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It was unusual, as he was the only French competitor who participated in both events. It has been more common that a whole 4-way team is a part of a national 8-way team to pursue the same goal. Even Mathieu Bernier had tried this before, together with his 4-way team mates Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett and his brother Guillaume Bernier, with Fabrice Rieu on camera. They won the 8-way competition in Maubeuge 2008 and finished one point short of Arizona Airspeed's Odyssey lineup (Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard, Andy Delk, Mark Kirkby, Steve Nowak on camera) in 4-way Open.
The logistics and the financial situation at the actual world championship competition seem to be easier if the national 8-way team has the complete national 4-way team in the lineup. In fact, it is nothing unusual that the best 4-way teams also recruit an 8-way lineup for the national championships and then win both events.
Sometimes, the national double-gold winners then even travel to the next world championships and compete in both events. However, competing for medals in both events at a world championship, or even for gold medals, is a different story, as the world's most experienced competitors pointed out in previous interviews and updates with the same topic.
FAI World Outdoor Championship 2010 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | 8-way Open | 3,21,N | 6,20,9 | E,G,17,5 | K,16,2 | 12,C,22 | B,D,M,1 | 7,15,J | 13,L,P,11 | 4,18,O | 10,14,19 | Total | Avg | |
1 | France | FR | 25 | 19 | 16 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 18 | 19 | 23 | 15 | 203 | 20.3 |
2 | Golden Knights | US | 23 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 27 | 20 | 17 | 21 | 11 | 196 | 19.6 |
3 | Barkli | RU | 20 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 14 | 185 | 18.5 |
Rank | 4-way Open | 10,7,12 | 3,11,5 | J,M,Q,P,L | 19,1,13 | N,18,20 | K,17,8 | 2,15,H | 4,D,6 | O,E,9,G | 22,B,16 | Total | Avg | |
1 | Aerodyne Aerokart | FR | 21 | 22 | 56 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 24 | 40 | 26 | 277 | 27.7 |
2 | Arizona Airspeed | US | 22 | 21 | 53 | 23 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 25 | 40 | 23 | 274 | 27.4 |
3 | Sky Panthers Barkli | RU | 19 | 21 | 56 | 21 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 41 | 21 | 264 | 26.4 |
It was another very close call. The French 8-way team lost by one single point in Tanay, the 4-way Women team by two. France left Russia with double-silver instead of double-gold. His limited French budget did not even allow him to continue recruiting a new strong 8-way team, and he dropped this category by leaving it open for any other interested French 8-way teams ever since.
It seemed to become easier for any delegation to win double-gold when the 4-way Women event was added to FAI/ISC's world championship format in 2001. The 4-way Open Class competition has been extremely competitive on the top level for many years, while the gold medals in 4-way Women were in reach on a significantly lower scoring level. Mathieu Bernier saw this opportunity in 2020/2021 and recruited the 4-way Women lineup as a part of the 8-way team.
Even the 8-way Open/4-way Women combination is difficult enough, as France experienced this challenging option at the Tanay Mondial in 2021. There have been no new efforts to copy this approach, even though XPGK8 and XPG4 member Jeana Billings has a very good chance to win two gold medals at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 and in Israel 2024.
FAI Outdoor World Championship 1987 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | 8-way Open | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | Total | Avg | |
1 | Golden Knights | US | 16 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | - | 119 | 13.2 |
2 | France | FR | 14 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 14 | - | 117 | 13.0 |
3 | Russia | RU | 13 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 11 | - | 105 | 11.7 |
Rank | 4-way Open | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | Total | Avg | |
1 | TAG Team | FR | 13 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 134 | 13.4 |
2 | Golden Knights | US | 13 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 128 | 12.8 |
3 | Amadeus | AT | 12 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 118 | 11.8 |
The U.S. Army must have realized that it had became next to impossible to win gold medals in both events, as they switched back and forth between the two events in the following years. They had an opportunity after the introduction of 4-way Women in 2001. The Golden Knights team in this new event eventually won FAI gold medals in Ottawa 2016 where the U.S. Army's 8-way team won their next gold medals. However, the lineups of the two Golden Knights teams were separated from each other without any overlapping. Jennifer Davidson, 4-way Women world champion of 2016, was recruited for the next Golden Knights 8-way lineup in 2017 and won her second FAI gold medal two years later in Australia 2018.
Then Paraclete XP's 8-way team took over the top spot in the United States and won their first FAI world championship gold medals in August 2021. Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon continued with XP8 and won again a year later in Eloy, while they competed with XPG4 in 4-way Women at the same event and finished 3rd. Only Jeana Billings will try to turn the gold/bronze combination into gold/gold next year in Israel, and the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 will be the coming test event.
There have been more double-gold attempts after Golden Knights in 1987 and France in 2008 before Mathieu Bernier succeeded in 2010. The NSL News will continue to cover this topic.
FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | 8-way Open | 12,A,16 | 18,15,O | 1,F,E,C | 17,B,14 | 10,2,20 | 21,11,G | J,5,19 | L,M,K,7 | D,8,4 | 3,13,Q | Total | Avg | |||||||||||
1 | Golden Knights | US | 31 | 25 | 26 | -1 | 22 | 20 | 22 | 19 | 26 | 24 | 24 | -1 | 239 | 23.9 | ||||||||
2 | France | FR | 22 | -1 | 20 | -1 | 25 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 17 | 23 | 19 | 20 | 199 | 19.9 | ||||||||
3 | Tanay | RU | 23 | 19 | 25 | 17 | 14 | -1 | 16 | 16 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 190 | 19.0 | |||||||||
Rank | AAA Class | 12,A,16 | 18,15,O | 1,F,E,C | 17,B,14 | 10,2,20 | 21,11,G | J,5,19 | L,M,K,7 | D,8,4 | 3,13,Q | Total | Avg | |||||||||||
1 | Golden Knights | US | 21 | 21 | 30 | 20 | -2 | 17 | 19 | 24 | 35 | 20 | 17 | -2 | 224 | 22.4 | ||||||||
2 | French Girls | FR | 21 | 18 | 30 | -1 | 23 | 17 | 18 | -2 | 24 | 34 | 18 | -1 | 14 | 217 | 21.7 | |||||||
3 | NFTO | UK | 17 | 15 | 21 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 26 | -1 | 17 | 13 | -1 | 175 | 17.5 |