posted May 26th, 2022 - The NSL News has followed the U.S. national 8-way teams on their way to the main events of the competition season whenever it was possible. There is always a very good chance that the respective teams may end up as the next world champions. In fact, it happened 14 times since 1985. Other countries won only five sets of world meet gold medals in the same time period, and the United States took the 1st place five consecutive times since 2012.

It was the Golden Knights who won the 8-way gold medals for the U.S. delegations between 2012 and 2018, before XP8 won on their home turf at the USPA Nationals 2019 and qualified as the U.S. national 8-way team for the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. Once again, the journey of the new U.S. national 8-way team generated the next set of FAI gold medals, after the 1-point battle with France.

The XP8 lineup that won at the USPA Nationals 2019 did not continue, as SDC Rhythm XP members Andrew Happick and Steve Lefkowitz, and Airspeed member Chris Kuhlmann all decided to focus on their 4-way training and competition. Their team had won the USPA qualification over Arizona Airspeed at the same national championships and would compete for the U.S. delegation at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020.

The NSL News visited Paraclete XP for one of the early 8-way training camps in 2020, where Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine had replaced Steve Lefkowitz and Chris Kuhlmann. Andrew Happick was still filling in for the third new Airspeed XP8 member Matt Davidson, who had competed with the new lineup at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020 and was not ready yet for outdoor training and competition.

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XP8 Training at Skydive Paraclete XP on 18 May 2020

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FAI 8-way medal winning countries between 1985 and 2021

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The 2020 lineup did not get to compete for the U.S. delegation at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, which was postponed and rescheduled for August 2021, and the corona virus crisis also caused the cancellation of the USPA Nationals the same year.

However, the NSL News was back at Paraclete XP for the beginning of the 2021 season, and the lineup had changed once again. Matt Davidson was back in action, and Andrew Happick became the 8-way alternate while training and competing with SDC Rhythm XP. Matt Davidson competed at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021 and at the Shamrock Showdown 2021 before he had to step back for more recovery time.

Chris Kuhlmann, XP8 member of the 2019 lineup who won the qualification for the world meet, was able to step in just a few months before the 1-point battle with France in Tanay, and the Airspeed XP8 story had a happy ending with the FAI gold medals.

Andrew Happick was still the Airspeed XP8 alternate in Tanay, where he competed with SDC Rhythm XP anyway and won his first world meet medal with the 2nd place behind NMP PCH HayaBusa.

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XP8 Training at Skydive Paraclete XP on 19 January 2021

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The NSL News was back last week for the next visit at Paraclete XP, a few days too early for 8-way training of the new XP8 lineup. Prison 9 and XPG4 with coach Niklas Hemlin created the content for new updates, and the NSL News made plans to return to Paraclete XP for the 8-way training camp.

Earlier NSL News updates had presented the new XP8 lineup, once again with three new members for the 2022 season, which includes USPA Nationals in September and FAI Outdoor World Meet in October, as all three new and reigning 8-way world champions of Arizona Airspeed (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Chris Kuhlmann) had decided to focus only on 4-way training and competition in 2022.

Andrew Happick, SDC Rhythm XP silver medalist and XP8 alternate in Tanay, had stepped back from 4-way training and competition and was ready to join XP8 instead for a full slot. Matt Davidson finally had enough recovery time without time pressure and was ready to rejoin the XP8 lineup. Last and not least, Craig Girard completed the lineup, as the NSL News reported on February 4th.

The new and current XP8 lineup was in outdoor training at Skydive Paraclete this week. They look forward to defending their 8-way title this year, with other additional goals on the list, as well. Chris Bess will be on camera for XP8 throughout the USPA Nationals. Elliot Byrd will cover XP8 at the outdoor world meet.

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XP8 Training at Skydive Paraclete XP on 25 May 2022

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