posted Apr 26th, 2023 - The aftermath of the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 continues with the combined leaderboard of all AAA Class teams in horizontal 4-way. The national teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women use the identical competition draw, which allows comparing the results directly.

The 4-way VFS teams are using the same numbers and letters as in 4-way Open and 4-way Women, while the event has totally different blocks and random formations, of course.

This year's indoor world championship was the most successful one for teams in 4-way Women. The four teams in the Top 10 of the combined AAA Class leaderboard resemble the strongest performance of teams with all-female lineups in the history of any world championships.

Only the French Nephtys and NFTO made the Top 10 at Weembi Lille in 2019. XPG4 won the bronze medals in 4-way Women, while they ended up in 11th place on the combined AAA leaderboard. This changed already at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 where the U.S. team claimed a Top 10 spot (10th) with the same lineup as in Slovakia, together with NFTO (5th) and Nephtys (6th).

FAI World Championship 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/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		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		35		39		27	-2	31		38		38		29		28	-1	31		323	32.3
2	France 4-way Open	FR	27		33		38		26	-2	28		33	-3	35		28		30		30		308	30.8
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	26	-1	30		33	-3	26	-3	28		37	-1	37		28		29		30	-1	304	30.4
4	France 4-way Women	FR	24	-2	30	-1	34	-1	22	-1	27		36		34	-1	27		25		26		285	28.5
5	XPG4	US	25		28	-1	33		25		25	-2	36		29	-3	24	-2	26		25	-2	276	27.6
6	Qatar Tigers	QA	24		29	-1	32	-1	26		25	-3	32		30	-2	26		25	-1	26	-1	275	27.5
7	NFTO	UK	25	-1	29		30	-2	20	-3	22	-3	32		34	-1	27	-1	23	-2	26		268	26.8
8	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	22	-2	28	-1	33		22		25		30	-2	31		24		24	-1	25	-1	264	26.4
9	HF Cubs	CZ	22	-2	25	-3	33		23	-1	19	-5	31	-1	33	-1	25	-3	23	-4	24	-2	258	25.8
10	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	22		26	-1	30		17	-5	24		28	-3	27	-2	23		24		25	-1	246	24.6
11	FLY X	IT	19	-4	27		30	-1	20	-1	21	-1	29	-2	30	-1	23	-1	22	-2	24	-1	245	24.5
12	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	-2	23	-1	29	-1	22		20	-2	30	-2	29		24		20	-3	25		242	24.2
13	Purple Maze	FI	22		26		29		19	-3	21		29		27		25		21	-3	21	-2	240	24.0
13	Papea	ES	23	-1	24	-2	29	-2	19	-5	21	-2	28	-2	28		25		21	-1	22	-2	240	24.0
15	Out of the Blue	NL	22		23	-2	27	-2	21	-1	21		26	-1	26	-1	22	-1	21		22		231	23.1
16	Agera	NO	22		24		29		19	-1	23		25	-2	26	-2	23		19	-2	19	-3	229	22.9
17	Meraki	UK	17	-4	24		26	-3	22		19	-2	27		28		22	-1	23		18	-5	226	22.6
18	INIT-Y	BR	19	-2	20	-3	29		15	-4	19	-1	27		27		23	-1	23		20	-2	222	22.2
19	Piteraq	DE	22		19	-2	25		19		20		27		24		20		21		21		218	21.8
20	Realfly Fire	CH	20	-1	21	-2	26	-1	17	-2	20		27		24	-2	23		20	-1	19	-3	217	21.7
21	Bronteroc	HU	20	-1	22	-1	24	-3	18	-1	20	-1	26	-1	25	-1	19	-1	21		18	-2	213	21.3
22	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	21		21	-1	24	-3	16	-2	21		27		25		17	-6	20	-1	20	-1	212	21.2
23	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	20	-1	21	-2	21	-3	16	-2	23		26	-1	25	-1	16	-3	20	-1	20	-1	208	20.8
24	Magic 4	LT	17	-1	19	-2	23		15	-4	20		27		25	-1	18	-3	19		18	-2	201	20.1
25	Airdrops	CH	18	-1	19	-2	23		13	-3	19		24		22	-1	19		21		16	-4	194	19.4
26	Windabona Angels Chicas	ES	18		16	-1	20	-1	16	-1	16	-1	22		16	-4	16	-1	18		17	-1	175	17.5
27	Fire Phoenix	IT	17		17	-1	20		14		14	-2	20	-2	16	-2	14	-1	16		16		164	16.4
28	Kiss My Grips	SK	13	-1	14	-2	19		14		12		19		16	-3	16	-1	16		13	-2	152	15.2

The teams in 4-way Women were even stronger represented on last week's combined AAA leaderboard. The Czech HF Cubs outscored Echochamber from Sweden to finish in 9th place, after missing a set of medals in 4-way Women.

The young Czech team, 4-way Junior world champions of 2019, were facing very strong opponents in 4-way Women this year. Neither XPG4 nor NFTO competed at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022, where the Cubs won at their first FAI/ISC competition in a senior event. The new Nephtys of 2023 came to Slovakia with an extremely strong and highly experienced lineup. Two team members, Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis, competed with the Weembi High Rollers in 2019, who pushed Arizona Airspeed to the 3rd place and finished 2nd behind NMP PCH HayaBusa.

The Cubs still made the AAA Top 10 without too much trouble and contributed to the strongest 4-way Women presence in the history of the sport. The balance between all-male and all-female lineups was almost even on the combined Top 10 leaderboard. No mixed-gender lineups made it to the Top 10 this year, after the Weembi High Rollers won 4-way Open Class silver medals at Weembi Lille four years ago. This year's French lineup and XPG4 both even outscored one of the medal contenders in 4-way Open, the Qatar Tigers, and the German Airfource was only the strongest "amateur team" in 4-way Open. France and XPG4 finished behind the medalists in 4-way Open on the combined AAA leaderboard.

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United States - France in 4-way Open

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France - United States in 4-way Women

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The NSL News mentioned earlier that the U.S. and French delegations finished with the same medal collections in horizontal 4-way Formation Skydiving. The Nephtys won gold in 4-way Women, and the French 4-way Open Class team added a set of silver medals. Arizona Airspeed and XPG4 won gold and silver for the United States.

No other nation placed more than one team in the Top 10 of the combined leaderboard. NFTO (7th) outscored Meraki's three other female 4-way competitors and Pete Allum (17th) in the British delegation. Germany's Airfource made the Top 10 (8th), and Piteraq finished in 19th place. Belgium (NMP PCH HayaBusa), Qatar (Tigers) and Sweden (Echochamber) had teams only in 4-way Open.

Italy's FLY X made the Top 10 in 4-way Open, while new 4-way Women team Fire Phoenix finished in 27th place, despite a new team record average. The Czech delegation almost made it to the combined Top 10 with two teams, as the two powerhouses did, United States and France. The HF Cubs took the Top 10 spot with the 9th place, and HF Flying Circus finished 12th, only four points behind Echochamber. Spain had Papea in 4-way Open (13th) and Windabona Angels Chicas in 4-way Women (26th). RealFly Fire (20th) and Airdrops (25th) completed the list of nations with teams in both events.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open - 4-way Women		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	38	31	351	35.1
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	38	33	44	32	27	29	26	47	37	31	344	34.4
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	39	33	40	30	27	29	24	39	33	27	321	32.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	34	30	36	29	22	27	28	36	32	28	302	30.2
5	Airheads	CH	35	28	33	29	25	27	24	36	30	25	292	29.2
6	Black Cat	RU	34	29	39	29	25	22	25	36	26	22	287	28.7
7	Nephtys Weembi	FR	34	27	35	25	23	25	23	33	31	24	280	28.0
8	NFTO	UK	34	26	34	28	23	24	24	34	28	23	278	27.8
9	Echochamber	SE	34	27	35	26	22	25	20	35	26	24	274	27.4
10	ACM Weembi	UK	32	28	32	26	20	24	19	35	26	25	267	26.7
11	XPG4	US	34	26	33	24	21	24	24	28	25	23	262	26.2
11	Airfource	DE	33	22	33	25	22	23	20	35	25	24	262	26.2
13	Bubble Hubble	RU	29	25	33	24	22	23	22	31	25	21	255	25.5
14	China	CN	31	26	31	22	23	24	22	30	22	23	254	25.4
15	HF Flying Circus	CZ	31	26	28	23	24	22	18	33	19	23	247	24.7
16	Pro Team	FI	27	24	30	23	23	22	22	30	23	22	246	24.6
17	Team X	SE	26	25	28	24	20	22	23	28	24	23	243	24.3
18	Monaco Indoor Skydive Team	MC	27	21	27	23	20	22	21	29	21	21	232	23.2
19	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	27	23	28	23	19	20	20	29	21	21	231	23.1
20	Papea Masculino	ES	28	23	26	16	21	20	21	30	23	22	230	23.0
21	Out of the Blue	NL	24	22	27	19	19	19	18	27	24	20	219	21.9
21	No Mercy	PL	29	22	25	21	19	17	21	23	20	22	219	21.9
23	Skynamite	DE	28	20	26	20	17	17	19	26	18	19	210	21.0
24	Voss Vind Girls	NO	27	22	24	18	18	19	20	23	19	19	209	20.9
25	H40	IE	22	19	23	17	18	17	17	24	20	19	196	19.6
26	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	23	19	23	17	18	17	14	22	19	17	189	18.9
27	Lithuania	LT	26	15	19	15	17	16	17	21	-	-	146	18.3