posted Sep 23rd, 2022 - The comeback of the European Skydiving League Championship (ESL) event took place on the weekend after the completion of the USPA Nationals. Both events were still effected by the impact of the corona virus crisis and other interfering political issues. The participation was lower than it was in the past.

The USPA Nationals had a total of 59 teams in all traditional 4-way events in 2019, including the guest teams, 65 in 2021, and down to 48 this month. It was the lowest number in the history of USPA Nationals. The event was canceled in 2020, due to the implications of the corona virus crisis.

The ESL Championship had an even longer break of two years, after the record participation of 30 teams in 2019. The event was not even scheduled for the 2020 season, and the situation did not change in the second year of the worldwide health crisis.

ESL organizer Mike Pennock decided this year that it is time to bring back the event, even if it were only to remind the 4-way community in Europe that the popular competition with its different format would be brought back to full swing in the coming years.

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ESL Championship 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		2,15,F	M,19,A,18	3,8,13	D,21,K,7	G,9,N,5	1,10,Q	L,O,14,12	20,E,B,11	H,4,6	Total	Avg
1	Ayro	BE	16	20	14	18	19	16	13	15	17	148	16.4
2	Thyra	NO	10	13	7	13	14	11	9	10	13	100	11.1
3	Shinobi	NL	8	10	8	11	10	8	10	10	9	84	9.3
Rank	AA Class		2,15	M,19,A	8,13	D,21,K	G,9,N	1,Q,F	L,O,14	20,E,B	H,4,6	Total	Avg
1	Garudas	BE	7	10	7	8	13	12	10	10	10	87	9.7
2	Camera Flyers	NO	9	11	6	9	0	0	0	0	0	35	3.9
Rank	A Class		2,F	M,19	8,A	D,21	G,9	Q,K,7	L,O,N	E,B,6	H,4	Total	Avg
1	The Loop	BE	9	9	5	5	3	7	7	7	5	57	6.3
2	RW2Heaven	BE	3	5	4	4	5	7	3	7	4	42	4.7
Rank	Rookie		F,L,O	M,A,E	D,K,B	G,N,H	Q,P,J	C,M,J	O,G,H	E,B,A	N,Q,F	Total	Avg
1	Airflux	BE	10	13	10	10	11	13	7	12	9	95	10.6
2	Steelers	UA	8	11	9	8	5	9	9	8	8	75	8.3
3	Wavey Wackers	UK	8	8	8	7	8	7	5	7	7	65	7.2

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Ayro - Thyra - Shinobi at the ESL Championship 2022

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Mike Pennock welcomed teams in each of the four NSL categories to the ESL Championship 2022 at Skydive Flanders in Zwartberg, Belgium, and the AAA and RRR leaderboards both actually featured teams from three different European countries.

Three Belgian teams (Ayro, The Loop, Air Flux) had just competed at their national championships a week earlier and came back to secure the ESL Spirit trophy for the Belgian delegation that the British teams had taken home in 2019. No other country had enough teams on site this year to oppose the Belgian home team.

AAA Class winner Ayro confirmed the 16+ average that the team had posted first time a week earlier at the Belgian national outdoor championships and did not face any serious competition. Thyra from Norway had Agera FS2022 member Julian Frayne in the lineup, who then traveled to DeLand, Florida, with his own team for the last training camp.

Thyra was missing a team member of the new all-female lineup. In fact, Thyra was actually planning to compete for Norway in 4-way Women at the FAI outdoor world meet, which is not going to happen, as one team member is too young of age. The NSL News will follow up soon with more details of the Thyra plans.

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Camera Flyers at the ESL Championship 2022

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ESL Championship 2019				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		ESL	F,E,A,4	12,J,13	18,M,8	2,9,3	20,Q,6	21,N,14	15,L,P,1	17,11,19	B,G,16,C	Total	Avg
1	Weembi Unicorns	IT	10	25	15	18	18	16	16	19	14	22	163	18.1
2	Mria	UA	8	20	13	13	13	13	13	13	10	16	124	13.8
3	Alis Team	UA	6	17	13	13	14	14	11	12	11	18	123	13.7
4	HF Flying Circus	CZ	5	18	9	13	14	14	12	13	11	17	121	13.4
4	Falco	BE	5	18	11	13	15	11	11	11	12	19	121	13.4
6	Dark Energy	DE	3	19	11	13	13	11	11	11	11	16	116	12.9
7	Ayro	BE	2	18	9	14	12	10	12	12	11	15	113	12.6
8	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	1	16	8	11	12	14	11	12	10	14	108	12.0
9	Stardust	BE	1	17	9	11	11	11	8	11	9	14	101	11.2
10	FS2020Agera	NO	1	18	9	8	9	10	11	13	9	11	98	10.9
11	Horschd	DE	1	15	10	9	7	10	11	7	11	13	93	10.3
12	JETMAX	BE	1	11	8	10	10	11	11	11	8	9	89	9.9
13	Shinobi	NL	1	13	7	9	9	9	6	9	8	8	78	8.7
14	M Team	CZ	1	13	6	9	7	8	8	7	5	9	72	8.0
Rank	AA Class			F,E,A,4	J,13,1	18,M,8	2,9	20,Q,6	21,N,14	15,L,P	11,19	B,G,C,22	Total	Avg
1	Do or Dive	UK	10	9	8	7	8	5	8	6	7	-	58	7.3
2	Vortex	UK	8	9	6	5	7	6	6	5	9	-	53	6.6
3	Aeropotam's	BE	6	7	6	8	7	7	6	6	5	-	52	6.5
Rank	A Class			F,E,A	J,4	M,8	2,9	Q,6	21,N	L,P,7	19,O	B,G,C	Total	Avg
1	Lions	QA	n/a	13	7	11	7	11	9	11	10	-	79	9.9
2	Falcons	QA	n/a	18	9	11	8	9	9	8	6	-	78	9.8
3	Cheetas	QA	n/a	17	7	7	9	8	8	11	10	-	77	9.6
4	High Five	CZ	10	13	6	11	7	9	8	12	10	-	76	9.5
5	British Army Volt4ge	UK	8	19	9	7	7	7	7	9	6	-	71	8.9
6	High Voltage	BE	6	12	10	8	9	8	8	8	6	-	69	8.6
6	Funky Falcon	NL	6	12	7	11	8	8	7	8	8	-	69	8.6
8	Huayra	BE	4	12	8	8	7	8	7	6	9	-	65	8.1
9	Black Devils	BE	3	11	7	4	7	6	3	7	8	-	53	6.6
10	Oljakoda	BE	2	9	4	5	3	6	5	5	6	-	43	5.4
Rank	Rookie			F,E,A	J,O,M	Q,N,L	P,M,J	L,A,C	P,D,O	E,Q,N	G,F,P	B,G,C	Total	Avg
1	Gravity Monkeys	DE	10	5	9	7	11	4	8	6	7	-	57	7.1
2	TMNS	UK	8	7	9	2	5	5	6	7	6	-	47	5.9
3	Jackal	UK	6	5	7	6	6	3	4	5	7	-	43	5.4

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The most interesting part of the ESL Championship 2022 may have been the AA Class competition, where Garudas won the 1st place for Belgium, as well. Garudas did not have any other teams in their category, and a new team was formed on site to make it a competition.

Organizer Rogier Carper told the funny story how the team came together. Videographers of the participating teams decided to join the competition with their own lineup. Meet Director Mike Pennock accepted the very late registration.

The Camera Flyers were still one team member short, and they were asking local skydivers to join the team. They found a "Neal" who was willing to step in. They promised him to "engineer all formations around him" under the assumption by the Camera Flyers that he did not have a lot of 4-way experiences.

When new NMP PCH HayaBusa member Neal Willems put on his yellow Javelin gear and the HayaBusa jumpsuit, he was finally identified. The Camera Flyers ran out of money after Round 4, and Neal Willems will travel to Florida now for his next HayaBusa training camp at Skydive City.