posted Oct 20th, 2022 - The 8-way preview of the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022 with the first NSL Power Rankings on October 13th included an overview of the history in this event at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving.

The chart was showing that all FAI medals since 1985 went to the three 8-way powerhouses, United States, France and Russia, with three exceptions. Canada's 8-way team won bronze medals in 1985, Italy in 2008, Qatar in 2018. Everything was back to the usual situation at the FAI Tanay Mondial, where the same three 8-way powerhouses won once again the three sets of FAI medals.

Things changed dramatically after last year's outdoor world meet, when Mathieu Bernier announced that France will not have an 8-way team, and Russia was banned from participation at FAI/ISC events. It became obvious that U.S. team XP8 will have no serious opposition for the successful defense of their 8-way gold medals, and the Qatar Falcons will turn their best previous placement (3rd) into FAI silver medals this week.

The lack of a well trained French 8-way team and the absence of the Russian 8-way team has potentially opened the door for the next country to win 8-way medals for the first time. It seems like British 8-way team MicroClim8 and Germany's Airbus 8-way lineup have this chance to win the first FAI world meet medals for their country.

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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 8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	MicroClim8	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Airbus	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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MicroClim8 - Airbus 8 at the FAI World Meet 2018

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There will be a French 8-way team though, which could interfere with the British and German chances for FAI medals. The NSL News explained earlier that former French 8-way world champion Manu Sarrazin has brought his Mojo Pamiers 8-way team to Eloy. MicroClim8 and Airbus 8 were not facing any 8-way team from France in Australia 2018, where they met last time.

This time, Manu Sarrazin and his former team mate and current national coach Mathieu Bernier will surely not give up the 3rd place without a fight, even though the Mojo Annecy-Clermont lineup is not as well trained as the French national 8-way teams of the past.

However, MicroClim8 and Airbus 8 both are well prepared and ready to use the unique opportunity to make history in their respective countries. The British 8-way team of the past decade has had the upper hand when they met the Germans at the outdoor world meets in 2016 and 2018.

MicroClim8 founder Martin Soulsby said that he had four changes in the lineup this year, while the German Airbus lineup has been more consistent. New Airbus coach Dan BC has also met the team in Eloy for a few training days and could be very pleased with the performance after his new input. There is apparently a good battle to be expected for the bronze medals in 8-way.

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FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
4	MicroClim8	UK	17		15		12		14	-1	15		21		15		12	-2	13		18	-1	152	15.2
6	Airbus 8	DE	13		15		9	-2	15		11		16		12		12		19		16	-2	129	12.9
FAI Outdoor World Meet 2016			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		12,A,16		18,15,O		1,F,E,C		17,B,14		10,2,20		21,11,G		J,5,19		L,M,K,7		D,8,4		3,13,Q		Total	Avg
5	Microclim8	UK	15		14	-1	16	-1	14		11		13		13		14	-1	13		17		140	14.0
6	Airbus 8	DE	16		15		17		11		11		13		12		14		12		15		136	13.6

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MicroClim8 - Airbus 8 at the FAI World Meet 2016

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