posted Jul 9th, 2023 - The NSL News reported on June 27th that Echochamber will not compete for Sweden at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023. Aurora represents the Scandinavian country, and Italy's national 4-way Open Class team Amnesya will take on Spain's military Papea lineup to compete for the 5th place instead of Echochamber.

This prediction is only according to the most recent NSL Power Rankings, which use the previous and most recent scores of the teams for the expected and estimated positions on the leaderboards. Papea are currently considered the top contender for the 5th place, after the 6th place behind Chimera at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022. Chimera called the 4-way team career after the event, where Echochamber finished one single point behind Papea in 7th place.

Amnesya moved quickly into the open slot as Papea's main challenger due to the impressive history of the team and the fact that it will be the same outdoor lineup of 2022 in Norway. Chiara Brunetti, Livio Piccolo, Fabrizio Alghisi and Alessandro Anderlucci competed together for the first time at the 6th Dubai International Parachuting Championship (DIPC) where Papea won with an 18.1 average, 30 points ahead of Amnesya. They reversed the outcome of this duel just a week later at the 1st Dubai International Tunnel Championship (DIPC).

Chiara Brunetti, Livio Piccolo and Alessandro Anderlucci then competed with Amnesya founder Giuseppe Cossu at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022, where Papea took back the upper hand between Spain (9th) and Italy (13th). Giuseppe Cossu then launched a new team project with FLY X and outscored Papea at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Open	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Amnesya	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Out Of The Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Lightspeed XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Qatar Lions	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Aurora	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Chaotic Motion	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Sequenz	DK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Whitefish	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Lux	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	Deep n Filthy	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	4Reigners	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	4igami	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Giuseppe Cossu's FLY X lineup (Arianna De Benedetti, Marco Arrigo, Federico Angelotti) had not competed at Italy's outdoor championship in 2022 where Amnesya won the 4-way title with an 18.6 average. This 18.6 average compares to exactly the same average number for Papea at the outdoor world championship, a few months after the Italian Outdoor Nationals in August 2022.

Amnesya leaped from the 15.1 in December 2021 to the 18.6 less than a year later, which helped to set the Italian team in the current position of the NSL Power Rankings. Even more importantly, Amnesya had a whole year with the same lineup to get prepared for this year's outdoor events and the outdoor world cup in Norway. Papea will probably meet a well trained opponent for the 5th place in Norway.

Team member Chiara Brunetti, who has trained and competed with the different Amnesya lineups since 2016, will meet one of her earlier team mates in Norway. NMP PCH HayaBusa's outside center Michele Silvi, 4-way Open Class world champions of 2021, trained and competed with Chiara Brunetti for Amnesya between November 2016 and October 2018. Amnesya with Chiara Brunetti and Michele Silvi (Giuseppe Cossu, Mario Fatturoso) placed 6th at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018 and followed up with bronze medals a few weeks later at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
5	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
6	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
7	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
7	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1
9	Evolution	CA	21	-1	13	-2	22		18	-1	15	-3	43	-2	15	-5	15	-2	19		15		196	19.6
10	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	-1	14	-1	17	-5	17		16	-1	45	-1	15	-3	14	-1	18	-1	15		192	19.2
11	Tanay Wolves	RU	22		14		18	-1	17		16	-2	35	-3	17	-3	14	-1	18	-1	14		185	18.5
12	Rotor Out	AU	21	-1	13	-1	18	-2	14	-1	16	-1	32	-3	13	-7	13	-1	18		14		172	17.2
13	CTR Optimum	BR	19		10		17	-1	15		13	-1	31		14		14		18		13		164	16.4
14	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	13		18		13	-1	13		28	-3	14	-1	14	-1	13	-2	12		155	15.5
15	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	16	-1	11	-1	13	-3	14		15	-1	28	-2	15	-1	15		14	-2	12	-1	153	15.3
16	Meraki	ZA	14	-3	11		14		14		13		28	-1	12	-1	12		14		12		144	14.4
17	Method	NZ	10	-4	9		12		11		10		21		7	-3	11		10	-1	11		112	11.2
18	Paraguay	PY	10	-1	8		10	-1	7	-2	9		17		7	-4	8	-1	10		8	-1	94	9.4
19	Cyprus	CY	13	-1	8		9	-2	8		7	-2	19	-1	7		8		9		5	-2	93	9.3

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Amnesya - Papea at the FAI World Championship 2018, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/InTime

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Chiara Brunetti's new team mate since 2019, Livio Piccolo, is one of the very few Italian Formation Skydiving competitors who have won a medal at an outdoor world championship. He was in the Sinapsi PD lineup (Arianna de Benedetti, Luca Marchioro, Pete Allum) who won the bronze medals at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2006. Only Italy's national 4-way Open Class team of 1991 and Ex3mo's 8-way lineup of 2008 won FAI bronze medals, as well.

It is very difficult for any 4-way team in the world to keep up with the four full-time top contenders who will have to battle once again for the three sets of FAI medals in Norway this year and then in Israel 2024. The competition behind the medal positions usually presents the strongest "amateur team" as a result, even though Papea is actually a full-time military team. However, neither Papea nor Amnesya have achieved the 5th place at an outdoor world championship or world cup yet, and the next opportunity is coming up.

Only the Spanish team has met one of the two potential U.S. contenders at an FAI event before. Doug Barron competed with SDC Rhythm XP at the FAI Tanay Mondial, and the 2021 lineup, with Christy Frikken for JaNette Lefkowitz, outscored not only Papea. They finished in 2nd place, ahead of Qatar Tigers and France. The new Rhythm lineup is probably not ready yet to compete for FAI medals, and even the 5th place is a challenge.

Skydive Midwest NEXT compete for the first time at an FAI outdoor competition. The previous lineup, including current members Greg Oldendick and Gorka Amian, collected their first international FAI experiences at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 in Belgium. The new lineup, with Katie Healy and Brian Nasset, now travel to Norway for even more valuable outdoor experiences. Both U.S. teams will be facing very strong opposition in the battle for the 5th place.

FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		41	-1	23		43		30	-4	24	-1	193	32.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	25	-2	35	-5	22		39		26	-4	22		169	28.2
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-1	38	-2	19		34		26		19	-2	160	26.7
4	Aerodyne Cypres Lille	FR	23		33		19		32		24		21		152	25.3
5	Papea Masculino	ES	18	-2	27	-2	14		24	-4	19		16	-1	118	19.7
6	Kazakhstan	KZ	19	-1	23	-1	13		24	-1	17		15		111	18.5
7	Out of the Blue	NL	12	-2	25		15		23	-2	18		15	-1	108	18.0
8	Adventure Flyers	PY	12		15		11		14	-1	14		7		73	12.2
9	Indonesia	ID	3	-2	6	-1	1	-3	10	-4	1	-2	5	-1	26	4.3

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SDC Rhythm XP - Papea at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/InTime

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