posted Sep 22nd, 2023 - The NSL News mentioned earlier that the 4-way participation at the USPA Nationals 2023 was significantly higher than last year (56 - 48). It was similar in 8-way where 23 teams exceeded the participation at Skydive Chicago (19). In fact, the total of 23 teams in the three 8-way categories this week were only outscored by the 24 U.S. teams at the same place in 2019, and they tied the 23 U.S. teams in Perris 2017, Eloy 2016 and 2015.

Eight 16-way teams also created a new record number in this event since 2000, with two more teams than in 2022. Only the first three years after the introduction of 16-way competition at the USPA Nationals in 1998 created more participation (9 - 9 - 12). It was a 20-way competition before, which turned into 16-way for the first time in 1998.

The best 4-way and 8-way teams in the United States have always dominated the 16-way competition, usually just by joining forces in different ways and without any training, even though Texas 16-way team Deguello challenged the 4-way and 8-way champions a few times for the top spot.

This week, it was once again a hopeless situation for any other 16-way teams to get even close to a new combination of U.S. world-class competitors. More than Adequate and Disturbance were back with similar lineups as in 2022 and could compete only for the 2nd place. However, there was at least competition for the USPA silver and bronze medals in this event.

USPA Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	16-way	7,4	1,H	10,8	B,9	3,J	G,C,2	Total	Avg
1	GKXPAZ	9	14	7	13	13	9	65	10.8
2	More Than Adequate	6	10	5	8	11	5	45	7.5
3	Spaceland Disturbance	5	10	5	6	8	3	37	6.2
4	Prestige Worldwide	3	7	4	5	8	5	32	5.3
5	Tequila Brothers	3	8	3	4	8	3	29	4.8
6	California Hysteria	0	1	2	2	4	2	11	1.8
6	Spectable of 17	0	3	1	2	3	2	11	1.8
8	Perris 17 Blades	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0

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USPA Nationals 2023: GKXPAZ, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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More than Adequate and Disturbance both had outscored last year's winner XP16 in the last two rounds. This week, the GKXPAZ combination did not allow any other 16-way team to get anywhere close in the six rounds, even though they ended up one point behind their own total at the 2022 competition.

The 18-pointer in Round 2 last year was the highest 16-way score in the recent years. However, the NSL News discovered a 20-pointer in the Omniskore archives, which was even available as a competition video. It was posted by a "Knights Defiance" combination at the 16-way event of the USPA Nationals 2007.

Knights Defiance did not even win the 16-way competition with the 20-pointer. Airspeed's 16-way team took their 3rd set of USPA gold medals with 13 Airspeed members (Craig Girard, Eliana Rodriguez, Mark Kirkby, Andy Delk, Christopher Irwin, John Hamilton, Todd Hawkins, Gary Beyer, Dennis Rook, John Eagle, Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, Andy Honigbaum and Steve Nowak on camera), plus Josh Hall, Ulrich Stuwe, Scott Latinis and Joey Jones.

This year, the complete Airspeed 4-way lineup (Joey Marshall, Mikhail Markine, Niklas Hemlin, Christopher Kuhlmann) and GKXP8 members Jeana Billings, Andrew Happick, John D'Annunzio, Kirk Verner and Matt Davidson joined forces with six Golden Knights (Nick Birkner, Mike Connors, Mitch Stockenberg, Jesse Stahler, Drew Starr, Andy Sippl on camera). XPG4 member Michelle Karamon, Steven Lefkowitz, Doug Barron and Josh Hall completed the lineup, including alternates. GKXPAZ finished 20 points ahead of More Than Adequate in 2nd place.

USPA Nationals 2022		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	16-way	B,A,3	E,1	H,9	F,8	4,5	2,D	Total	Avg
1	XP16	14	18	15	7	7	5	66	11.0
2	More Than Adequate	11	13	8	4	7	6	49	8.2
3	Dallas Disturbance	11	11	5	5	7	6	45	7.0
4	Paradox	7	10	4	2	4	2	29	4.8
5	Fusion 16	4	5	3	2	2	2	18	3.0
6	Squeaky Wheel	2	4	2	0	2	1	11	1.8

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USPA Nationals 2022: XP16, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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