posted Dec 2nd, 2022 - The national 8-way teams of the United States have been dominating the competition in this event since the current format for FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving was introduced in 1985. The U.S.A. is the only country in the world that has won medals at each event ever since.

In fact, the question has always just been whether it would be gold or silver that the U.S. 8-way teams would bring back from the world championships. There has not been a set of bronze medals yet in the collection of the U.S. delegation.

The dominance in this event was only interrupted between 2001 and 2010 when Russia and France interfered five times. The Golden Knights won most of the 15 world championship titles for the United States, ten of them, while civilian 8-way teams (Coors, Arizona Airspeed, XP8) added the other five sets to the gold-medal collection.

The almost unlimited resources of the U.S. Army were a major and very successful factor in 8-way competition. However, Coors, Arizona Airspeed and XP8 still managed to defeat the Golden Knights, even though it happened a few times when the U.S. Army headquarters changed direction for their competition team.

Medal winners in 8-way Open at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985

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The NSL News reported randomly when directions changed, once in 2002 when the main U.S. Army focus changed to 4-way, then back to 8-way in 2009. The most significant change came when the Golden Knights were completely withdrawn from Formation Skydiving competition after the USPA Nationals 2021. There was no U.S. Army team on any leaderboards at this year's national championships.

Paraclete XP's 8-way teams have created competition for the Golden Knights since Tim D'Annunzio created the first Paraclete lineup in 2005. It took a few years until the teams were competitive enough to put some pressure on Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed, which happened for the first time with the 3rd place at the USPA Nationals 2009 (196 - 189 - 187).

The progression of Paraclete XP's 8-way teams peaked at the USPA Nationals 2021 when the Airspeed/XP8 combination won and became the new U.S. national 8-way team for the FAI Tanay Mondial, where they won the next set of 8-way gold medals for the U.S.A.

The lineup changed after the event, when Arizona Airspeed's new 8-way world champions (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Chris Kuhlmann) decided to focus only on 4-way training and competition in the near future. The new XP8 lineup (Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon, John D'Annunzio, Kirk Verner, Matt Davidson, Craig Girard, Andrew Happick, Brian Krause, Elliot Byrd on camera) defended the title successfully this year.

FAI Outdoor Tanay 2021 FS8			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		1,9,A		Total	Avg
1	Airspeed XP8	US	20		23		22	-1	23		31	-1	23		24		166	23.7
2	France National 8-way	FR	20		23		25		24		26	-1	25	-1	22	-1	165	23.6
3	Tanay 8	RU	18		21	-1	20		23		26		23		22		153	21.9

FAI Outdoor Eloy 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		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	Paraclete XP8	US	25	-1	20		20	-1	18	-1	18		19	-1	23		26	-1	16	-2	20	-2	205	20.5
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	-1	14	-2	16	-1	17		16		15	-1	19	-1	20	-1	14	-1	12	-4	164	16.4
3	Airbus	DE	18		14		14		13		4	-1	12	-2	16		16		12		14		133	13.3

XP8 now announced that the lineup will be different in 2023. Michelle Karamon, Craig Girard, Brian Krause and team videographer Elliot Byrd will not continue, and three former Golden Knights members (Andrew Starr, Jeshua Stahler, Mike Connors) will take the open slots. Paraclete staff member Chris Bess will be on camera for XP8.

This personnel change is not great news for any potential 8-way opponents of the U.S. team. The world-champion XP8 lineup of 2022 were already without much serious opposition at Skydive Arizona in October, and two of the three new team members are bringing an additional and unique wealth of 8-way experiences to the new XP8 lineup.

Andrew Starr and Jesse Stahler both were in the Golden Knights 8-way lineup who posted the highest average in 8-way history (23.9) under team captain Sean Sweeney at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016. Andrew Starr became the next team captain of the Golden Knights and guided his 2018 lineup, including Jesse Stahler, with a 22.4 average to the next gold medals in Australia 2018.

XP8 member Matt Davidson was their Golden Knights team mate in 2016 and 2018, and this 3-way has experienced 8-way competition on the highest level in history together. Andrew Starr and Jesse Stahler bring their 4-way team mate Mike Connors into the XP8 lineup, as well, who they know obviously well enough. XP8 have been trying to challenge the 23.9 record mark, and the latest change in the lineup will probably bring them closer to this specific goal.

FAI Outdoor Ottawa 2016 FS8			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
1	Golden Knights	US	31		25		26	-1	22		20		22		19		26		24		24	-1	239	23.9
2	France	FR	22	-1	20	-1	25		18		16		19		17		23		19		20		199	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	23		19		25		17		14	-1	16		16		21		20		19		190	19.0

FAI Outdoor Australia 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
1	Golden Knights	US	24		21		18		24		19	-2	29		21		18	-1	17		33		224	22.4
2	Tanay	RU	21	-1	21		17		22	-1	20		28		16	-1	18		18		28	-1	209	20.9
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	19		16		15		18	-1	14	-1	21		16		14	-1	14		23	-1	170	17.0