posted Oct 25th, 2023 - The NSL News covered 4-way VFS competition for the first time in April 2006. The success of the growing NSL 4-way Network in the United States and in other countries had inspired VFS teams and competitors to become a part of more organized 4-way competition with more regional events. VFS eventually even had its own presence as a league at SKYLEAGUE.COM.

Skydive Chicago, Skydive Perris and Roaming DZ Dublin hosted three events in 2006, four years before the event would be integrated into world championships. A total of seven teams competed at the three different locations in 2006, only Team Mandrin attended each event. France eventually won the first FAI gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010.

Participation and event information with news updates was not sufficient enough to continue the presence at SKYLEAGUE.COM after the first year in 2006 and before the integration by FAI/ISC. The NSL News coverage eventually continued only with horizontal Formation Skydiving competition. USPA integrated 4-way VFS into the national championships the same year (2006) under VRW (Vertical Relative Work). The name of the event changed to VFS at the USPA Nationals 2008.

4-way VFS March 2006		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	-	Total	Avg
1	Team Mandrin	9	6	6	5	3	-	29	5.8
2	Sebastian Five	5	3	6	6	3	-	23	4.6
3	Spades	4	2	3	3	3	-	15	3.0
4-way VFS April 2006		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,11,16	2,C,L,N	9,P,5	13,F,14	D,19,K,3	-	Total	Avg
1	Elsinore Eclipse	5	6	6	10	10	-	37	7.4
2	Team Mandrin	7	4	6	11	8	-	36	7.2
3	Skydrivers	3	5	3	5	5	-	21	4.2
4	No Name	0	3	0	2	2	-	7	1.4
4-way VFS August 2006		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	1,H,16	3,22,5	L,E,F,19	10,Q,P,7	D,11,8	2,A,18	Total	Avg
1	Team Mandrin	8	6	12	6	7	9	48	8.0
2	Sebastian Five	4	1	9	1	4	5	24	4.0
2	Alcaponies	4	3	7	4	2	4	24	4.0

Moving fast forward to the most recent USPA Nationals last month at Skydive Paraclete XP, the leaderboards included 4-way VFS competition with a total of four teams in 4-way VFS Open, three more teams in 4-way VFS Advanced, where the teams have a separate and smaller dive pool with shorter sequences.

France had dominated 4-way VFS when the event was integrated into FAI world championships. France completed a Formation Skydiving Sweep in Menzelinsk 2010, including 4-way VFS and 4-way Women, and the French national VFS teams won two more sets of FAI gold medals in 2012 and 2014.

Then it was time for the transition of the VFS dominance from France to the United States. Jason Russell and Stephanie Strange had first created the Nexus Dubai VFS team, which represented the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between 2012 and 2013, including the world championship on their home turf in Dubai 2012.

They also won the 4-way VFS competition at the USPA Nationals 2013, where Arizona Arsenal qualified as the U.S. national team for the FAI World Championship 2014.

USPA Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	7,G,15	4,F,19	M,14,D	22,J,8	N,C,L,1	11,20	13,6	H,E,Q,9	A,21,2	P,O,B,18	Total	Avg
1	Air Raid XP	11	14	14	10	14	9	11	18	12	12	125	12.5
2	Spaceland Toxic	12	11	12	8	12	9	11	16	10	13	114	11.4
3	Mile-Hi SpeedRun	8	8	7	7	11	7	9	15	12	11	95	9.5
4	CSC Constellation	10	11	6	8	10	8	10	10	11	8	92	9.2
4	SDD Brane Damage	9	10	9	9	10	5	8	15	9	8	92	9.2
6	Air Force Halo	7	9	9	9	10	7	9	11	7	13	91	9.1
7	SDMW Uprising	6	9	10	9	8	7	8	10	9	13	89	8.9
8	Spaceland Disturbance Delicious	9	9	10	7	12	7	9	9	7	8	87	8.7
8	Air Force Freak Show	6	9	8	7	9	7	9	14	8	10	87	8.7
10	Joanne and the Creepers	8	10	7	8	11	6	8	7	8	11	84	8.4
11	Air Force PoisEN	9	9	7	8	4	7	9	14	8	8	83	8.3
12	Quadrivium	8	9	8	8	11	7	6	9	9	7	82	8.2
13	Carolina Legacy	8	9	6	7	7	6	7	10	10	11	81	8.1
13	Carolina Fourtune	8	9	8	7	9	6	6	9	8	11	81	8.1
15	Perris Rising	6	9	10	7	9	7	8	8	7	9	80	8.0
16	Mustangs!	5	9	8	7	5	6	7	15	9	8	79	7.9
17	4Action	7	9	7	5	8	8	5	12	8	7	76	7.6
18	Moving XPieces	7	8	9	7	7	7	6	9	6	7	73	7.3
18	DeLand's Hit Show	6	8	6	7	9	5	5	10	9	8	73	7.3
20	Cross Keys Flying Pups	7	5	7	6	7	6	7	10	7	10	72	7.2
21	Wingin' It	5	8	9	6	5	5	5	11	8	8	70	7.0
21	Gabby's Here	6	8	8	6	6	4	9	9	6	8	70	7.0
23	Air Force Gambit	7	4	9	5	9	6	7	6	6	8	67	6.7
24	DeLand's Dis-A-Point!	3	4	5	4	4	4	7	4	6	6	47	4.7

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Jason Russell with Mustangs! and SDC Core at the USPA Nationals 2023, Video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Jason Russell and Stephanie Strange took their 4-way VFS project back to the United States and won the next world meet qualification at the USPA Nationals 2015. They brought their first FAI gold medals to the United States at Skydive Chicago in 2016 and have not given away the world's VFS top spot ever since.

Jason Russell had a special surprise for the followers of horizontal Formation Skydiving competition at this year's USPA Nationals. SDC Core won the USPA gold medals once again in 4-way VFS without any serious opposition for their current lineup (Jason Russell, Stephanie Strange, Nicole Senecal, Sam Lendle, Rook Nelson, Chip Keating), after recently defending the world's top position successfully at the outdoor world cup in Norway.

Jason Russell then signed up not only for his prime event at the USPA Nationals. He also competed in horizontal Formation Skydiving competition with Mustangs! in 4-way Intermediate, which caught special attention.

It's not the first time that a competitor, or even a complete team, compete in the same two 4-way events. The NSL News mentioned in the past that the Canadian 4-way team Evolution won FAI outdoor world championship bronze medals in 4-way Open and in 4-way VFS in Prostejov 2014. There is no information yet that Jason Russell might have similar plans...

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	29	25	25	33	25	22	18	26	29	264	26.4
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	31	27	25	24	31	23	22	17	24	29	253	25.3
3	Evolution	CA	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9
FAI Outdoor World Championship 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way VFS		9,2,D	17,7,10	12,16,E	15,8,G	J,6,L,N	B,14,5	I,F,3,A	4,13,C	-	-	Total	Avg
1	Team4speed SD	FR	23	19	30	20	26	22	24	15	-	-	179	22.4
2	Arizona Arsenal	US	19	15	27	22	23	20	25	17	-	-	168	21.0
3	Evolution	CA	18	15	23	19	21	15	16	15	-	-	142	17.8

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Evolution at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2014

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