posted Aug 25th, 2023 - It is raining again on Friday morning, which probably does not worry anybody any longer who has been in Voss for the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 this week. Rain seems to be a part of the weather pattern in the area, and it comes and goes very quickly.

At the same time, the Thursday with great weather almost all day long has put the meet ahead of schedule, and there is not even a reason to hurry for meet director Carl-Erik Tuv. There is no doubt any longer that the 10-round competitions in all events will be completed.

There is also no doubt that the U.S. delegation will complete the sweep in Formation Skydiving, even including 4-way VFS where SDC Core are miles ahead of the next team, Blue Pelican from Norway (183 - 130). The medal positions are also set in the three horizontal FS events (4-way Open - 4-way Women, 8-way Open). It is very unlikely that there could be any changes in the last two 4-way rounds and the one missing 8-way.

The situation in the embedded European Championship is different, at least in 4-way Open. France and Belgium will take gold and silver respectively, while Airbus Illertissen Oceanside are not securely in the bronze medal position yet. Italy's Amnesya are only two points behind after Round 8, and everything is still possible. This duel is the most exciting part of the 4-way Open Class competition. SDC Rhythm XP will take the 5th place, and Out Of The Blue are on their way to make the Top 10 this time.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		3,G,N,19		11,17,L		13,7,C		2,D,O,8		14,K,J,12		9,M,P,H		5,4,18		15,1,10		16,21,E		F,20,6		B,A,Q,22		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	US	27		22		19		19		20		24		24	-1	25	-1	23		-		-		203	22.6
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	18		18		16		13		16		20		16	-3	20		20		-		-		157	17.4
3	Prison 9	US	16		14		12	-1	11		12		13	-1	15		16		13		-		-		122	13.6
4	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		11	-1	12		8	-1	10	-1	14		12		13	-1	13		-		-		108	12.0
5	Bra Nok XP	US	12	-3	6	-2	10		7	-2	9		10	-1	11	-2	11	-1	13		-		-		89	9.9
6	Ap8thy	UK	11		9		10		7	-1	10		10		10	-1	11		10		-		-		88	9.8
7	Deton8	UK	4		2		4		0		0		3		3	-1	2		3		-		-		21	2.3

The most exciting situation of the whole event after Round 8 has developed in the lower part of the 4-way Women leaderboard. Thyra, SNE Fly Girls, NFTO and Alola all have shared highscores between each other throughout the whole meet and switched ranking positions round by round.

NFTO, still the reigning outdoor world champions in 4-way Women, have been on the bottom of the leaderboard with their new lineup until Round 6. Then they used the fastest sequence of the meet to make an end to the unusual situation. They tied the 25-pointer of Meltemi Oceanside and handed the bottom position over to the second British team, Alola.

Alola came right back in Round 7 with a shared highscore and are still only three points behind NFTO. Thyra, SNE Fly Girls and NFTO are separated by only two points with two more rounds to go.

The youngest team in the 4-way Women field, Thyra, have been gaining momentum on their home turf and are currently holding the 4th place behind the medal positions. Thyra have suffered only one point deduction in the completed eight rounds, which makes them the cleanest team on the 4-way Women leaderboard. Only two teams have better judging sheets without any penalties: Arizona Airspeed and Qatar Cheetahs.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		3,G,N,19		11,17,L		13,7,C		2,D,O,8		14,K,J,12		9,M,P,H		5,4,18		15,1,10		16,21,E		F,20,6		B,A,Q,22		Total	Avg
1	XPG4	US	21		20		20	-1	19		17		38		16	-1	16	-1	-		-		-		167	20.9
2	France 4-way Women	FR	17		15	-1	20		17		15		33		14		14	-1	-		-		-		145	18.1
3	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	12	-2	15		16		16		11		25	-1	12		12		-		-		-		119	14.9
4	Thyra	NO	11	-1	12		14		13		11		21		10		12		-		-		-		104	13.0
5	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		11		15		11	-1	10		21	-1	11		11		-		-		-		103	12.9
6	NFTO	UK	11	-2	11		12	-1	12	-1	11		25		10		10		-		-		-		102	12.8
7	Alola	UK	11		12		13	-1	12	-1	10		20	-4	11		10	-1	-		-		-		99	12.4