posted Jan 24th, 2023 - The AAA Class leaderboard of the British Indoor Nationals 2022 offered a surprise of a different kind. Scores and positions turned out to be mostly as expected, with NFTO once again in the top spot of the AAA Class leaderboard.

However, the strongest NFTO opponent of the past seven years, Chimera, were not present to defend the indoor title that the British national team in 4-way Open won for the first time in February 2022. Chimera have been so much a consistent and competitive factor on British and international leaderboards since 2016 that the team's absence at the British Indoor Nationals was the event's biggest surprise.

The easiest explanation could have been the proximity of Round 10 at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 on October 27th and Round 1 of the British Indoor Nationals on December 2nd. However, NFTO, who won the team's first FAI 4-way Women gold medals in Eloy, made the transition from outdoor to indoor competition and won their next British indoor title, even with a new lineup.

Chimera were just as successful as NFTO in Eloy, as they won the world's unofficial amateur title with the 5th place behind the full-time teams, after an exciting 10-round battle with Papea from Spain and Sweden's Echochamber. The 5th place at a world championship is currently the maximum achievement for an amateur team, and Chimera decided that this peak position is the best conclusion of the 7-year team career.

British Indoor Nationals 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		O,P,22,1	19,L,F,4	7,10,D	E,14,17	6,9,13	A,5,21	12,18,15	H,G,3,M	B,2,N,Q	J,11,16	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	23	26	25	23	29	29	19	24	32	25	255	25.5
2	Meraki	UK	22	23	22	24	24	24	19	31	32	23	244	24.4
3	FCGB Weembi	UK	21	20	23	20	24	22	17	28	29	22	226	22.6
4	Apex	UK	22	18	19	22	24	24	15	27	27	21	219	21.9
5	R4MJ	UK	17	19	18	22	21	21	14	23	21	19	195	19.5
6	Ginette Weembi	FR	20	20	18	17	22	18	14	21	22	17	189	18.9
7	Peregrines	UK	15	16	16	14	16	13	11	17	17	13	148	14.8
8	4Reigners	UK	14	13	13	16	15	15	11	13	17	14	141	14.1
9	Boomentry	UK	15	12	11	12	13	12	8	11	14	7	115	11.5
10	Silver Linings	UK	14	10	13	12	12	8	9	13	14	7	112	11.2
11	Say It Again But Slowly	UK	12	11	11	11	11	11	6	12	13	9	107	10.7
12	Omni	UK	11	11	9	8	10	10	9	13	15	10	106	10.6

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Chimera at the World Challenge in 2018 and 2019

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The complete 2022 season was the best one in the Chimera history, with the British indoor and outdoor championship titles both, and the 5th place finish at the FAI Outdoor World Championship. The team confirmed this decision in an official statement:

"It's been an incredible 7 years for us in Chimera, culminating in 2022 where we won the indoor and outdoor British National Championships, and came 5th at the World Championships - the highest ranking for a non-professional team in the open category. 2022 was the final year for us as a team. Having trained so hard for so long, we're all so grateful for everything we've achieved together and feel the time is right to pursue other goals that we have, both in and out of skydiving. We've achieved our 4-way dream and it's time for us to find our next dreams??"

The Chimera time has come to an end, while the team members will continue in different ways, including the option of more training, competition and coaching. Chimera also gave the team's coach, Arizona Airspeed's Nikle Hemlin, special credit:

"No thank you is complete without mentioning our coach, friend and mentor Niklas Hemlin of Arizona Airspeed, who continues to teach us, inspire us, disgust us and make us laugh so hard we can barely breathe. You've always believed in us and we love you very much."

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-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	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	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
6	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
7	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
8	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		18	-2	19		16	-1	20	-1	13	-3	15		14		19	-2	22	-1	172	17.2
9	Agera FS 2022	NO	16		16	-2	17	-1	17		18	-1	15		15		13	-1	18	-3	21		166	16.6
9	4Astrophe	CA	15	-1	20		19		15	-2	21		15		15	-2	14		16	-3	16	-2	166	16.6
11	Out of the Blue	NL	16		16	-3	17		17		14	-2	17		12	-1	13	-1	21	-1	18		161	16.1
12	Ripper	AU	14	-1	16	-1	18		16	-1	21		15		12		10	-3	19	-1	19	-1	160	16.0
13	Sky4Four	PL	13	-1	14	-3	14		16		16	-2	12	-1	12		13		21		18	-1	149	14.9
14	HF Flying Circus	CZ	13		10	-7	16		15	-1	18	-2	12	-1	13		11	-3	16	-5	17	-1	141	14.1
15	Sequenz	DK	10	-2	16		15		14	-1	17	-1	12	-1	12		11	-1	17	-1	11	-3	135	13.5
16	INIT-Y	BR	12	-2	14	-1	14	-1	13	-4	16		11	-2	10	-3	12		17	-1	15	-3	134	13.4
17	HSV Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	10	-2	16		14		15		15	-1	8	-3	9	-2	10	-1	15	-1	13	-1	125	12.5
18	Adventure Flyers	PY	9	-1	13		12	-1	11		16		11		10		9		14		14	-1	119	11.9
19	Equinox	LT	10	-1	12	-2	12		12	-1	13	-1	10		10		9	-1	12	-4	14	-1	114	11.4
20	Tina & The Dinosaurs	NZ	5		8	-1	4		9		9	-1	8		5		4	-2	10		8		70	7.0
21	La Playa	GT	2	-1	7	-2	5	-1	3	-3	7		5		3	-1	5		-		-		37	4.6

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Chimera at the British Outdoor Nationals 2022 and the FAI Outdoor World Championship

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Chimera will not try to defend the amateur top spot at the next outdoor world championship, which opens the door for a national 4-way Open Class team of a different country in Israel 2024, unless the next British 4-way champion team will try to follow the Chimera steps.

Spain (Papea) and Sweden (Echochamber) were already a part of the battle for the 5th place, and Germany's Airbus 4-way team have launched their next 2-year period, as the NSL News reported on January 11th. Norway's 4-way Open Class team Agera could also become a top contender for the 5th place if the team continues after competing on home turf at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023. Canada's family team 4Astrophe was exactly on the Agera level in October last year.

The 5th place seems to continue being the best position for an amateur team, as the Top 4 keep training and competing with the same lineups for the next two years. United States (Arizona Airspeed), Belgium (NMP PCH HayaBusa), Qatar (Tigers) and France are so far ahead of all the best teams from other countries, and two more years with the same lineups will only create more distance. However, Chimera's successful last year pays back for the seven years of training and competition, which brought more than enough additional fun and experiences:

"We've learned so much on our journey. Through developing our 4-way skills, we've become better skydivers. Through developing as team mates, we've become better in so many aspects of our lives. It's been an honor and a privilege to spend 7 years together and we feel very lucky to have had so much support from so many of you."

The same counts hopefully for all teams, between the 1st, 5th and 21st place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard...