posted Nov 9th, 2021 - There was still one more Airspeed XP8 member who accomplished his own AZXP FS Sweep at the USPA Nationals 2021 in a similar way as Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon did with their gold medal in 4-way Women.

Kirk Verner had in common with all other FS Sweepers (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Chris Kuhlmann, Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon) that he won the FAI world championship 8-way title in August at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. The AZXP8 lineup was unchanged at the USPA Nationals and the foundation for the AZXP FS Sweep in all four events (4 - 8 - 10 - 16).

It was the 3rd FAI gold medal in outdoor 8-way that Kirk Verner won in Tanay this year, after his two 4-way gold medals with the original Arizona Airspeed lineup in 1995 and 1997. His record in Formation Skydiving competition makes him the most experienced and successful member of the current Airspeed XP8 world champion lineup.

Kirk Verner's own AZXP FS Sweep at the USPA Nationals does not really match the one of his team mates Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Chris Kuhlmann, who had to win the 4-way Open competition for the sweep. However, he still had to guide his 4-way Advanced Class team, Lightspeed XP, to the USPA gold medals in this second AAA category behind the Open Class.

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USPA Nationals 2021			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced		13,5,D	Q,9,4	F,14,C,10	H,L,20,N	18,22,19	11,J,E,8	6,7,K	G,15,12	M,2,21	16,A,P,O	Total	Avg
1	Lightspeed XP	US	17	19	16	20	14	16	16	13	17	19	167	16.7
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	14	22	17	18	13	13	15	13	17	20	162	16.2
G	Qatar Lions	QA	10	17	14	19	12	16	17	12	17	20	154	15.4
2	SDC RhEvolution XP	US	15	17	14	14	10	12	16	13	17	17	145	14.5
3	NE Chicken Bolts	US	10	19	16	18	11	14	15	7	16	16	142	14.2
4	Vega XP	US	12	15	14	11	11	16	13	11	12	14	129	12.9
5	AZ Defiance	US	13	14	12	14	10	12	13	11	14	15	128	12.8
6	Elsinore Main Street	US	10	14	13	13	10	11	14	10	14	15	124	12.4
7	Kombucha Punch	US	10	15	10	13	8	11	13	9	14	13	116	11.6
8	Air Force 9 Ball	US	8	14	6	13	9	7	13	7	13	14	104	10.4
9	Megalodon Juan	US	9	12	10	13	8	10	11	6	13	10	102	10.2
10	Platinum XP	US	9	13	9	13	8	8	11	7	12	11	101	10.1
11	SDC Rheology	US	7	11	6	10	8	11	10	7	11	11	92	9.2
12	Frikken Slot Lizards	US	8	10	9	9	7	8	9	6	9	10	85	8.5
13	Tequila	US	6	9	7	9	7	10	9	5	11	11	84	8.4
14	Paragon	US	5	10	8	10	8	6	10	6	10	9	82	8.2
15	Perris WildKatz	US	7	9	6	6	6	6	7	5	12	7	71	7.1
16	Four-Inners	US	7	10	8	7	7	6	3	5	10	5	68	6.8
17	Richo's Tummy Butts	US	3	7	3	7	3	2	3	4	7	5	44	4.4

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Lightspeed XP at the USPA Nationals 2021 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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Kirk Verner's 4-way Advanced Class team Lightspeed XP had competed in the 4-way Open Class at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021, where SDC RhEvolution XP won the Advanced Class gold medals. Lightspeed XP were not eligible for Advanced Class medals, after Brandon Kashani and Nicholas Walker had won the same event together in the Vega XP lineup in 2020.

The same Lightspeed XP lineup decided to carry on with the team plans throughout the 2021 season and did not have much opposition on the Advanced Class leaderboard at this year's national outdoor championships. In fact, only the guest teams from Qatar, Cheetahs and Lions, were able to win and tie a few rounds here and there and finish right behind the U.S. team.

SDC RhEvolution XP tied the Lightspeed XP highscores twice and ended up 22 points behind in USPA silver medal position on the Advanced Class leaderboard.

It was the third consecutive time that Kirk Verner guided the winning Advanced Class team to the USPA gold medals as the player-coach. The USPA rules allow one reigning champion to return to the Advanced Class competition in the following year.

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USPA Nationals 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	7,C,H,P	J,21,20	O,3,11	B,2,K,E	8,Q,10	15,D,F,12	N,L,M,14	6,1,9	A,18,13	G,4,5	Total	Avg
1	Redline XP	19	17	16	21	14	16	21	17	17	17	175	17.5
2	Elsinore Elevate	23	14	14	22	15	17	19	14	14	16	168	16.8
3	SNE CenterCell XP	23	14	14	18	14	11	18	15	14	15	156	15.6

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Redline XP at the USPA Nationals 2021 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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Kirk Verner's 3-time winning streak began with Savage XP at the USPA Nationals 2018, and it was the same 1-year project that began at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship in February. Kirk Verner's current 8-way team mate Jeana Billings, Tony Massari, and Greg Oldendick eventually won the USPA Advanced Class gold medals with a 17.4 average and a new record number in this category.

Ranch 2nd Generation had won the Advanced Class gold medals in 2017 and moved up into the 4-way Open Class. Jeana Billings won the next Advanced Class gold medal with player-coach Kirk Verner in 2018 and then joined R2G in 2019. Greg Oldendick spent the 2019 season again in the Advanced Class with SDC RhEvolution XP and then joined Skydive Midwest NEXT for Open Class training and competition.

Kirk Verner was again the player-coach for Redline XP in 2019 and won the Advanced Class gold medals with a new 17.5 record average (Louis French, James Hall, Matthew Hunt, Brian Festi on camera). James Hall joined Vega XP in 2020 and was back with his new team in the Advanced Class this year.

Neither Vega XP nor any other U.S. team could keep up with Lightspeed XP (Shannon Catalano, Brandon Kashani, Nicholas Walker, Kirk Verner, Christopher Bess on camera) at the USPA Nationals 2021, and Kirk Verner's own USPA gold medal sweep was complete, as well.

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USPA Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	J,19,K,22	P,13,A,E	H,G,Q,B,21	9,2,L	C,14,4	O,16,3	1,15,10	M,20,11	F,D,18,6	5,12,17	Total	Avg
1	Savage XP	18	17	24	17	14	17	14	18	20	15	174	17.4
2	Seattle Swift	16	15	18	12	13	16	12	18	15	13	148	14.8
3	Elsinore Elevate	14	17	19	17	13	14	10	14	14	15	147	14.7

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Savage XP at the USPA Nationals 2018 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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