posted Sep 12th, 2022 - The NSL News goes back to the USPA Nationals after the 4-way excursion to Germany. The weather situation has not changed much, and the 8-way teams are still waiting for their first opportunity to start the competition with Round 1.

The winning 4-way and 8-way Open Class teams at the national championships in the United States usually don't have to consider competing for a Top 10 position or medals. The only question is which set of FAI medals will be brought back from the international events. Often the teams in 2nd or even 3rd place at the USPA Nationals could be in medal contention at world championships and world cups.

This year, only Arizona Airspeed is also a medal contender at the upcoming FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving, and they seem to have the gold medals secured, even before the competition begins.

The situation is very similar in 8-way, where Paraclete XP8 don't have to expect a serious opponent for their effort to defend the FAI gold medals of 2021 successfully. Only the Qatar Falcons are back with their 8-way team this year, and they will show their current performance level as soon as the weather allows the 8-way competition to begin.

---

USPA Nationals 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		G,9,M,8		P,3,O,E		7,13,18		B,21,Q,14		20,L,2		D,1,A,19		5,11,15		10,17,N		F,C,K,H,22		12,J,16		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	-2	32		23		26	-1	22		26		22		21	-1	35		23		258	25.8
G	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	-2	21	-3	20		23		19		23		18		20		29		19	-1	215	21.5
2	Hammertime	US	23	-1	26		16	-1	22	-1	18		20		16	-1	18		26		19		204	20.4
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	23		24	-1	19		20		15	-1	19	-1	16	-1	17		25		18		196	19.6
4	XPG4	US	22		23	-1	17		20		17	-1	20		15		18		21	-2	16	-1	189	18.9
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	22		23	-1	16	-1	19	-1	15	-1	18	-2	16		16		23	-1	17		185	18.5
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	19	-1	20	-2	15	-1	18		16		20		15		16		19	-3	14		172	17.2
6	Lightspeed XP	US	19	-1	19		14	-1	17		14		16	-1	14		14	-1	20		14		161	16.1
G	Qatar Lions	QA	16	-2	19	-3	15		17	-1	16		16		11		15		17		15		157	15.7
7	Spaceland Apex	US	17	-1	19	-1	13	-2	17		10	-2	17		13		12	-2	16	-3	13	-1	147	14.7
8	Corn Needs Butter	US	17	-2	15	-1	13		11	-3	10	-2	14		11		14		15	-2	14		134	13.4
9	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		10	-3	11		11		10		13		10		11		13	-2	9		111	11.1

---

NSL Live Talk with SDC Rhythm XP

---

Six of the XP8 team members and world-champion videographer Elliot Byrd entertained themselves in 4-way before transitioning to their 8-way event. He was filming Skydive Midwest NEXT to the 5th place in 4-way Open. Three of his 8-way team mates (Craig Girard, Matt Davidson, Andrew Happick) invited Eliana Rodriguez to join Hammertime, and former Airspeed videographer Taylor Buffington was filming the two training jumps on the day before Round 1.

It was still enough training for the five former or current 4-way and 8-way world champions to claim the 2nd place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, and SDC Rhythm XP's new lineup had to settle for the bronze medals after their 500 training jumps this year.

In drastic contrast to the Hammertime lineup though, two of the current Rhythm members (Carl Kallgren, Charlie Mcgee) were still competing in the AA/Intermediate Class a year ago at Skydive Arizona. They won the USPA gold medals in this category with Kaos Theory XP and were recruited by Rhythm's senior member Doug Barron a few months later.

The new Rhythm lineup could not outscore Arizona Airspeed and Hammertime, however, Carl Kallgren and Charlie Mcgee still left their former Kaos Theory XP team mate Anna Brunner behind by seven points, who made the same step from AA/Intermediate Class to 4-way Open with XPG4. The complete SDC Rhythm XP lineup was available for NSL Talk the day after the completion of the 4-way event.

---

---

SDC Rhythm XP at the USPA Nationals 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

---