posted Sep 20th, 2023 - As it could be expected, Arizona Airspeed came back with vengeance after the Round 1 disaster. They did not allow any other team to get anywhere close to their highscores in the following nine rounds and still finished with the highest outdoor average that the current lineup has posted so far.

The two teams who had outscored the 4-way world champions in Round 1, SDC Rhythm XP and XPG4, had a few of their own point deductions in the same Super Sequence and then followed up with their battle for the positions behind Arizona Airspeed. Rhythm started two points ahead of XPG4, which lasted only for one round. Eventually, Rhythm had to fend off the Golden Knights to finish in a medal position.

XPG4 were on their own and different mission. They had mastered the 20+ average threshold at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving at Skydive Voss in Norway, where they had as little opposition in 4-way Women as Arizona Airspeed had in 4-way Open and GKXP8 in 8-way. The Super Sequence in Round 1 offered the rare opportunity to boost the meet average to a new scoring level, and XPG4 took full advantage of the situation. As all other teams, including Arizona Airspeed, they still had to master the challenge of the Round 1/Super Sequence combination, and they did so with their 46-pointer.

USPA Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open	O,E,C,Q,H		20,M,J,1		10,12,B		4,18,L		11,17,5		8,9,22		A,19,K,13		G,3,2		21,14,15		D,F,7,N		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	43	-8	29		22		23	-1	28		21		26		23		20		33	-2	268	26.8
2	XPG4	46	-2	21		17		17		20		17	-1	23		18		17		29	-1	225	22.5
3	SDC Rhythm XP	48	-4	19		17		16		20		17		22		17	-1	16		25	-1	217	21.7
4	Golden Knights	39	-3	23		18		17	-1	21		17	-1	24		15	-2	14		28		216	21.6
5	Pour Decisions	35	-1	18		15		16		18		16		20		15		14		23	-1	190	19.0
6	RhEvolution XP	27	-4	19		13		15		16		15		16	-1	16		13		23		173	17.3
7	Skydive Midwest NEXT	26	-4	18	-1	12	-2	15		17		14		17		15		13		23		170	17.0
8	Spaceland Apex	22	-5	11	-1	11	-2	14		15		13	-2	19		14		13		22		154	15.4
9	Alti-2 Technologies	24	-1	12	-1	10		13		13		11	-1	14		11		11		18	-1	137	13.7
10	Rhetirement Party	21		12	-2	11		10	-1	8		12		13		12		10		17		126	12.6
11	Rippin Flatties	10	-4	4		3	-3	5		4	-3	4	-1	6		3		5		10	-3	54	5.4

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XPG4 at the USPA Nationals 2023, video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Result of the ongoing XPG4 progression was not only the impressive 46-pointer and the new team record average. The 22.5 average after all ten rounds was also rewarded with the 2nd place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard for the U.S. national team in 4-way Women.

The award ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday after the completion of the 8-way competition, where all XPG4 members are involved with different teams. Jeana Billings is winning in 8-way with GKXP8, while her former XP8 team mate Michelle Karamon has joined the Airspeed 8-way team for this year's national championship. Anna Brunner and Brenn Richards are back with Bra Nok and the same lineup as in Norway.

The 4-way award ceremony will feature the first time that a 4-way Women team receives the USPA silver medals in 4-way Open. The Golden Knights placed 3rd twice at USPA Nationals, first in 2014, then again in 2015, a year before they would win the 4-way Women competition at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016.

SDC Rhythm XP occupied the 2nd place in 2014 and 2015, and JaNette Lefkowitz stepped in for the U.S. Army team when Angela Nichols discontinued at the beginning of the 2016 season.

USPA Nationals 2015		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open	J,H,2,8	6,D,18	F,9,L,O	1,17,E	K,19,N,P	3,7,5	4,A,B,12	11,16,M	15,Q,22	20,14,10	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	27	24	43	23	26	25	25	23	21	19	256	25.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	22	21	42	25	27	20	23	20	20	16	236	23.6
3	Golden Knights	23	19	37	22	24	19	23	21	19	17	224	22.4
4	Carolina Turbo XP	22	20	34	22	25	20	19	21	18	16	217	21.7
5	HG XP	15	18	30	18	22	19	18	15	14	12	181	18.1
6	Prestige Worldwide	18	16	27	15	16	16	14	16	14	13	165	16.5
7	EOS	17	14	26	16	15	15	15	17	13	13	161	16.1
8	Dallas 350	16	16	23	15	17	17	15	16	14	11	160	16.0
9	Verve XP	15	13	27	14	17	16	16	16	13	12	159	15.9
10	Spaceland Lite	16	14	23	13	17	13	13	13	14	10	146	14.6
11	Camdak.is	14	11	21	12	12	13	12	8	10	8	121	12.1

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Golden Knights at the USPA Nationals 2015, video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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SDC Rhythm was once again the main opponent for the current U.S. national team in 4-way Women. However, this time Doug Barron and his new lineup could not stop XPG4 from taking the 2nd place in 4-way Open. XPG4 eventually finished eight points ahead of SDC Rhythm XP and lost only Round 1 by two points.

XPG4's 22.5 average is on the scoring level of the Golden Knights in 2016, even though the 46-pointer in Round 1 lifted it to this average number. XPG4 are already the best 4-way Women team in the world after the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving, while the Golden Knights still had to win the FAI gold medals a year after the national championships of 2015.

XPG4 have to win gold medals at the outdoor world championship in Israel next year to match the Golden Knights with JaNette Lefkowitz in 2016, and that without a Super Sequence. However, the 2nd place in 4-way Open is a new record mark for a U.S. team of the female category. Jennifer Davidson switched to 8-way training and competition after the world championship in 2016 and became a member of the Golden Knights 8-way team. There she won her next gold medal in Australia 2018. XPG4 is a step ahead in 8-way too, as Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon already won their gold medals with XP8 at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022.