posted Oct 10th, 2022 - Round 1 of the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022 is little over ten days away and scheduled for the morning of October 21st. It is time to direct more attention to the most relevant event in Formation Skydiving competition.

There were recently good news coming from Great Britain, where the national team in 4-way Women, NFTO, confirmed their participation in the world meet, after a time period of question marks behind the appearance of the team at Skydive Arizona.

NFTO is one of the three top contenders for the FAI gold medals in 4-way Women, together with the French national team (Nephtys) and U.S. team XPG4. The reigning world champions in this event, Bubbles from Russia, will not be able to compete and try to defend their title that they won last year at the FAI Tanay Mondial.

The 4-way Women event has the lowest participation in the history of the sport, and since it was integrated in FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving in 2001. This year's 4-team field matches the number of teams at the previous world meet in Tanay, Russia, last year. However, it could become one of the most contested competitions in the history of 4-way Women, and it will most likely feature the most exciting race for gold medals at this year's world meet.

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FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		Total	Avg
1	Bubbles	RU	21	-1	33	-3	18	-1	33	-3	27		18	-2	150	25.0
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	24		27	-4	18		34		24	-2	21		148	24.7
3	No Mercy	PL	15		20	-1	11	-1	20	-2	16		11		93	15.5
4	Aviatrixx	US	15		25		13		14		0		12	-1	79	13.2

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Russia - France at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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Participation in 4-way Women at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving

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There does not seem to be any serious competition for Arizona Airspeed in 4-way Open, and XP8 will most likely defend their 8-way title successfully, as well. In 4-way Women, there does not seem to be any of the three top contenders clearly ahead of the two opponents.

The most recently posted outdoor scores of NFTO, Nephtys and XPG4 are so close that it seems to be impossible to define a top favorite for the gold medals. The French Nephtys finished with an 18.8 average at their national championships, XPG4 with 18.9 at the USPA Nationals.

NFTO's 19.1 average is a year old and was posted at the national championships of 2021, with Julia Swallow in the lineup. The current lineup, with Catherine Anderson for Julia Swallow, have not posted any outdoor scores together since the 20.6 at the British Nationals 2018. The current NFTO lineup with Catherine Anderson back in action have trained a lot with coach Andy Grauwels and will be on a different scoring and performance level in Eloy.

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FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 4-way Women		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Nephtys	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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NFTO - XPG4 - France at their most recent outdoor meets

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However, NFTO will not be the only team on a higher level. The same can be expected of the French national team and XPG4. The Nephtys posted their 18.8 average in August after a very short call for substitute Sophia Pecout to step in for Pamela Lissajoux.

Former 4-way Women world champion Sophia Pecout and her current team mate Gaelle Giesen competed for France in Tanay and finished with a 24.7 average after the six rounds, two points behind Bubbles. The 18.8 average in August was only the starting point for the new lineup.

U.S. national team XPG4 lifted their performance level from 17.7 in July to 18.9 last month, and training has continued in 4-way and in 8-way ever since. It is no news for the NSL News audience that team members Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon are also training and competing with XP8. They have probably the first set of FAI gold medals in their bags, while they are facing double duties and stiff opposition in 4-way Women at the world meet.

However, their XP8 commitment could even be helpful, as some of their 8-way team mates will have great advice how to deal with a situation like that. The race for the FAI medals in 4-way Women seems to be wide open, and Germany's Meltemi Oceanside know that there will be nothing available but a 4th place...