posted Nov 23rd, 2022 - The internal British duel for the country's top spot in 4-way competition between NFTO and Chimera has been going on since 2016. It was the World Challenge where both teams posted scores for the first time, on two different leaderboards.

NFTO had a their first complete year behind them when Chimera launched their new team, with three of the current members (Sarah Ashworth, Laura Hampton, James Woods) in the first lineup of 2016. Current NFTO members Anna Hicks and Vana Parker were in NFTO's 2016 lineup.

NFTO did not have much opposition in becoming instantly the strongest British 4-way Women team, while Chimera had to work their way up the British leaderboard until they were finally next to NFTO in the rankings, and then began to challenge the strongest British 4-way teams in 4-way Open. Satori XL, 4mula, Vision 99, NFTO and Eclipse were ahead of Chimera at their first national championships in 2016.

Logically, NFTO had much earlier experiences at FAI world championships, as they could represent the country in 4-way Women (2016 - 2018), while Chimera eventually qualified as the British national team in 4-way Open in 2019.

British Outdoor Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class - Top 10	22,B,8	L,C,10,14	19,H,E,7	12,11,16	N,J,4,G	20,18,5	Q,O,A,15	P,1,13	3,9,6	D,F,21,2	Total	Avg
1	Satori XL	17	20	26	15	22	17	25	19	21	22	204	20.4
2	4mula	15	18	22	15	20	15	24	16	19	21	185	18.5
3	Vision 99	15	17	22	16	19	14	22	15	19	22	181	18.1
4	NFTO	15	16	19	14	20	14	21	17	17	21	174	17.4
4	Eclipse	15	17	19	13	22	14	20	15	18	21	174	17.4
6	Chimera	15	16	19	13	18	13	17	13	17	20	161	16.1
7	Phoenix	13	12	19	12	18	11	16	13	14	16	144	14.4
8	Antimatter	14	14	16	11	15	11	18	12	14	17	142	14.2
9	Eros	11	13	13	12	16	10	16	12	12	14	129	12.9
10	Unicornmagic Flytastic	10	12	15	9	15	10	16	12	13	15	127	12.7

It has been a delicate situation to qualify for world championships in Great Britain ever since NFTO and Chimera became the country's two strongest 4-way teams. Chimera did not win the British Outdoor Nationals 2019 to qualify as the national team in 4-way Open for the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. NFTO won by six points in 2019, and Chimera placed 2nd, two points ahead of Eros.

Chimera were still qualified as the national team in 4-way Open, as NFTO were planning to compete in 4-way Women at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. Eventually, neither NFTO nor Chimera competed at the rescheduled outdoor world meet, due to the impact of the corona virus crisis.

NFTO won again at the British Outdoor Nationals 2021, this time after an extra round and applying the tie-breaking rules. NFTO decided once again to compete in 4-way Women at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022, where they won the gold medals in 4-way Women. Chimera represented Great Britain on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard at the team's first outdoor world championship.

NFTO have been aware of the situation and had Chimera in the back of their minds, too, when they decided to compete in 4-way Women. They have the choice, and Chimera have to follow their lead. It has worked well in the past, as NFTO now won the FAI gold medals in 4-way Women, and Chimera attended their first outdoor world championship.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Top 10		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4
5	NFTO	UK	18		23		21		21		25		15	-2	17		14	-1	23		23		200	20.0
6	Nephtys	FR	16	-2	20	-1	19		21		23		14		17		14	-1	24		21		189	18.9
7	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
8	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
9	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
10	XPG4	US	17	-1	21	-1	18	-1	20	-1	20	-3	16		15		15		21	-2	21		184	18.4

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NFTO - Chimera at the FAI World Meet 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC and OmniSkore!HD

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Medalists in 4-way Women at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 2001

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The combined leaderboard of the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022 is showing how close NFTO and Chimera were once again to each other. Only the French 4-way Women team Nephtys separated the two British 4-way national teams from each other, and both finished right behind the medal contenders in 4-way Open.

Only Chimera's Top 10 record number of 11 point deductions were in the way of finishing right next to NFTO and significantly closer. It was the first half of the 10-round meet that caused the final position in 7th place on the combined leaderboard. Chimera won the second set of five rounds by three points (95 - 92) over NFTO and by five points over Nephtys (95 - 90).

NFTO finished their 2022 season with the accomplishment of the main goal and added another set of FAI gold medals in 4-way Women to the collection of the British delegation in this event. It was the 4th time that a British team won FAI gold in 4-way Women, after the introduction of this category in 2001. Bodyflight Storm won the last one in Maubeuge 2008. France (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018), United States (2016) and Russia (2021) shared the 4-way Women gold medals until NFTO took them this year.

Chimera finished in the highest ranking position behind the medal contenders in 4-way Open. Both teams now have to decide whether they want to defend their British top positions in 2023 and then their international standings in 2024. However, Chimera still have another open account. They have not yet outscored NFTO at an outdoor competition...

UK Nationals 2021		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,15,P	21,6,L	B,4,3	E,G,11,Q	10,N,16	C,H,K,19	M,17,A,F	D,2,9	22,O,18	13,1,14	7,12,8	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	20	18	15	18	17	23	32	19	13	16	15	191	19.1
2	Chimera	19	18	15	20	16	23	29	21	14	16	15	191	19.1
3	Eros	16	18	18	19	14	22	27	21	15	15	-	185	18.5
4	Alola	12	13	10	14	11	16	22	17	9	12	-	136	13.6
5	Pajama Pumas	12	13	11	15	12	14	21	12	11	11	-	132	13.2
6	T.B.C.	12	11	13	15	10	15	15	11	11	11	-	124	12.4
7	Restart	5	10	12	13	11	10	16	12	11	12	-	112	11.2
8	Vantage	8	10	11	8	9	12	14	11	10	9	-	102	10.2

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NFTO - Chimera at the British Nationals 2021

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