posted Dec 14th, 2021 - The 6th Dubai International Parachuting Championship was completed last weekend, and it had the smallest participation since the event was launched in 2010. The first DIPC had only leaderboards in 4-way Open and 4-way Women, and a total of 18 teams (14 - 4) traveled to Dubai in 2010.

The DIPC eventually became one of the most popular Formation Skydiving competitions, and it included other skydiving disciplines, as well. The event site eventually became the host of the FAI Dubai Mondial 2012, which generated the largest participation in the history of the sport, with a total of 77 teams in the four FS events (4-way Open: 38, 4-way Women: 14, 4-way VFS: 9, 8-way: 16).

The 8-way event continued to be a part of the competition after the world meet in 2012, and until the World Air Games 2015 turned out to be the last competition in Dubai. The event was also the end of Dubai's Formation Skydiving competition project that Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard were heading for several years.

The pandemic became the major obstacle when Dubai brought back the event this year. The NSL News reported on February 4th that the 6th DIPC had to be postponed and rescheduled for a new date in December. The pandemic has still continued with its impact on worldwide events, and only seven 4-way teams and one 8-way team traveled to Dubai last week.

---

6th DIPC 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	P,J,21,D		20,9,H		M,22,17		8,15,E		F,1,13		19,C,14		O,10,Q,16		12,G,3		5,4,L		N,18,7		Total	Avg
1	Tanay 8	18		19	-1	18		20		23	-1	16		19	-1	23		21		19		196	19.6

---

Tanay 8 at the 6th DIPC 2021

---

The competition with the lowest number of teams in the history of the event still provided enough insights to pay attention to. Even the 1-team competition in 8-way was telling its own story.

The complete Russian national 8-way team from Tanay attended the 6th DIPC, just a few months after the 8-way thriller at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. Only team videographer Kirill Kirillov was not available and was replaced by Igor Kalinin.

The Russian 8-way team indicated earlier that they had plans until the next world meet in Eloy next year. The trip to Dubai with exactly the same lineup confirmed the team plans. Skydive Dubai is the training site for the Russian 8-way team when they cannot train on their home turf in Tanay. However, the competition site of the DIPC is not Skydive Dubai's desert drop zone. The visiting teams exit right on top of the famous Palm Jumeirah.

It was literally a training competition for the Tanay 8-way team, as there were no opponents. Five FAI judges still evaluated the competition rounds, which alone is worth a trip to a high-profile event, and they found three infringements in the ten rounds.

---

USPA Nationals 2021			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		2,10,K		M,8,21		5,17,9		N,O,1,F		E,C,B,11		O,12,G,6		7,A,4		3,15,H		22,18,13		14,L,16		Total	Avg
1	Airspeed XP8	US	13	-1	17		17		25		21		18		22		27		18		22		200	20.0

---

Airspeed XP8 at the USPA Nationals 2021

---

Yesterday's NSL News update covered a very similar situation in 8-way Open at the USPA Nationals in October. The Qatar Falcons traveled to Eloy and indicated in their own way that they will be back for next year's world meet, as well, together with Airspeed XP8.

The NSL News mentioned that the lack of competition pressure by strong enough opponents was probably the reason why Airspeed XP8 finished significantly lower compared to the 23.7 average after the seven rounds at the FAI Tanay Mondial in August, while the Qatar Falcons had direct targets throughout the whole competition, with the U.S. national team and also the Golden Knights.

It was a similar situation for the Tanay 8-way team at the 6th DIPC. There was obviously no opponent at all in Dubai, and the Russian team finished well below their scoring level at the world meet (19.6 - 21.9), as well.

However, both more recent events, USPA Nationals and 6th DIPC, were completed after ten rounds at both locations, and the meet averages are more comparable than at shorter events. Two faster rounds (4 - 8) allowed Airspeed XP8 to post higher scores in Eloy, while Tanay 8 did not have a sequence much faster than average. At this point in time, it seems like Tanay 8 is closing the gap to Airspeed XP8, after they had won the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 and lost the top position on their home turf in August. The 2022 world meet season could offer a new exciting 8-way race to FAI medals.

---

FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		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		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

---