posted Mar 31st, 2023 - The first NSL Power Rankings of the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 in 4-way Open features a total of 19 national teams who are planning to compete at the event in Slovakia next month.

14 of the 19 countries were represented at the previous indoor world championship at Weembi Lille in 2019. Ten of the 14 teams at the previous event will represent their countries once again three years later, even though mostly with different lineups.

Only five teams, Tigers (Qatar), Echochamber (Sweden), HF Flying Circus (Czech Republic), Out Of The Blue (Netherlands) and Magic 4 (Lithuania), seem to be back with exactly the same lineups as in 2019. There was a time period of four years between the two indoor world championships in 2019 and 2023, as the scheduled event in 2021 was canceled due to the corona virus crisis.

The five teams with the same lineups are naturally ranked higher in the NSL Power Rankings than they finished four years ago, as they have increased their performance level with four more years of indoor training and competition. Only the Qatar Tigers have not moved up in the rankings, as the three teams ahead of them have been making good progress with new lineups.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Open	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	HF Flying Circus	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meraki	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	INIT-Y	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	FLY X	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Purple Maze	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Realfly Fire	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Bronteroc	HU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	Magic 4	LT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Echochamber from Sweden is another exception. They will compete in Slovakia with exactly the same lineup as in 2019. However, Martin Bäcklin, Johan Edvall, Ulf Liljenbäck and Rikard Rodensjö have not trained or competed together since 2019. The Echochamber lineup changed a few times, and the reunion happened at the Swedish Indoor Nationals 2022.

The original 2016 lineup enjoyed their reunion so much that they continued with indoor training ever since and are ready to go back to their 27+ average of 2019 and higher.

Even though most of the 14 national teams of 2019, with the same or new lineups or new teams, are close to their performance levels at the last indoor world championship, the NSL Power Rankings are based on more recent events, beginning at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022.

14 countries had sent teams to Charleroi a year ago, and only one country has not registered a 4-way team for the upcoming indoor world championship. Israel's Flyboys placed at the bottom of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard in Charleroi, and the host of the next outdoor world championship is not represented in any of the 4-way events.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open by Country		O,18,14		L,C,F,9		1,J,H,19		3,E,P,Q		20,7,16		2,13,8		17,D,6		N,22,A,G		12,5,11		M,21,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		54	-3	35		41		29		25		39		37		27		30		346	34.6
2	Aerokart Monaco Akdemie	FR	25	-1	58		28	-3	39	-2	25		25		33		32		24		28	-2	317	31.7
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	23	-1	54	-1	30	-1	38	-2	26		23		32		31	-1	24		28	-1	309	30.9
4	HF Flying Circus	CZ	21	-1	39	-3	27	-2	33	-1	20	-2	21		28	-1	27	-1	21		23	-2	260	26.0
5	Meraki	UK	19	-1	43		25	-1	30	-1	23		20		26		27		20		24		257	25.7
6	Papea Masculino	ES	20	-1	41	-1	26	-2	31		21	-1	17	-2	25	-1	27	-1	21		24		253	25.3
7	Out of the Blue	NL	20		39	-2	25		30		17	-2	19		27		23		18	-1	22		240	24.0
7	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	19	-1	43		24	-1	31		18	-2	17	-1	26		23		17	-2	22		240	24.0
9	Amnesya	IT	17	-1	33	-7	25		29	-1	21		19		24	-1	25		19		24		236	23.6
10	INIT-Y	BR	20	-2	39	-2	24	-1	22	-4	23		18	-1	27	-2	27		14	-3	20	-4	234	23.4
10	Windabona Black Mantis	AT	18	-1	39	-2	25		29		21		18	-1	25		23	-2	14	-2	22		234	23.4
12	Bronteroc	HU	19		41		24		31		19		15	-3	22	-2	24		18	-1	20	-2	233	23.3
13	Equinox	LT	14	-4	34		21	-2	25		19		14	-1	21		16	-3	15	-1	22		201	20.1
14	Flyboys	IL	16		26	-3	16	-3	16	-4	15	-2	14	-1	20	-1	16	-2	12	-1	19	-1	170	17.0

Arizona Airspeed was already the leader in the NSL Power Rankings for the indoor world cup last year, where they won by 29 points. France was ranked 2nd and placed 2nd. It seems to be closer for the 2nd place this year. NMP PCH HayaBusa won the silver medals at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, and France was ahead at the Shamrock Showdown 2023. The NSP Power Rankings indicate a battle for the spot behind Arizona Airspeed.

The Qatar Tigers are probably in a very neutral position behind the three medal positions and the rest of the field. The team members will be coming straight out of the Ramadan holidays without much training.

The real battles can once again be expected for the top spot behind the full-time 4-way competitors. Five teams could make it even more exciting than it was in Charleroi, where HF Flying Circus (Chech Republic), Meraki (Great Britain) and Papea (Spain) competed for the 4th place in the rankings of the national teams. ISR FireFlash had actually finished in 4th place on the open leaderboard. This leaves only one single Top 10 position behind these five contenders for the 5th place. Another five teams probably have their eyes on a Top 10 spot, which seems to be even more contested than ever before.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		M,K,D,14		Q,4,5		P,E,9,15		3,N,G,2		6,1,8		F,12,11		13,22,J		H,L,B,18		O,20,A,17		21,7,19		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	39		36		42		35		27		32		29		42	-1	38		31		351	35.1
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	38	-2	33	-1	44		32	-1	27		29	-1	26	-2	47		37		31		344	34.4
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	39		33		40		30		27		29		24	-3	39		33		27		321	32.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	34		30	-2	36		29		22	-3	27	-1	28		36		32		28		302	30.2
5	Airheads	CH	35		28	-1	33	-2	29		25		27		24	-1	36		30		25	-1	292	29.2
6	Black Cat	RU	34		29		39	-1	29		25		22	-2	25	-1	36	-1	26	-3	22	-2	287	28.7
7	Echochamber	SE	34		27	-1	35		26	-1	22	-2	25		20	-5	35		26	-3	24	-1	274	27.4
8	ACM Weembi	UK	32	-1	28		32	-2	26	-1	20	-1	24		19	-2	35		26		25		267	26.7
9	Airfource	DE	33	-3	22	-1	33	-1	25		22	-1	23		20	-3	35	-2	25	-1	24	-1	262	26.2
10	HF Flying Circus	CZ	31		26		28	-1	23		24		22		18	-2	33		19	-5	23		247	24.7
11	Pro Team	FI	27	-2	24		30		23		23		22		22		30		23	-3	22	-1	246	24.6
12	Monaco Indoor Skydive Team	MC	27	-1	21		27	-2	23		20		22		21		29		21		21		232	23.2
13	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	27	-1	23		28	-1	23		19	-2	20	-1	20		29		21	-1	21	-1	231	23.1
14	Papea Masculino	ES	28	-2	23		26	-1	16	-3	21	-1	20	-1	21		30	-1	23	-2	22		230	23.0
15	Out of the Blue	NL	24		22		27		19	-1	19		19		18		27		24		20	-1	219	21.9
16	H40	IE	22	-1	19		23		17		18		17	-1	17	-1	24		20		19		196	19.6
17	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	23	-2	19		23	-1	17	-2	18		17	-1	14	-3	22		19		17	-2	189	18.9
18	Magic 4	LT	26		15	-1	19	-5	15	-2	17		16	-3	17	-1	21		-		-		146	18.3