posted Sep 17th, 2021 - The Austrian 4-way teams started into their national championships just when the German Outdoor Nationals 2021 was in the final stage. The Austrian meet management eventually thought that it would be interesting to use the same competition draw, as there was no time for any Austrian team to train the German sequences.

Result of the merger of the competition sequences was another combined leaderboard in a format that the National Skydiving League has been applying for many years. However, it was the first time that Austria and Germany used the same competition draw for their national championships.

Teams and competitors have been crossing the Austrian/German border in the past to attend meets on the other side. In fact, the annual Paranodon Cup in Illertissen, Germany, has welcomed visitors from the neighboring countries Austria and Switzerland since the event was launched.

Paranodon owner Robert Trögele, currently Germany's national coach in Formation Skydiving competition, has been supportive of the NSL synchronization of competition draws and plans to become again a bigger part of this format in the future, similar to Germany's "Deutsche Sky Liga" (DSL) part of the NSL Network long ago. Austria now applied the same format ahead of Germany.

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Germany/Austria 2021			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		L,Q,2,8		K,19,N,13		17,12,20		C,3,1		6,M,11		14,9,O		22,15,16		G,18,21		J,10,H,7		B,F,D,E,A		Total	Avg
1	Airbus Illertissen	DE	15	-1	17		13	-1	18		18	-1	17		13		14	-1	18		42		185	18.5
2	Oceanside AtomiX	DE	14	-1	17	-1	15		17		19		19		13		15		17		32		178	17.8
3	Bardarbunga 3.0	DE	16		17		15		15	-1	15	-1	18		13		14		18		30		171	17.1
4	Meltemi Illertissen	DE	15		15		11		14		17		16		11		12		15		29		155	15.5
5	Paranodon 4way Illertissen	DE	15		14		11		13		15		14		9		11	-2	14	-1	30		146	14.6
6	Skynamite	DE	14		13		12		15		16		12	-2	9	-1	11	-2	13	-1	28		143	14.3
7	Black Mantis	AT	14		13		9	-1	14		14		15		9	-1	12		17		24	-3	141	14.1
8	NeVa FSZ Saar	DE	11		15		12		13		14		13		11		9		15		21		134	13.4
9	Final Fire	AT	15		13	-1	9	-2	12	-2	16		14		9	-1	11	-1	12	-2	22	-4	133	13.3
10	Sudwest NOG	DE	11		13		11		12		13		13		9		11		14		21		128	12.8
11	Slow Motion	AT	11		10		8		11		14		12		6		9		13		21		115	11.5
12	Phoenix	DE	11		11		10		11		11		11		9		9		6		17		106	10.6
13	Restmuell	AT	9		11		6		10		9		11		8		8		10		20		102	10.2
14	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	10		10		9		7		10		9		8		10		11		16		100	10.0
14	Das KO's Saar	DE	10		6		7		10		11		9		7		9		11		20		100	10.0
16	cAIRberus	AT	5		2		3		5		3		7		5		3		5		7		45	4.5
17	Blue Wombats	AT	5		5		0		6		7		2		3		-		-		-		28	4.0
18	Familyair	AT	3		4		5		4		6		4		2		4		2		5		39	3.9
19	Gegen uns Gewonnen	AT	0		1		1		2		3		1		3		2		0		1		14	1.4

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The two strongest Austrian teams, Black Mantis and Final Fire, could not keep up with the best German teams. The winner in Austria, Black Mantis, ended up in 7th place on the combined leaderboard, which actually included three different categories.

It was the Austrian Nationals using the same competition draw that the German AAA Class teams were facing in Saarlouis, while the same draw was also the qualification in 4-way Women in Germany. Meltemi Illertissen and Skynamite had their own leaderboard, while they completed the same ten sequences.

Both Austrian teams competed with new lineups, and Black Mantis were in a new situation. It was the first time that they had to defend their national 4-way title. They had been the challenger of Final Fire since 2017 and finished as the national champions for the first time in 2020, four points ahead of Final Fire (137 - 133).

Once again, Black Mantis won with the cleaner performance. Final Fire had completed the ten sequences in 2020 with two more points than Black Mantis and lost the 1st place after 12 point deductions. This year, both teams completed 146 points within the total working time of 350 seconds, and Black Mantis won by eight points after penalties.

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Austrian Outdoor Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	L,Q,2,8		K,19,N,13		17,12,20		C,3,1		6,M,11		14,9,O		22,15,16		G,18,21		J,10,H,7		B,F,D,E,A		Total	Avg
1	Black Mantis	14		13		9	-1	14		14		15		9	-1	12		17		24	-3	141	14.1
2	Final Fire	15		13	-1	9	-2	12	-2	16		14		9	-1	11	-1	12	-2	22	-4	133	13.3
3	Slow Motion	11		10		8		11		14		12		6		9		13		21		115	11.5
4	Restmuell	9		11		6		10		9		11		8		8		10		20		102	10.2
5	Red Bull Aerodynamix	10		10		9		7		10		9		8		10		11		16		100	10.0
6	cAIRberus	5		2		3		5		3		7		5		3		5		7		45	4.5
7	Familyair	3		4		5		4		6		4		2		4		2		5		39	3.9
8	Blue Wombats	5		5		0		6		7		2		3		-		-		-		28	4.0
9	Gegen uns Gewonnen	0		1		1		2		3		1		3		2		0		1		14	1.4

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Leon Sina Golestani has replaced Melanie Köckenbauer in the Black Mantis lineup. Final Fire had a new team member with Jakob Strauß. Peter Hois agreed to take the camera slot for Final Fire the day before Round 1 of the competition.

After all penalties in this duel for the Austrian 2021 top spot, it was still a very exciting competition, as the lead switched back and forth throughout the first eight rounds. Black Mantis had only a 1-point lead after Round 8 and then finished with the better nerves and two cleaner rounds.

Austria's complete military CISM team competed for the first time at the national outdoor championships. The NSL News had introduced the lineup on February 12th, after Red Bull Aerodynamix competed at the Qatar CISM International 2021.

The CISM World Championship is coming up soon, once again hosted by Qatar, and Aerodynamix have to switch back to the military dive pool and rules. It is an easier switch, as the same random formations and blocks apply, while the exit is always a Star (M), and the sequences are shorter. Aerodynamix will meet NMP PCH HayaBusa (Belgium), Tigers (Qatar) and Papea Masculino (Spain) in Qatar, who make the same switch and competed at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020.