posted Sep 8th, 2023 - The next aftermath event was the British 4-way outdoor championship, which was completed last weekend, at the same time when the German 8-way teams battled for the top spot in their event. The British 8-way teams will follow up on the September 16 weekend.

The Qatar Falcons transitioned from Norway to Germany, as the NSL News reported yesterday, while the two farm teams, Cheetahs and Lions, had their own and different travel agenda. They could have met again the two German national 4-way teams, Airbus Illertissen Oceanside (4-way Open) and Meltemi Oceanside (4-way Women), who just returned from Skydive Voss to compete at the Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar.

However, coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen and their two 4-way teams, Cheetahs and Lions, preferred to travel to Moorsele in Belgium instead, where the two neighboring European countries, Belgium and Netherlands, merged their national championships into one open competition for the first time.

It was not the first time that Cheetahs and Lions competed in Belgium. They were guest teams at the Belgian Outdoor Nationals 2021, where they posted their scores on the AA Class leaderboard. Now they met the same four Belgian teams (ISR FireFlash, Ayro, Falco, Phoenix) with the current lineups on the AAA Class leaderboard.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-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		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26		27		26		25		22		48	-1	22		21		25		25		267	26.7
2	France 4-way Open	FR	23		25	-1	26		24		19		45	-1	19		19		23		23		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	20	-4	20	-2	25		23	-1	18	-2	45		20		19		24		24		238	23.8
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20	-1	22	-1	23		20		19		40		13	-4	17	-1	22		19	-4	215	21.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	18		17	-1	19	-2	19		17		38		16		17		18		18	-1	197	19.7
6	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	17	-1	18		20	-1	17		14		31	-1	15		15		18		18		183	18.3
7	Amnesya	IT	16	-1	17		19		17	-1	16		31	-1	15		14		18		18	-1	181	18.1
8	Papea	ES	14	-3	17	-1	18	-1	17		14	-1	32		14	-1	15		18		18		177	17.7
9	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	17		16		19		17		16		29		14		14		17		17		176	17.6
10	Out Of The Blue	NL	17		15	-1	18		16	-1	15		31	-4	14		13		16		18	-1	173	17.3
11	Agera	NO	15	-2	13	-2	16		18		12	-1	32	-1	13	-1	15		18		13	-4	165	16.5
12	Lightspeed XP	US	14		15	-1	17		15		12		30		13		13		15		17		161	16.1
13	Chaotic Motion VIXX	NL	15		13	-2	15	-3	16	-1	13		30	-1	12		11		15		18		158	15.8
14	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	15	-1	11	-4	16	-2	16		13	-1	32		14		10	-1	15	-1	14	-3	156	15.6
15	Qatar Lions	QA	0		14	-1	16		18		13	-2	31	-2	15		14	-1	14		17	-2	152	15.2
16	Aurora	SE	14		14		15	-1	13	-1	12		26		11	-1	13		13	-1	17		148	14.8
17	Sequenz	DK	14	-1	12		15	-1	12	-1	10	-1	24	-1	12		11		12	-1	13		135	13.5
18	LUX	NL	12		11		13		13		10		23		10		9		11		15		127	12.7
19	Whitefish	AU	11	-1	10	-1	14		13	-1	11		20	-1	9	-2	11		12	-1	15		126	12.6
20	ALIS	UA	11		10		9	-2	11		10		20	-1	9		9		10	-1	14		113	11.3
21	Grumsen	NO	12	-1	9	-1	12	-2	13		10		21	-3	7	-2	10	-1	10		8	-3	112	11.2
22	DNF	UK	11	-1	9		12		11		9		21		9	-1	9		8	-1	10	-2	109	10.9
23	4igami	NL	8		8		8		9	-1	8		14	-1	7		7		10		11	-1	90	9.0
24	4Reigners	UK	9		8		7	-1	9		7		16	-1	7		0	-10	8	-1	10	-1	81	8.1

---

Qatar Cheetahs - Out Of The Blue at the at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video footage courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

---

It was not the complete ISR FireFlash lineup who posted scores on this weekend's AAA Class leaderboard. In fact, only former NMP PCH HayaBusa member Sven Ibens and the newest FireFlash member Lena Cynhens represented the team. Sven Ibens' wife Annelies Hasewinkel-Ibens and their son Siem Ibens completed the Family Flash lineup, while Ayro, Falco and Phoenix were on the same AAA Class leaderboard as in 2021.

None of the Belgian teams have been able so far to hold off the visiting Cheetahs and Lions, who had already shown their strength at Skydive Voss. Only the Dutch national team in 4-way Open, Out Of The Blue, is barely holding on to the 1st place after eight of the scheduled ten rounds.

The Cheetahs had outscored OOTB in Norway by three points, and the Dutch team is currently winning the re-match by six points. However, the second Qatar team, the Lions, are challenging Out Of The Blue this time, and there is a 1-point difference between 1st and 2nd place after Round 8. Qatar coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen are probably not surprised by the current standings. They had agreed in Norway that the Lions should actually be the stronger one of the two teams.

Belgian/Dutch Outdoor Nationals 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,E,B,18	21,A,P,13	O,22,Q,1	9,D,10	16,M,17	J,14,4	12,H,N,15	8,G,6	19,K,C,5	F,20,2	L,7,11	Total	Avg
1	Out Of The Blue	NL	18	20	15	19	18	16	16	16	-	-	-	138	17.3
2	Qatar Lions	QA	16	18	18	19	21	16	13	16	-	-	-	137	17.1
3	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	16	17	17	17	18	17	14	16	-	-	-	132	16.5
4	AYRO	BE	17	19	14	18	16	15	16	15	-	-	-	130	16.3
5	Chaotic Motion VIXX	NL	17	17	17	16	17	14	15	16	-	-	-	129	16.1
6	Falco	BE	15	18	16	17	18	14	14	14	-	-	-	126	15.8
7	Family Flash	BE	13	14	14	13	14	12	11	12	-	-	-	103	12.9
8	LUX	NL	11	14	13	14	13	12	12	12	-	-	-	101	12.6
9	Phoenix	BE	12	15	13	13	10	10	12	14	-	-	-	99	12.4
10	Full Flow	BE	12	13	12	11	13	11	12	11	-	-	-	95	11.9
11	Aquila	NL	8	12	8	10	11	11	9	11	-	-	-	80	10.0
12	Shinobi	NL	8	11	8	9	10	8	7	9	-	-	-	70	8.8

---

Chaotic Mtion VIXX - Qatar Lions at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video footage courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

---

The Qatar Lions had a special experience at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving that the NSL News reported on August 24th. They started into the outdoor world cup with a zero in Round 1, caused by an "incorrect framerate (25 FPS)" of the video recording.

The Lions were punished according to the current FAI/ISC rules, which will be changed, according to the discussion after the conclusion of the event during the competitors meeting. The Lions' score for Round 1, which was already judged and posted, would have lifted the second Qatar farm team to a position on the AAA Class leaderboard much closer to the current one in Moorsele, Belgium.

Four Dutch teams had competed in Norway, and three of them are back in action in Belgium this week. Only NMP PCH HayaBusa had represented Belgium at Skydive Voss, and it is no big surprise that the bronze medalists at the outdoor world cup are not ready to compete again at the moment.

The NSL News reported on September 1st that Michele Silvi is leaving the team, and the Belgian 4-way world champions of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021 are again looking for a way how to fill the open slot quickly. Ayro are currently the strongest Belgian 4-way team on the AAA Class leaderboard, and they could win the Belgian outdoor title if they can hold off Falco again in the remaining two rounds. Ayro placed second behind NMP PCH HayaBusa at the national championship last year.