posted Oct 2nd, 2023 - The NSL News pointed out the best placing of a U.S. 4-way Woman team with the update on September 20th, a day after XPG4 had finished in 2nd place of the 4-way Open competition at the USPA Nationals 2023. The same update provided more details of the unique achievement.

There was no opportunity for NSL Live Talk with the national team in 4-way Women, who recently confirmed their top position in the world in this 4-way category, as well, with the gold medals at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving. The combined leaderboard of the event in Norway is also showing XPG4 in 5th place, and the unofficial 4-way AAA Class ranking of the National Skydiving League has XPG4 even in 4th place.

All five XPG4 members continued with 8-way competition as soon as the last round in 4-way was completed on Tuesday. Jeana Billings followed up on her silver medal in 4-way Open with 8-way gold as a returning member in the new GKXP8 lineup. Michelle Karamon joined the Airspeed 8-way team to add a silver medal to her collection. Anna Brunner and Brenn Richards re-joined their Bra Nok lineup, after Shannon Catalano and Katie Healy had replaced them in Norway. XPG4 videographer Joss Martin has been filming Bra Nok since the team was formed for the USPA Nationals 2022.

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NSL Live Talk with XPG4, Recorded on 24 September 2023

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World Rankings 2019 - AAA Outdoor			Meets	Average
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	24.4 - 26.7 - 26.8	26.0
2	France 4-way Open	FR	22.4 - 24.6 - 21.7	22.9
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	21.7 - 23.8	22.8
4	XPG4	US	19.3 - 20.3 - 22.5	20.7
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	19.7 - 21.5	20.6
6	SDC Rhythm XP	US	18.0 - 18.6 - 19.7 - 21.7	20.0
7	Echochamber	SE	19.5	19.5
8	Golden Knights Gold	US	16.3 - 21.6	19.0
9	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	18.3 - 19.3	18.8
10	DeLand Norgies	NO	18.5	18.5

The opportunity for the latest NSL Live Talk conversation came at the same time when Arizona Airspeed were done with all competition rounds in all four horizontal Formation Skydiving events. Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon had won their next medals with the GKXPAZ 16-way team, which was the second gold medal for the Airspeed 4-way lineup and the complete GKXP8 lineup, the first one for Michelle Karamon after the silver in 4-way Open.

The 4-way and 8-way events were enough for Anna Brunner, Brenn Richards and Joss Martin. Michelle Karamon was done after the 16-way competition, while Jeana Billings was still heavily engaged in 10-way, where she could have won her third gold medal with a 1st place in the last horizontal Formation Skydiving event of the USPA Nationals.

All GKXP8 members were eager to add their 3rd USPA gold medals to their personal collections by winning the 10-way competition with GKXP10, and the six rounds on Sunday were almost just as competitive as the 4-way Open Class competition had been for the complete XPG4 lineup. However, the complete Arizona Airspeed lineup, including team videographer Brendan Haddon, won the 10-way competition with their selection for the other six slots. Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Chris Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall became the most successful competitors with three gold medals. Brandon Haddon had missed the 16-way competition that Golden Knights videographer Andy Sippl was filming for GKXPAZ.

USPA Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/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	XPG4	46	-2	21		17		17		20		17	-1	23		18		17		29	-1	225	22.5
FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Women	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	XPG4	21		20		20	-1	19		17		38		16	-1	16	-1	18	-2	18	-1	203	20.3
Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA Class	5,2,J		20,15,F		H,21,3		Q,1,10		11,K,6		9,P,B,G		16,N,14		19,12,O		M,18,C,7		22,D,13		Total	Avg
1	XPG4	18	-3	17	-3	19	-2	18	-1	19		28	-1	18	-1	18		21		17		193	19.3

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XPG4 outdoor performances in July - August - September 2023

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Michelle Karamon, Anna Brunner and Brenn Richards were still at Skydive Paraclete XP and the vicinity when Jeana Billings was done with the 10-way competition, and they took the extra time to share their latest experiences and insights with the NSL News. Only Joss Martin was not available any longer at that time.

The 2023 season was very successful for XPG4, as the NSL News reported in the earlier update. They left the 20-average benchmark behind at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving and took full advantage of the fast competition draw at the USPA Nationals to impress the 4-way world with the 22.5 average at Skydive Paraclete XP.

Arizona Airspeed may have to keep the French national team in 4-way Open in the back of their minds in their preparations for the outdoor world championship next year, as they mentioned during their NSL Live Talk earlier on the same day. There does not seem to be any opposition on the horizon for the other two U.S. national teams in horizontal Formation Skydiving competition. Jeana Billings did not have any trouble with the double duties in Norway, where GKXP8 and XPG4 both left the rest of the field in the dust in their respective events. Both teams are on track to win the gold medals in Israel 2024, and XPG4 is probably looking at other targets for next year. Qatar Tigers and NMP PCH HayaBusa could be on this list.