	14	27	13	12	15	12	154	15.4
22	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	16	11	13	14	15	28	15	15	14	12	153	15.3
23	Meraki	ZA	14	11	14	14	13	28	12	12	14	12	144	14.4
24	New Zealand	NZ	10	9	12	11	10	21	7	11	10	11	112	11.2
25	Paraguay	PY	10	8	10	7	9	17	7	8	10	8	94	9.4
26	Cyprus	CY	13	8	9	8	7	19	7	8	9	5	93	9.3

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