posted Sep 28th, 2023 - Yesterday's NSL News update from France and the country's national outdoor championship earlier this month included once again a connection to one of the most popular topics - the transition of former 4-way juniors to outdoor competition as the youngest generation of 4-way seniors.

Three 4-way junior team mates of many years in the Aerokart Ak'demie school in Paris, Tom Mattoni, Cameron Malie and Oscar Massier, met each other in Gap-Tallard to compete for the French national outdoor medal positions earlier this month. Tom Mattoni is already a member of the French national team in 4-way Open and won his first FAI 4-way Open Class medals, silver at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 in April, then again at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving in Norway. Only Arizona Airspeed outscored his team at both events.

His father Stephane Mattoni and his brother Noe Mattoni traveled with him to Norway and also continued their journey to Gap-Tallard in the French Hautes-Alpes mountains for the national outdoor championship. Tom Mattoni won his next national championship title, and his father Stephane competed with a new Monaco lineup. His younger brother Noe is not ready yet for outdoor training and competition and still spends his 4-way time in windtunnels with Cameron Malie and Oscar Massier.

At a similar time in August and September, their former and current Czech 4-way friends and opponents were active, as well. The Skywalkers Junior, former members of HF Flying Rebels and HF Chameleons and new Czech 4-way AAA/Open outdoor champions, performed the two 4-way Open Class sequences (AAA/AA) of the Indoor Cloud League August competition, after winning their first outdoor championship title last month.

Indoor Cloud League August 2023	AAA	AA	A	RRR	RR	R	Total
Teams - Hurricane Factory	G,11,B,3	F,11,6	A,Q,6	A,Q,F	M,G,B	M,Q	Total
Skywalkers Junior	20	19	-	-	-	-	20
HF Chameleons	20	20	-	-	-	-	20
HF Helicopters	-	9	14	20	22	22	34
Smart Fish	-	-	11	15	15	21	36
Unicorns	-	-	8	11	10	15	-
Hurricane Factory's Best of August	20	20	14	20	15	21	110

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Indoor Cloud League August 2023: Hurricane Factory Highscores

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The young French and Czech 4-way competitors have met each other at indoor competitions for years, and it seems like it will not take much time until they will follow up at an outdoor competition soon.

In fact, at least the four Skywalkers Junior and Tom Mattoni will all compete at the same place and the same time within a year. They are members of their country's national 4-way outdoor teams and will represent their countries at the next outdoor world championship in Israel 2024.

They will actually meet another former 4-way junior indoor competitor at the same event in a lineup of another national 4-way Open Class team. Yannick Bisson and his Canadian 4Astrophe team are making plans for the next outdoor world championship, as the NSL News reported on September 15th. Yannick Bisson started in the 4-way Junior event with the Air Devils and coach Richard Bisson. They won the 4-way Junior gold medals at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016, after the 2nd place in their home chamber at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2017.

Tom Mattoni, Cameron Malie, Oscar and Eliot Massier were Yannick Bisson's opponents at both events. Tom Mattoni, Yannick Bisson and the complete Skywalkers Junior lineup will face each other in Round 1 of next year's outdoor world championship, which will be a totally new situation in 4-way history.

French Outdoor Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Open	H,12,L,2		6,21,N		3,O,13		10,G,J,22		8,11,B		14,E,5		A,19,C,P		18,M,16		20,7,1		Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Cypres Lille	20		23		23		19		21		24		26	-1	20		19		195	21.7
2	Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge	16		16		19		14		16		16		23		16		15		151	16.8
3	Espoir Lille Hauts de France	15		15	-2	14	-1	14		13		9	-2	22		15		13		130	14.4
4	Awesome 4 Monaco	10		12		7		8		7		10		11		11		9		85	9.4
5	Starfish	6		9		9		4		8		8		11		7		9		71	7.9

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French Outdoor Nationals 2023: Espoir Lille Hauts de France

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Tom Mattoni will try to defeat Arizona Airspeed on the top of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. Then there is a very good chance that Skywalkers Junior and 4Astrophe with Yannick Bisson will battle for a Top 10 position. The Canadian national team did exactly that successfully in Eloy last October with a 16.6 average.

Skywalkers Junior seem to be far behind 4Astrophe after their 14.4 finish at the Czech Outdoor Nationals in August. However, the progression of the new Czech 4-way seniors is guaranteed, and they have the advantage of exit training from the same PAC jump plane on their home turf in Most.

In the meantime, HF Flying Rebels/SkyWalkers Junior and HF Chameleons continue with their previous duel that ended with the qualification for the one team slot in the Czech delegation at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023. The HF Chameleons will now represent their country in 4-way Junior at next year's indoor world cup in China, and Skywalkers Junior continue to put pressure on them for training purposes. The four Czech and two French former 4-way junior competitors and new outdoor seniors are exactly on the same level of progression, disregarding the competition draw. Skywalkers Junior and Espoir Lille Hauts de France both finished with a 14.4 average after their respective number of rounds. It could not be any closer.

Czech Outdoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,7,L	19,2,15	H,F,17,E	5,Q,1	12,8,16	14,P,13	K,B,9,11	6,10,D	21,18,G	4,J,20	Total	Avg
1	Skywalkers Junior	14	12	24	15	13	13	16	13	12	12	144	14.4
2	Juniors Plus	3	6	8	5	9	9	13	9	7	7	76	7.6
3	M Team	8	4	11	7	6	6	9	7	7	5	70	7.0
4	Atom Plus	5	6	5	4	6	5	7	6	6	7	57	5.7

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Czech Outdoor Nationals 2023: Skywalkers Junior

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