posted Apr 20th, 2023 - The first four rounds of the 4-way competition at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 are complete, and the teams have been released for the day. Rounds 5 - 8 are scheduled for Friday morning.

The flying order of the 19 teams in 4-way Open and nine teams in 4-way Women was according to the final rankings at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2019 throughout the whole first day. The FAI/ISC rules and regulations allow the meet director to make adjustments to the starting order almost at any time, as Jim Rees, Team Manager of the U.S. indoor delegation, which is headed by Randy Connell, confirmed after checking the details.

Arizona Airspeed was not the team concluding each round, even though their top position in the world is probably not arguable at the moment. It was still NMP PCH HayaBusa in the reversed top position, as they had won the previous indoor world championship at Weembi Lille 2019, and the French national team in 4-way Open was still performing after Arizona Airspeed, as well.

The Weembi High Rollers had outscored Airspeed's 2019 lineup (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Thiago Gomes, Ari Perelman) in their home chamber at Weembi Lille in 2019. Three of the Weembi High Rollers are back in action this week. Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis compete for the French lineup in 4-way Women, while their 2019 team mate Roy Janssen is trying to coach NFTO to the indoor gold medals in the same event. His former French team mates are winning so far.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,14,3	K,F,22,17	O,7,5	N,2,18	L,P,12,15	M,10,D,H	16,9,C	1,G,J,8	4,Q,21	6,20,A	B,11,19	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	35	39	27	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	128	32.0
2	France 4-way Open	FR	27	33	38	26	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	124	31.0
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	26	30	33	26	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	115	28.8
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	29	32	26	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	111	27.8
5	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	22	28	33	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	105	26.3
6	Purple Maze	FI	22	26	29	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	96	24.0
6	FLY X	IT	19	27	30	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	96	24.0
8	Papea	ES	23	24	29	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	95	23.8
8	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	22	26	30	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	95	23.8
10	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	23	29	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	94	23.5
10	Agera	NO	22	24	29	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	94	23.5
12	Out of the Blue	NL	22	23	27	21	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	93	23.3
13	Meraki	UK	17	24	26	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	89	22.3
14	Realfly Fire	CH	20	21	26	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	84	21.0
14	Bronteroc	HU	20	22	24	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	84	21.0
16	INIT-Y	BR	19	20	29	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	83	20.8
17	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	21	21	24	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	82	20.5
18	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	20	21	21	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	78	19.5
19	Magic 4	LT	17	19	23	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	74	18.5

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Round 1 at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023

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There is a very good chance that the meet director will make the adjustments in the starting order after the completion of the first day. Arizona Airspeed has won all FAI/ISC indoor and outdoor events since the beginning of the new lineup in 2020. France is surely challenging Airspeed round by round so far. However, there is still a 4-point difference after four rounds, to the Airspeed advantage.

Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis are ahead of NFTO and Roy Janssen with the French national team in 4-way Women, while they may have been surprised that the stronger opponent is actually coming from the United States. Paraclete's XPG4 lineup provide evidence for the progress that the team has recently made, with Airspeed's Niklas Hemlin coaching the team.

XPG4 took the lead in Round 4 after a solid start with three good rounds. In fact, there have been quite a few changes between the basic team introduction in Round 1 and the video update in Round 3. NFTO and France were tied on the top of the leaderboard after Round 2. Two rounds later, NFTO has allowed the HF Cubs to get back into the medal game with only a 1-point difference, while XPG4 and France have created a meaningful distance in the two top spots.

The ranking order in 4-way Open is more consistent than in 4-way Women, which had to be expected. The four medal contenders in 4-way Open have created the same order after Round 2 that they finished in at the Shamrock Showdown 2023 last month in DeLand.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		E,14,3	K,F,22,17	O,7,5	N,2,18	L,P,12,15	M,10,D,H	16,9,C	1,G,J,8	4,Q,21	6,20,A	B,11,19	Total	Avg
1	XPG4	US	25	28	33	25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	111	27.8
2	France 4-way Women	FR	24	30	34	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	110	27.5
3	NFTO	UK	25	29	30	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	104	26.0
4	HF Cubs	CZ	22	25	33	23	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	103	25.8
5	Piteraq	DE	22	19	25	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	85	21.3
6	Airdrops	CH	18	19	23	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	73	18.3
7	Windabona Angels Chicas	ES	18	16	20	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	70	17.5
8	Fire Phoenix	IT	17	17	20	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	68	17.0
9	Kiss My Grips	SK	13	14	19	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	60	15.0

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Round 3 at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023

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