posted May 12th, 2023 - There is another team that will not continue after the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, at least not with the same lineup. It was the team with the shortest time spent together before the competition, which was still enough to win the 4-way Women competition.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier had worked silently on his plan to send a very strong 4-way Women team to Slovakia, and he had to convince two team members to join the French national lineup one more time. Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis are two of the most experienced and talented 4-way competitors in the world, who had no plans for the indoor world championship until Mathieu Bernier approached them with his own plans.

The NSL News covered the French strategy for the event on March 16th, after Mathieu Bernier had the confirmation for the Slovakia lineup. The same update pointed out that Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis challenged NMP PCH HayaBusa with the Weembi High Rollers for the 4-way Open Class title at the previous indoor world championship at Weembi Lille 2019.

In fact, the Weembi High Rollers, with Sophia Pecout, Christine Malnis, former HayaBusa member Roy Janssen and Julien Degen in the lineup, were the only team that defeated the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions in the time period between 2015 and 2019. It happened at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018, two weeks after the Belgians had outlasted Arizona Airspeed by two points (279 - 277) at the end of a 10-round thriller in Australia.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		K,17,J,21		4,H,F,11		18,L,16		5,M,O,C		N,8,P,19		6,9,10		D,12,15		Q,B,G,22		20,E,14		7,3,2		Total	Avg
1	Weembi Mix MF	FR	34	-3	35		31		57		33	-2	31		30		39		29	-2	26	-2	345	34.5
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	35		35		27	-1	47	-3	33	-1	31		31		38	-1	28	-2	28	-1	333	33.3
3	Amnesya	IT	30		28	-1	24	-1	46		26		27		21	-2	30		24		24		280	28.0
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	28	-3	29		21	-3	45		26	-1	27		21	-3	33		24		25	-1	279	27.9
5	Echochamber	SE	30		30		23	-1	37	-3	27	-1	25		22	-2	32		22	-2	23		271	27.1
6	France Odins	FR	29		26	-2	21	-1	37		28	-1	25		19	-2	27	-3	24		23		259	25.9
7	ACM Weembi	UK	26	-3	26		23		36	-2	27		25		23		28	-1	20	-4	21	-2	255	25.5
8	China	CN	27	-1	23	-2	22		32	-2	25		22	-2	20	-1	29		24		23		247	24.7
9	Russian Thunder	RU	24	-1	22	-2	20	-1	36	-1	23		24	-2	22		28	-1	21		22		242	24.2
10	Papea Masculino	ES	25	-1	24	-1	14	-5	35		23		22	-1	17	-2	29		21		20		230	23.0

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Weembi High Rollers - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018, video footage courtesy of FAI/InTime

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Sophia Pecout's and Christine Malnis' team mates for the French 4-way Women team last month in Slovakia had competed at Weembi Lille in 2019, as well. Pamela Lissajoux and Elise Poindron won the FAI gold medals at the same event where the Weembi High Rollers placed 2nd behind NMP PCH HayaBusa. The Nephtys of 2019 had Claire Victoire De Fleurian and Clementine Le Bohec in their lineup.

The combination of gold in 4-way Women and silver in 4-way Open for the French delegation at the Hurricane Factory Tatralandia is an excact copy of the results at Weembi Lille 2019, and it matches the medal collection of the U.S. delegation in Slovakia last month in the reverse order, gold in 4-way Open (Arizona Airspeed) and silver (XPG4).

It was different at Weembi Lille 2019, where NMP PCH HayaBusa won the 4-way Open Class competition, and the U.S. delegation had to settle with two sets of bronze medals, Airspeed in 4-way Open, XPG4 in 4-way Women.

Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis won their 8th set of FAI indoor/outdoor gold medals in Slovakia, and they helped Pamela Lissajoux and Elise Poindron successfully to defended their 4-way Women gold medals of 2019. France is back to the country's outstanding indoor/outdoor record in 4-way Women. Only the Golden Knights in 2016, the Russian Bubbles in 2021 and NFTO last year have been able to take the top spot away from France since 2010.

FAI World Championship 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		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		Total	Avg
1	France 4-way Women	FR	24	-2	30	-1	34	-1	22	-1	27		36		34	-1	27		25		26		285	28.5
2	XPG4	US	25		28	-1	33		25		25	-2	36		29	-3	24	-2	26		25	-2	276	27.6
3	NFTO	UK	25	-1	29		30	-2	20	-3	22	-3	32		34	-1	27	-1	23	-2	26		268	26.8
4	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
5	Piteraq	DE	22		19	-2	25		19		20		27		24		20		21		21		218	21.8
6	Airdrops	CH	18	-1	19	-2	23		13	-3	19		24		22	-1	19		21		16	-4	194	19.4
7	Windabona Angels Chicas	ES	18		16	-1	20	-1	16	-1	16	-1	22		16	-4	16	-1	18		17	-1	175	17.5
8	Fire Phoenix	IT	17		17	-1	20		14		14	-2	20	-2	16	-2	14	-1	16		16		164	16.4
9	Kiss My Grips	SK	13	-1	14	-2	19		14		12		19		16	-3	16	-1	16		13	-2	152	15.2

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France Nephtys at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, video footage courtesy of FAI/InTime

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Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis will not continue any longer to help Mathieu Bernier maintain the French record in 4-way Women. They made themselves available only for the event in Slovakia. However, the French national coach has been prepared for the situation, with a new lineup getting ready for the near future.

Pamela Lissajoux and Elise Poindron join forces with two new Nephtys members. Mathieu Bernier has selected Alexandra Petitjean and Marie Pineau for the new 4-way Women lineup.

Alexandra Petitjean is 35 years of age and started jumping in 2009. She has a total of approx. 6700 jumps, 90 hours of indoor training. She has won four world championship titles for France in Canopy Formation and has now switched to 4-way Formation Skydiving competition. Marie Pineau is 25 years young and has been skydiving since 2019, with a total of approx. 300 jumps, 20 hours of tunnel time. She trained and competed with Saumur Express in the AA Class last year. Her all-female team placed 2nd in the national outdoor championships.

Mathieu Bernier is aiming at the oudoor world championship next year in Israel with the new lineup. He will not be on camera again for his new 4-way Women team, as he was at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022. He surely wants to turn his own silver medal into gold for the new team videographer and for Elise Poindron. Pamela Lissajoux already owns an outdoor gold medal that she won together with Sophia Pecout and Christine Malnis in Australia 2018. She just added a second indoor gold medal to her collection.