posted May 18th, 2023 - The NSL-TV video coverage of the 4-way Open Class competition at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 concludes with two teams who have another geographic connection and finished very close to each other on the leaderboard. Switzerland and Austria are the two countries in the center of one of the most beautiful European mountain chains, the Alpes, and they are bordering each other for over 100 miles.

Switzerland was represented by RealFly Fire this time, as the NSL News reported on 29 December 2022. The Swiss CISM team Airheads had competed for their country at the previous indoor world championship in Weembi Lille 2019, where they finished with an impressive 29.2 average in 5th place.

The Airheads were back this year for the national indoor championship and won with 27.9 after all ten rounds in March. It was only the team's second indoor competition since April 2019. However, RealFly Fire, who had also competed for Switzerland at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 in Charleroi, had committed to the next world championship in Slovakia and had to try and defend the Swiss 5th place.

RealFly Fire had their starting position according to the placing of Switzerland in 2019, and they enjoyed the company of the best 4-way teams in the world near the flying chamber for the first eight rounds on Thursday and Friday. The starting order then changed to the current ranking order, and RealFly Fire were now facing their direct opponents at the Hurricane Factory Tatralandia.

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

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RealFly Fire - Red Bull Aerodynamix at the Flyspot Liga May 2023, video footage courtesy of Flyspot/InTime

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The NSL Power Rankings were showing all teams in the expected order according to the most current scores and the teams' histories, not in the order of the countries' placings at the previous indoor world championship. RealFly Fire's current lineup had started competing together in November 2022, after Ambra Vitti replaced original member Charlotte Chatelan at the end of the 2021 season.

Realfly Fire were the last team in the group that was expected to have the potential for being in the race for a Top 10 position with a peak performance. However, Purple Maze and Papea were too strong in the last two Top 10 positions, while the Swiss national team was competitive with teams behind the other Top 10 contenders.

At the same time, there was a lot of pressure coming from the teams behind RealFly Fire's finishing position throughout the whole competition. The leaderboard is showing a field between 15th and 19th place that was sharing the highscores for the ten rounds in consistently changing turns.

RealFly Fire claimed or tied only three of the ten highscores, which was matched by the Austrian opponents, Red Bull Aerodynamix in 18th place. Bronteroc and Flyspot Sky4Four both had even four highscores, and Magic 4 at the bottom of the leaderboard still tied two of the highscores in this group.

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	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Austria's national team, Red Bull Aerodynamix, turned out to finish as the most improved team at the indoor world championship and left the position at the bottom of the leaderboard for Magic 4 from Lithuania. The 20.8 average was not enough to climb even higher on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. However, it was the firest 20+ average for the Austrian team and significantly higher than the 19.1 in March 2022.

There were not many teams at all who would score higher than at previous meets due to the slow competition draw. Only the new French national team in 4-way Open and Agera from Norway were able to increase their previous team record averages.

Aerodynamix came to Slovakia after an 18.7 average in March this year, including a 28-pointer for a fast sequence (N,C,Q,9) in Round 3. The 20.8 at the indoor world championship was rewarded with the higher ranking position compared to the NSL Power Rankings.

Aerodynamix were actually only a few points away from the next teams ahead of them, and they claimed a sole highscore of this group in Round 5. The 23-pointer was in fact reaching up to the 7th place. That's probably a ranking position that the Austrian team will be targeting in the near future...