posted Jul 13th, 2023 - The host of the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 reported a new registration. Teams still have the option to sign up for this year's most relevant outdoor competition until shortly before Round 1, which is scheduled for August 22nd. The additional team in 4-way Women comes from China. The travel distance for the Chinese team to get to Voss in Norway is now the second longest one, ahead of the delegation from Qatar and behind the Australian team in 4-way Open, Whitefish.

It has been a rare occasion that teams from China attend FAI/ISC events. It happened only seven times since 1985 (1989, 1991, 1997, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016) that a 4-way Open Class team competed at an outdoor world championship, even though the country entered the Formation Skydiving competition world with a very strong statement.

China's national team in 4-way Open forced the U.S. team of 1989 into an extra round to break the tie for the bronze medals after Round 10. The event in Empuriabrava, Spain, was the first time that China sent a 4-way team to a world championship or a world cup.

4-way Women teams from China competed twice at outdoor world championships, first in Russia 2010 (8th of 8 - 9.6) and two years later in Dubai 2012 (8th of 14 - 13.4) which was the last FAI/ISC outdoor event with Chinese participation.

FAI World Championship 1989			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	TAG Team	FR	17	16	18	17	14	14	15	16	11	14	152	15.2
2	Russia	RU	16	11	13	14	12	12	13	15	12	14	132	13.2
3	DeLand	US	14	13	16	13	12	13	13	15	11	11	131	13.1
4	China 4-way Open	CN	15	12	14	13	12	13	12	17	10	13	131	13.1
5	Italy	IT	13	12	16	14	12	11	13	14	10	13	128	12.8
6	Australia	AU	15	13	16	14	8	13	13	16	7	12	127	12.7
7	Mobel Krugel	DE	12	13	13	14	12	11	12	15	10	11	123	12.3
8	Switzerland	CH	13	12	16	14	12	11	13	14	4	12	121	12.1
9	Belgium	BE	13	12	14	13	10	10	12	14	9	-	107	11.9
10	Austria	AT	14	10	16	13	10	11	11	12	7	-	104	11.6
11	Japan	JP	12	8	13	12	11	11	12	12	9	-	100	11.1
12	Great Britain	UK	11	9	12	10	10	10	10	11	7	-	90	10.0
13	Spain	ES	11	7	11	13	9	9	10	11	8	-	89	9.9
14	Norway	NO	11	8	12	12	9	8	9	12	7	-	88	9.8
14	Denmark	DK	11	7	11	13	8	10	10	11	7	-	88	9.8
16	Sweden	SE	9	9	11	11	7	9	10	11	-	-	77	9.6
16	Netherlands	NL	11	9	11	9	9	9	9	10	-	-	77	9.6
18	Finland	FI	10	5	8	11	8	9	9	11	-	-	71	8.9
19	Canada	CA	11	8	10	11	8	7	5	8	-	-	68	8.5
20	Czekoslovakia	CZ	10	9	10	10	5	8	7	7	-	-	66	8.3
21	Brazil	BR	8	5	10	9	8	5	5	7	-	-	57	7.1
22	Ireland	IE	6	3	5	6	4	6	5	5	-	-	40	5.0
23	Zimbabwe	ZW	5	3	1	6	5	6	4	6	-	-	36	4.5
23	Iceland	IS	4	3	2	6	3	5	6	7	-	-	36	4.5
25	Portugal	PT	3	4	3	5	5	5	4	5	-	-	34	4.3
26	Chile	CL	3	4	3	6	3	5	1	6	-	-	31	3.9
27	Poland	PL	3	2	3	3	4	4	1	4	-	-	24	3.0
28	Turkey	TR	1	1	3	4	3	2	3	4	-	-	21	2.6
28	Israel	IL	2	2	3	4	2	4	1	3	-	-	21	2.6

The new FAI indoor events, also with world championships and world cups, brought China back in 4-way Women at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2017 (8th of 9 - 15.7) in Canada, and they followed up a year later at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018 (4th of 8 - 21.8) in Bahrain.

The Chinese national team in 4-way Women added the third consecutive international FAI/ISC attendance at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2019, which became the highlight of the the country's 4-way Women participation in Formation Skydiving competition. Only the penalty situation, with a total of 15 point deductions, kept the team from challenging U.S. team XPG4 for the FAI bronze medals at Weembi Lille.

The corona virus crisis probably kept the teams from China, including the very promising 4-way Women lineup, from continuing their successful re-entry into the Formation Skydiving competition world, as the pandemic brought the sport to a screeching halt everywhere across the planet.

According to the NSL News records, the Chinese 4-way Women team posted outdoor scores one more time at the Asiana Championship 2019 before the break.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total		Avg
Rank	4-way Women		M,K,D,14	Q,4,5	P,E,9,15	3,N,G,2	6,1,8	F,12,11	13,22,J	H,L,B,18	O,20,A,17	21,7,19	Total		Avg
1	Nephtys Weembi	FR	34	27	35	25	23	25	23	33	31	24	280	-1	28.0
2	NFTO	UK	34	26	34	28	23	24	24	34	28	23	278	-5	27.8
3	XPG4	US	34	26	33	24	21	24	24	28	25	23	262	-5	26.2
4	Bubble Hubble	RU	29	25	33	24	22	23	22	31	25	21	255	-7	25.5
5	China	CN	31	26	31	22	23	24	22	30	22	23	254	-15	25.4
6	Team X	SE	26	25	28	24	20	22	23	28	24	23	243	-2	24.3
7	No Mercy	PL	29	22	25	21	19	17	21	23	20	22	219	-8	21.9
8	Skynamite	DE	28	20	26	20	17	17	19	26	18	19	210	-10	21.0
9	Voss Vind Girls	NO	27	22	24	18	18	19	20	23	19	19	209	-6	20.9

---

China Women at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2019

---

Team manager Hongwei Zhang provided the NSL News with an update of the lineup who will compete for China in Voss, Norway. The team members have a lot of 4-way experiences that they collected at the mentioned indoor events before the long break, and it is difficult to estimate the current performance level for outdoor competition.

The same lineup finished almost in medal contention at the indoor world championship of 2019, and there was more than enough time to work on the penalty situation. The same three medal winners of 2019 (France - Great Britain - United States) will compete in Norway next month with different lineups, and China could once again challenge the three national teams with enough outdoor training.

The adjusted NSL Power Rankings in 4-way Women are showing China right behind the medal positions, which could already be different after Round 1 in Voss. The news from China may not be great news for Germany's Meltemi Oceanside, even though tighter competition often pushes teams to their peak performances. The German team in 4-way Women now has company in the pursuit of a medal position, and the 4th place seems to be in contention, as well.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 4-way Women		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Women	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	China	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Thyra	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Alola	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	SNE Fly Girls	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-