posted May 16th, 2023 - The NSL News covered the tightest part of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 with the update on May 3rd. Purple Maze from the northest part of Europe (Finland) and Papea from the most southern Europe (Spain) ended up tied in 9th place and together closed the door to the Top 10 positions for other potential contenders.

Papea were expected to finish in the Top 10, while Purple Maze surprised and upset a few teams who probably had the same finishing position as a target.

The 1-point battle between Echochamber Oceanside (Sweden) and FLY X (Italy) was a part of the story that covered the most exciting competition of five teams for the 6th place behind the German Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource on May 6th.

There was another 1-point battle taking place near the bottom of the leaderboard, which two teams from two neighboring countries of Slovakia, host of the indoor world championship, were involved in, Bronteroc from Hungary and Flyspot Sky4Four from Poland. All three countries also have a border with Ukraine, where the ongoing conflict causes the absence of Russian teams at FAI/ISC events.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		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		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	Qatar Tigers	QA	24		29	-1	32	-1	26		25	-3	32		30	-2	26		25	-1	26	-1	275	27.5
5	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	22	-2	28	-1	33		22		25		30	-2	31		24		24	-1	25	-1	264	26.4
6	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	22		26	-1	30		17	-5	24		28	-3	27	-2	23		24		25	-1	246	24.6
7	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
8	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	-2	23	-1	29	-1	22		20	-2	30	-2	29		24		20	-3	25		242	24.2
9	Purple Maze	FI	22		26		29		19	-3	21		29		27		25		21	-3	21	-2	240	24.0
9	Papea	ES	23	-1	24	-2	29	-2	19	-5	21	-2	28	-2	28		25		21	-1	22	-2	240	24.0
11	Out of the Blue	NL	22		23	-2	27	-2	21	-1	21		26	-1	26	-1	22	-1	21		22		231	23.1
12	Agera	NO	22		24		29		19	-1	23		25	-2	26	-2	23		19	-2	19	-3	229	22.9
13	Meraki	UK	17	-4	24		26	-3	22		19	-2	27		28		22	-1	23		18	-5	226	22.6
14	INIT-Y	BR	19	-2	20	-3	29		15	-4	19	-1	27		27		23	-1	23		20	-2	222	22.2
15	Realfly Fire	CH	20	-1	21	-2	26	-1	17	-2	20		27		24	-2	23		20	-1	19	-3	217	21.7
16	Bronteroc	HU	20	-1	22	-1	24	-3	18	-1	20	-1	26	-1	25	-1	19	-1	21		18	-2	213	21.3
17	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	21		21	-1	24	-3	16	-2	21		27		25		17	-6	20	-1	20	-1	212	21.2
18	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
19	Magic 4	LT	17	-1	19	-2	23		15	-4	20		27		25	-1	18	-3	19		18	-2	201	20.1

---

Bronteroc - Flyspot Sky4Four at the Flyspot Liga May 2023, video footage courtesy of Flyspot/InTime

---

The 1-point battle between Echochamber and FLY X for the 6th place had almost the same geographic landscape as Purple Maze and Papea had in their duel for the 9th place. Echochamber and Purple Maze represented Scandinavia, Papea and Italy the Mediterranean part of Europe.

Bronteroc and Sky4Four competed for the countries of Eastern Euope at the event (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania) and added their own 1-point battle to the exciting 4-way Open Class leaderboard. There was no area on this leaderboard behind the medal contenders and the 5th place without tight competition.

The last NSL Power Rankings before Round 1 was showing Bronteroc and Sky4Four in the group of teams behind the contenders for a Top 10 position.

Poland's national team would have been in a higher position in the NSL Power Rankings, after the team's 23.1 average at the previous indoor world championship at Weembi Lille 2019. The lineup changed twice ever since, which impacted on the position on the preview leaderboard, and eventually on the final scores in Slovakia, as well.

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	FLY X	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	HF Flying Circus	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meraki	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	INIT-Y	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Purple Maze	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Realfly Fire	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Bronteroc	HU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	Magic 4	LT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Bronteroc and Flyspot Sky4Four met each other in Slovakia for the first time at an international FAI/ISC event. Sky4Four has become a well known team name in the 4-way community after visiting many international competitions since 2014. Current members Michal Baranski and Zbigniew Kordzikowski launched the team project in 2014, together with Gordon Hodgkinson and Arkadiusz Szczebiot.

Just a year later, the Polish team, now with Anna Baranska for Irishman Gordon Hodgkinson in the lineup, traveled to the Netherlands for their first international meet experiences at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2015. Next was the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016 in the team's Flyspot home chamber in Warsaw, Poland, followed by the next outdoor world cup in Saarlouis, Germany 2017.

Finally, Flyspot Sky4Four represented Poland for the first time at an outdoor world championship, when they traveled to Eloy, Arizona, last October for the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, where they finished in 13th place of 21 national teams, now followed by the indoor world championship in Slovakia.

Bronteroc, also with a married couple in the lineup, plus a father/son combination, launched their international career at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 and now outscored Sky4Four by one single point in Slovakia. The same east European duel will hopefully continue at many upcoming international events.