posted Sep 25th, 2023 - The 10-way Speed competition concluded once again the Formation Skydiving part of this year's USPA Nationals. It was the event that had generated the biggest surprise and upset of the whole competition in October 2022. Last year's lineup with only three Arizona Airspeed members (Joey Marshall, Niklas Hemlin, Brendan Haddon on camera), three XP8 world champions (Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings, Kirk Verner), plus Steve Lefkowitz, Ben Liston, Rodney Cruce, Keith Conner, James Klinge and Josh Hall had two rounds with the maximum time of 35 seconds and ended up in 3rd place.

Two 10-way underdogs (Sorta Adequate, Herding Katz) won the USPA gold and silver medals in this event at Skydive Chicago last year. Both 10-way teams were back this year for the same event, possibly hoping that there might be a similar situation and a chance to step onto the podium for the next 10-way medals.

However, Joey Marshall, Niklas Hemlin and Brendan Haddon had everything but forgotten what happened in September 2022, and their returning 10-way team mates of 2022 (Michelle Karamon, Steven Lefkowitz, Ben Liston, Rodney Cruce, Keith Conner, James Klinge and Josh Hall) were just as eager to wipe out the memory of the 3rd place.

This time, it was the complete Airspeed 4-way lineup that was ready for the 10-way competition. Mikhail Markine and Christopher Kuhlmann replaced Jeana Billings and Kirk Verner who joined their 8-way team and the Golden Knights for the GKXP10 lineup. Doug Hendrix completed the Airspeed 10-way team.

USPA Nationals 2022		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	10-way Speed
1	Sorta Adequate	22.11	24.34	17.49	28.65	20.69	18.71	131.99	22.00
2	Herding Katz	26.65	20.58	22.66	26.53	19.14	21.64	137.20	22.87
3	Airspeed 10	35.00	20.90	35.00	22.02	13.35	15.54	141.81	23.64
4	Who is Jesse King?	35.00	25.95	27.91	20.37	20.56	20.44	150.23	25.01
3	Bootieless	34.54	33.25	35.00	35.00	28.54	28.50	194.83	32.47

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USPA Nationals 2022: 10-way Speed - Top 3, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Jeana Billings and Kirk Verner had their own goal to win the 10-way competition, which is often the deciding event for the award of the most successful Formation Skydiving competitor. Their 8-way team mates of GKXP8 (John D'Annunzio, Andrew Happick, Matt Davidson, Drew Starr, Jeshua Stahler, Mike Connors, Nicholas Birkner, Mitchell Stockenberg) joined forces with them, and Golden Knights 4-way videographer Andi Sippl was filming the 10-way action. Doug Barron and Jake Carlton completed the lineup.

Airspeed's Joey Marshall, Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Christopher Kuhlmann were on their way to win their third USPA gold medals, after 1st places in 4-way Open and 16-way. Only some of their team mates in the 16-way lineup of GKXPAZ would be able to stop them and become the most successful FS competitors themselves this year.

The complete GKXP8 lineup had the opportunity to stop the four Arizona Airspeed members after their two gold medals and win their own third event. The 10-way competition became the ultimate showdown between the current members of the U.S. national teams in 4-way Open and 8-way Open.

The duel of the world's two dominating teams in these two events did not allow much space for last year's underdogs. Airspeed 10 won all six rounds with the fastest times, and GKXP10 were ahead of all other teams behind them in each round, as well. Sorta Adequate outscored Herding Katz again, this year for the bronze medals over Deeply Disturbed Texicans.

USPA Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	10-way Speed
1	Airspeed 10	11.51	9.92	9.87	10.83	12.43	10.99	65.55	10.9
2	GKXP10	15.16	11.59	12.98	15.65	14.33	10.84	80.55	13.4
3	Sorta Adequate	15.81	16.32	16.72	15.85	22.46	17.79	104.95	17.5
4	Herding Katz	15.96	25.19	31.71	20.98	20.84	17.33	132.01	22.0
5	Deeply Disturbed Texicans	35.00	35.00	24.26	27.13	31.32	24.40	177.11	29.5

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USPA Nationals 2023 - 10-way Speed: Airspeed 10 - GKXP10, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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