posted May 17th, 2023 - The Formation Skydiving competition world was recently zooming in on the Hurricane Factory Tatralandia in Slovakia for the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023. At the same time, or at least very close to the event, outdoor events took place, as well.

It is especially difficult for teams in the southeastern hemisphere to adapt to the worldwide competition schedule that is dominated by North America and Europe. It may have caught the attention of only a few people in the sport that the field of 4-way teams at the indoor world championship did not include national teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Only Tigers (Qatar) and INIT-Y (Brazil) traveled long distances to represent their countries in Slovakia. The Qatar Tigers had their own additional challenge, as the indoor event happened in the middle of their holy Ramadan month.

FAI/ISC have established an annual pattern of indoor events in the spring months and outdoor events in the late summer of the calenders in Europe and North America. However, other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are living the opposite climate situation and run their outdoor events when indoor world championships and world cups take place almost at the same time.

South African Outdoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,11,M	14,13,15	A,19,20	3,E,D,2	17,Q,10	21,P,J,F	5,N,4	9,O,7	B,1,L,C	8,6,K	Total	Avg
1	Savolo	15	13	13	17	13	21	15	22	15	11	155	15.5
2	Aerium	11	7	11	10	9	16	8	14	12	9	107	10.7
3	Ascension	10	6	11	10	10	15	8	15	10	9	104	10.4

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Savolo - Aerium - Ascension at the South African Outdoor Nationals

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South Africa is one of the countries with the opposite weather agenda. The outdoor teams train for their national championships when the national indoor teams are in their final preparations for the world championships or world cups. National indoor and outdoor championships are usually the qualifiers for the FAI/ISC events, and they require all the attention of teams who plan to compete there later.

Only the InTime scoring system from South Africa was present in Slovakia, even though owners Claire King and Dirk Venter did not compete at their country's national outdoor championships this year. They used to compete with Jazz Republic at indoor and outdoor events and represented South Africa at the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships in 2015 and at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018, even though South Africa does not have a single wind tunnel.

Savolo, successor of the South African record champions Voodoo, competed for South Africa at the outdoor world championship in Ottawa 2016 and have been undefeated in their country since 2014.

Savolo won the latest outdoor championship again in April this year, with original member Bailey Edmunds Jr. back in the lineup. The indoor world championship began two weeks later, and neither Savolo nor any other South African team traveled to Slovakia.

South African Outdoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	B,D,A,9	15,O,J	2,G,Q	C,4,7	E,G,21	M,L,K,F	Total	Avg
1	Ukiyo	8	8	8	5	9	11	49	8.2
2	Blockchain	10	7	9	6	8	7	47	7.8
Rank	Rookie	L,E,O	C,K,F	B,M,A	J,G,Q	D,N,P	H,P,N	Total	Avg
1	Alta Volare	4	5	8	4	5	2	28	4.7
2	Horizontal-Lee	0	2	0	3	2	1	8	1.3

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Ukiyo - Blockchain at the South African Outdoor Nationals

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The two other AAA Class teams on the South African leaderboard could once again not get anywhere close to Savolo, while they were back a year after their 1-point battle in 2022 with a new showdown for the spot behind the national champions.

Ascension had won this duel twice by one single point in 2021 (85 - 84) and again in 2022 (92 - 91). Both teams have increased their annual meet averages consistently and almost exactly the same way, posting new record numbers. However, Aerium turned the table this year for the first time by lifting the scoring level three points ahead of Ascension, while both teams posted their first 10+ averages.

Parallel with the AAA Class battle behind Savolo, the two AA Class teams had their own exciting competition for the national title in this category. New team Ukiyo denied Blockchain the national title in this category once again, after Blockchain's 2nd place last year.

Ukiyo stole the 1st place with the AA Class Super Sequence in the last round. Blockchain were two points ahead after Round 5 with a well improved performance compared to last year. Ukiyo mastered Round 6 with only random formations better, despite three point deductions, and finished two points ahead.