posted Oct 23rd, 2023 - The recent cancellation of the next outdoor world championship stirred up activities with the purpose of finding a replacement host for the event. The official announcement by the ISC Bureau included the mention that potential hosts have time until November 15th to submit a bid:

"The ISC Bureau unanimously, and in agreement with the organiser, took the decision to cancel the event for 2024 and to seek (an) alternative host(s) for the four Championships. Delegates will be informed and given the opportunity to bid for one or all the events during a short time frame ending on November 15th."

The cancellation of a world championship is very unusual and has happened only once in the history of Formation Skydiving competition since 1985, not very long ago. The impact of the corona virus crisis caused the same measure, and the FAI Tanay Mondial was eventually rescheduled and held a year later in August 2021.

Weather situations have reduced the number of completed competition rounds a few times, and the world championship in Spain 1989 was even relocated for a few days, from Ampuriabrava to Gerona, when the infamous Tramontana winds did not allow any skydiving activities at the original competition site. However, a cancellation due to political unrest is new to the sport.

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Hosts of FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985

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It was an unusual situation even before the cancellation. The hosts of the world championships have usually been more active participants in the sport, at least in Formation Skydiving competition, where the 4-way event is still the most popular and largest category.

Formation Skydiving competition teams from the originally planned host of the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships in 2024, Israel, participated at FAI/ISC events between 1989 and 2003, then never again, not even in Eloy 2022, long after Israel was already announced as the next host.

It was a surprise when the winner of the bidding process was announced. Another surprise came along for the potential participants in the largest event, when the jump plane for the 4-way teams was announced as the unpopular PAC 750XL. According to information from FAI/ISC officials, the main reason for the unusual hosting decision was the lack of other competing bidders.

However, the teams who were expecting to compete in Israel began with their planning and preparations, according to the knowledge after the selection of the host and the official announcement of the basic logistics. Planning and preparations began months before the political situation in Israel jeopardized the event with the final result of the cancellation.

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Participation at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985

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Most of the times, one of the Formation Skydiving powerhouses (United States, France, Russia) or other regular participants at world championships and world cups (Spain, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Brazil, Dubai) have been rewarded with the assignment as a host for world championships and world cups. Qatar, a new Formation Skydiving powerhouse, has plans for hosting an event very soon.

There have been other exceptions to the usual assignments in the past. Turkey hosted the outdoor world championship in 1997, despite low-level participation before (1989, 1993) and in the following years ever since (2001, 2008, 2012). However, the participation in Turkey was higher than average.

4-way teams from Dubai were actually very active when the United Arabian Emirates hosted the largest event in the history of the sport in 2012. Teams and competitors could not resist enjoying the amazing logistics that the host offered at the Dubai Mondial 2012. Behind the record number of 77 teams in Formation Skydiving competition in Dubai, the next highest participation happened when events were held in European countries where the travel distances are shorter. Potential replacement hosts for Israel still have three weeks to send a bid to the FAI/ISC headquarters.

FAI Dubai Mondial 2012			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		5,12,E		6,D,B,K		O,8,7		N,13,18		10,21,M		19,H,11		C,G,1,A		20,9,15		16,F,P,Q		2,J,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		34		27	-1	22		23		23	-2	32		25		40		26		279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	25	-1	34	-2	27	-1	21	-1	23		24	-1	32	-1	27		40		25	-1	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	26		30	-2	27		21		23		25		29	-1	23	-2	37		24		265	26.5
4	Evolution	CA	22		31		24		17	-1	19	-1	21		28		22		30	-2	22		236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	-2	29	-1	22	-1	21		21		18	-2	28		20	-2	35		20	-1	233	23.3
6	Satori	UK	18		26		21		17		15	-3	18	-1	23		17		27		18		200	20.0
7	eX3MO	IT	17	-1	24	-2	20		14		17		19		22		18	-1	28	-1	-		179	19.9
8	Paratec-Saar	DE	18		26		21		13		14	-2	16	-1	21	-3	18		30	-1	-		177	19.7
9	Rotor Out	AU	14	-2	25	-1	18	-1	15		17		18		22	-1	17		28		-		174	19.3
10	Bardagi	SE	17		26		20		14		16		15	-2	23		17	-2	24	-2	-		172	19.1
11	Voodoo	ZA	16		24		19		13		15		16		23		17		-		-		143	17.9
12	Ravens	AT	18		23		17		15		17		13		22		16		-		-		141	17.6
13	Qatar Tigers	QA	15		21		19		14		15		17		19		16		-		-		136	17.0
14	VIVA 4	CH	14		21		19		11		17		14		20		14		-		-		130	16.3
15	CTR Optimum	BR	17		19		16		13		15		14		19		16		-		-		129	16.1
16	Dubai Asaar Red	AE	16		20		16		12		15		16		18		13		-		-		126	15.8
17	China	CN	7		21		15		14		14		15		21		16		-		-		123	15.4
18	Spain	ES	16		21		16		13		9		13		21		10		-		-		119	14.9
18	Lize	CZ	13		21		17		12		17		11		17		11		-		-		119	14.9
20	Bodyflight Voluntas	DK	15		21		17		10		13		11		18		12		-		-		117	14.6
21	Rebootizer Aerial	MC	15		14		16		11		16		13		17		13		-		-		115	14.4
22	Silver Knights	FI	13		18		16		10		13		14		18		12		-		-		114	14.3
23	Magic 4	LT	14		17		15		11		14		14		14		13		-		-		112	14.0
24	Whooops	NL	10		18		17		10		13		14		16		11		-		-		109	13.6
25	Singapore	SG	14		21		16		12		13		9		14		9		-		-		108	13.5
26	Fast Air	IE	11		17		12		8		12		11		14		12		-		-		97	12.1
27	Ukraine	UA	11		15		11		10		11		10		14		10		-		-		92	11.5
27	Atmosfera G4	PT	12		15		12		10		8		10		13		12		-		-		92	11.5
29	Lupus	EE	10		14		12		9		11		10		14		11		-		-		91	11.4
30	Sky Dragons	SI	12		11		13		9		11		10		12		10		-		-		88	11.0
31	Kazakhstan	KZ	10		11		11		9		6		9		8		8		-		-		72	9.0
32	Argentina	AR	8		13		7		7		8		7		10		9		-		-		69	8.6
33	Cyprus	CY	7		6		10		7		6		7		10		7		-		-		60	7.5
34	Colombia	CO	6		9		9		5		8		6		8		6		-		-		57	7.1
35	Oman	OM	5		8		10		8		6		5		6		6		-		-		54	6.8
36	Turkey	TR	0		6		8		4		6		6		5		7		-		-		42	5.3
37	Thailand	TH	3		7		7		4		5		0		6		2		-		-		34	4.3
38	Ecuador	EC	0		0		2		2		2		3		3		3		-		-		15	1.9