posted Jul 26th, 2023 - Niklas Hemlin continued his coaching work on Monday with XPG4, the Golden Knights 4-way team, and Lightspeed XP. It was the same day when Gary Smith, 4-way world champion of 2004 and 2006, and NMP PCH HayaBusa's guide to 4-way world championship titles for Belgium in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021, was available for NSL Live Talk.

The two U.S. world champions of different 4-way generations connected with each other briefly on the ZOOM platform for the new NSL Live Talk conversation with Gary Smith. Niklas Hemlin was celebrating his daughter Natalie's 15th birthday while he was working with the teams, and Gary Smith sent his birthday wishes at the beginning of the conversation.

Gary Smith had just visited NMP PCH HayaBusa for a few days in Belgium, after his most recent coaching work with the 4-way teams from Qatar. He will travel with the large Qatar delegation to Norway, where the Falcons 8-way team is facing the reigning 8-way world champions, GKXP8, while the Tigers will try to take home the next set of 4-way medals, after winning the bronze medals at the FAI Tanay Mondial with coach Gary Smith, and defending them successfully at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022.

Andy Grauwels, NMP PCH HayaBusa's 4-time world champion, has been coaching the Qatar Tigers since November 2022, and Gary Smith is preparing the next generation of Qatar 4-way competitors for their turn in the national teams, together with Luc Verstrepen. He reported from Belgium that NMP PCH HayaBusa will travel to Norway well prepared. They will try to reduce the distance to Arizona Airspeed once again and put more pressure on the French 4-way Open Class team.

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	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Out Of The Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	Lightspeed XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	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	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith - Recorded on 24 July at Skydive Paraclete XP

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The world's Top 4 will have their next internal battle for the FAI medals in Norway. There are no other teams yet who are performing on a competitive level. Gary Smith said during the conversation that it is very difficult for any other teams to catch up with the Top 4 national teams. It would require a few years with more than 500 training jumps to get to the world's top level, where the teams train like professional athletes.

Gary Smith is still expecting an exciting competition for the 5th place and for the Top 10 positions. The NSL News made the latest adjustments on the NSL Power Rankings leaderboard for the event after the input by Gary Smith. He is convinced that the Spanish military team, Papea, is the top contender for the 5th place if they compete with their best lineup in Norway.

He sees the Italian team Amnesya in contention for the same finishing position if enough training can be added to the team's talent and competition experiences. He also upgraded the German national team in 4-way Open, Airbus Illertissen Oceanside, to the position of a contender for the 5th place.

Gary Smith is expecting one of the new teams from Qatar (Cheetahs - Lions) to join the battle for the Top 10 positions. Five teams are now expected to battle for the 5th place. Three teams (Agera, Out Of The Blue, Cheetahs) have only one remaining Top 10 slot to compete for, if the predictions are correct.

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	China	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Women	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Thyra	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Alola	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	SNE Fly Girls	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The newly registered 4-way Women team from China caught Gary Smith's attention just as much as it was a surprise for other teams and competitors in this event. He said that it has been challenging for teams in China to train and compete outdoors. The NSL News records are showing the last FAI appearance of a Chinese 4-way team at the 5th Dubai International Parachuting Championship.

However, he agreed that the same lineup that competed at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 would become a medal contender in Norway if they could train enough. The lineup seems to be identical, as the NSL News reported on July 13th. Gary Smith believes that the same Chinese team might even be able to keep up with XPG4 in a few rounds.

China won two rounds over XPG4 and tied three more at Weembi Lille in 2019. A similar Chinese performance level outdoors would lift the team up and beyond NFTO and France to the top contender for the 2nd place in Norway. The British 4-way Women world champion of 2022 and the new French national outdoor team would end up competing for the bronze medals, and Germany's Meltemi Oceanside would have to catch them both to join any battle for FAI medals.

Gary Smith was disappointed about the participation in 8-way Open, where Great Britain and France are the only European nations who are represented in Norway, even though other countries have active 8-way teams. The French 8-way team Mojo has very good chances to win the gold medals of the embedded European Championship, even if they placed only 5th in the world's international rankings.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	XPGK8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Prison 9	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Bra Nok XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Ap8thy	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Deton8	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-