posted Aug 31st, 2022 - The French national championships in Formation Skydiving competition included an 8-way competition, as well. Three teams attended the event that was running parallel with the 4-way competition. The French national teams did not really need practice for double duties, as their lineups are not overlapping any longer.

The NSL News reported on June 10th that France would eventually be fielding an 8-way team for the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving this October. National coach Mathieu Bernier did not have any plans for a French 8-way team at the upcoming outdoor world meet, until former French 8-way world champion Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin offered Mathieu Bernier to represent France in 8-way with his player-coach team Mojo that he had created in 2019.

The Mojo Annecy-Clermont lineup had won the French 8-way championships in 2019 and 2020, in the absence of the national team. The French national teams are not obligated to attend the championship events for qualification purposes, as the respective national coach is selecting the lineups based on talent, performance skills and group dynamics.

The new Mojo lineup used the only competition opportunity before the trip to Arizona in October. Mojo have three new team members, Patricia Cacheux, Pierre-Emmanuel Balageas and Stephane Millet, who accepted Manu Sarrazin's invitation, when Mathieu Cavallin, Maxime Lacourt and Aurelien Lemaire of the 2020 lineup did not return. Pierre-Emmanuel Balageas was a member of the French national 4-way Open Class team in 2013 and 2014. Stephane Millet spent some 8-way time with Jeff Ronzevalle's Monaco 8-way team years ago.

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French Outdoor Nationals 2022		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	12,C,11	15,18,K	10,4,21	G,Q,P,16	M,2,N,17	L,D,H,19	9,14,F	E,22,6	B,A,3,5	7,8,13	Total	Avg
1	Aérodyne Cypres	16	17	14	24	14	18	13	14	16	13	159	15.9
2	Mojo Annecy Clermont	12	13	11	16	11	11	10	11	12	10	117	11.7
3	Lille Saumur	6	6	6	6	5	5	8	6	4	3	55	5.5

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Aerodyne Cypres - Mojo Annecy Clermont at the French Outdoor Nationals 2022

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Mojo Annecy Clermont will represent France at the outdoor world meet in Eloy, and there is a question mark whether the team will be in contention for FAI medals or not. Russia, 8-way bronze medal winner at the FAI Tanay Mondial, will not compete in Eloy, and the gold and silver medals seem to be set for Paraclete XP8 and Qatar Falcons.

It seems to be possible that Mojo could be in contention for bronze medals, depending on the performance level of the 8-way teams who usually battle for the ranking positions behind the other three 8-way powerhouses (United States, Russia, Qatar). Great Britain (MicroClim8), Australia (JYR8) and Germany (Airbus) are usually a part of this competition, and they could all be in for a new battle for FAI bronze medals this time, under the current circumstances.

The Aerodyne Cypres lineup in 1st place of the French 8-way outdoor championships was a combination of the two French national 4-way teams, and they easily outscored the Mojo lineup of 2022. It was no big surprise, with the 8-way knowledge and experiences of several team members. Gaelle Giesen, Sophia Pecout, Damien Gouriou and Alban Rumolo were in the lineup who were one single point behind Airspeed XP8 after Round 7 in Tanay, and David Ricard was filming the team to the silver medals.

Jessica Thebault, Elise Poindron, Tom Mattoni and Mathieu Quizy were new to 8-way competition on this level and could probably still have guaranteed 8-way bronze medals for France in Eloy with the 15.9 average level last week. However, they will only compete in 4-way, and Mojo Annecy Clermont will have to deal with the other registered 8-way teams.

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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

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Airspeed XP8 and France at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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