posted Feb 7th, 2022 - The last piece in the XP8 puzzle was an astonishing and somehow surprising move by the five returning 8-way team members (Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, John D'Annunzio, Kirk Verner, Brian Krause) and the previously recruited two new members (Matt Davidson, Andrew Happick) of the lineup for 2022, still with Elliot Byrd on camera, now in his 5th year with XP8.

Craig Girard was introduced as the newest XP8 member with the update on February 4th, after team captain Kirk Verner had shared the completion of the new lineup with the NSL News.

The AZXP8 lineup of 2020 and 2021 was already almost the exact opposite of the toughest opponent, the French 8-way team, who had only national coach Mathieu Bernier in the lineup with his own wealth of 4-way and 8-way experiences and world champion titles. All other French 8-way team members were of a younger generation of competitors.

The previous AZXP8 lineup was a combination of very experienced competitors with their own impressive collection of 4-way and 8-way world champion titles (Kirk Verner, Brian Krause, Niklas Hemlin, Matt Davidson before his withdrawal) and very experienced and talented U.S. competitors (John D'Annunzio, Mikhal Markine, Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, Chris Kuhlmann).

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USPA Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	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	Arizona Airspeed	22	-2	28	-1	24		30		18	-1	25		26		20		24		35		252	25.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	26		24	-4	21	-2	27	-1	19		23		26		21		24	-1	29		240	24.0
3	Golden Knights Gold	21		26		20		25	-1	16		23		21		17		16	-1	25	-1	210	21.0
4	The Jets	16	-1	20	-1	18		22		14		17		21		16		19		24		187	18.7
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	13	-1	17		17		25		21		18		22		27		18		22		200	20.0
2	Golden Knights	13	-1	17		15		24		19		17	-1	16	-2	23	-1	19		19		182	18.2
G	Qatar Falcons	16		16		15		21	-2	14	-4	16	-1	19		20	-2	16		20		173	17.3
3	The Expendables	15		13	-1	13	-1	19		17		15	-1	19		20	-2	17		17		165	16.5

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Craig Girard with The Expendables and Perris Jets at the USPA Nationals 2021

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Craig Girard adds his own wealth of 4-way and 8-way experiences to the new XP8 lineup, which was obviously not short of that before. In fact, the five returning 8-way team members just added another 8-way world meet gold medal and hundreds of training jumps to the team collection, plus many hours of indoor training in Paraclete XP's 16-foot flying chamber.

The selection of the new XP8 member is only somehow surprising, as Craig Girard was not really a very active international Formation Skydiving competitor any longer, after winning his last FAI/ISC 4-way gold medal in Maubeuge 2008 with Airspeed Odyssey, followed by a 4-way silver medal in Menzelinsk 2010, after three 8-way gold medals with the Golden Knights (1989, 1991 and 1993), and two more with Arizona Airspeed in 1999 and 2004.

This does not mean at all that he did not train and compete much in the meantime. He has actually never stopped training and competing. Only team training had a reduced intensity after Menzelinsk 2010. Craig Girard has still been a never-ending topic of NSL News, as he continued attending Formation Skydiving competitions and events of all of all sizes and disciplines. In the most recent years, the Airspeed Odyssey reunions at USPA Nationals made the headlines several times, even though he has never missed the national championships anyway. Last year he won USPA bronze medals in 8-way and placed 4th in 4-way.

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FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		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	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	-1	22		28		29		21		21	-1	21	-2	29		31	-2	24	-2	246	24.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	-1	22		25		21	-2	20	-1	20		23		25		29	-1	24	-2	228	22.8
3	Airspeed Odyssey	US	14	-2	17	-2	22	-2	21	-2	18	-1	16	-3	21		23		26	-3	17	-2	195	19.5
Rank	8-way Open		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	Tanay 8	RU	19		26		18		20		23		21	-1	20		24		20		16		207	20.7
2	France	FR	20		24		18		19	-1	21		22	-1	19		23		19		17		202	20.2
3	Paraclete XP8	US	21	-1	24	-1	16	-1	18		21		20	-2	19		22	-1	19		18		198	19.8
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	18		21		16		18		16	-3	21	-1	17		17	-1	16		14	-1	174	17.4

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Craig Girard with Arizona Airspeed and Airspeed Odyssey at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019

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Craig Girard did not only come back for the annual Airspeed reunion at USPA Nationals. The FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 on his home turf in Eloy offered the perfect opportunity to return to international FAI competition, and Airspeed's 8-way team finished in 4th place, behind Russia, France and XP8.

He did not win an 8-way medal at the world cup in Eloy, however, the Airspeed Odyssey reunion of 2019 generated 4-way bronze medals for the U.S. delegation.

The FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 was still a gold-medal event for Craig Girard. He began coaching the Russian 8-way team in 2018. Tanay 8 founder, sponsor and member Andrey Barabash knew that he would host the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, and he was planning to win the 8-way gold medals for the Russia delegation. He asked Craig Girard to guide his team to the FAI gold medals with regular coaching by one of the most experienced 4-way and 8-way competitors and coaches in history.

The first success came at the end of the second year of the Russian/U.S. cooperation when Tanay 8 first won the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2019 and followed up with 8-way gold medals at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019. Next step was the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, which will be the beginning of the next XP8 update with new member Craig Girard.