posted Nov 10th, 2023 - The NSL News reported on October 25th that VFS world champion Jason Russell competed in vertical and horizontal events both at the USPA Nationals 2023. His horizontal 4-way team, Mustangs, finished in 16th place in the AA/Intermediate Class.

Jason Russell was not the only VFS competitor who participated in vertical and horizontal events both. There was another 4-way team with a combination of horizontal and vertical competitors who even signed up for the 4-way Open Class event, the Rippin Flatties.

Two of the team members (Carl Kallgren, Jason McClure) had won the 4-way Intermediate Class competition of the USPA Nationals 2021 together, and they had a different plan for this year's national championship. Jason McClure had turned to Canopy Relative Work (CReW) after the end of the Kaos Theory XP time, where he competed at the next USPA Nationals a year later and won his next gold medal in 4-way Open Rotation with his team Jorts Jettison. He said already by then that he may come back from the dark side at some point.

His Kaos team mate Carl Kallgren was recruited for the new SDC Rhythm XP lineup after the USPA Nationals 2021 and did not continue after the completion of the 2022 season. He had no 4-way team this year and has trained and competed with Bra Nok since the 8-way team was formed.

USPA Nationals 2021		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	L,2,M	K,13,8	14,E,H	4,9	P,15,C	20,1	22,11	21,Q,D	A,J,18	B,6,F	G,7,O	Total	Avg
1	Kaos Theory	15	14	11	15	14	10	10	15	15	19	-	138	13.8
2	Dallas Dynasty	13	13	13	15	13	11	10	15	13	21	-	137	13.7
3	Air Force Atlas	13	12	11	14	12	10	6	16	15	18	14	127	12.7
4	SDC Rhebellion XP	15	11	13	12	13	10	8	13	12	20	13	127	12.7
Rank	4-way Advanced	13,5,D	Q,9,4	F,14,C,10	H,L,20,N	18,22,19	11,J,E,8	6,7,K	G,15,12	M,2,21	16,A,P,O	-	Total	Avg
1	Lightspeed XP	17	19	16	20	14	16	16	13	17	19	-	167	16.7
2	SDC RhEvolution XP	15	17	14	14	10	12	16	13	17	17	-	145	14.5
3	NE Chicken Bolts	10	19	16	18	11	14	15	7	16	16	-	142	14.2
4	Vega XP	12	15	14	11	11	16	13	11	12	14	-	129	12.9

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Khaos Theory XP - Lightspeed XP at the USPA Nationals 2021, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore

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Carl Kallgren has spent his whole Bra Nok 8-way time with Brandon Kashani, who was on the same top spot of the USPA podium in 2021, only one category higher. Brandon Kashani was in the original Lightspeed XP lineup who won USPA's 4-way Advanced Class competition in 2021, the same event where Kaos Theory XP won the 4-way Intermediate Class.

Carl Kallgren and Jason McClure were looking for a videographer for their 4-way team at the this year's USPA Nationals and eventually asked Brandon Kashani to take the camera slot. Brandon Kashani had never filmed a team before, and Round 1 in 4-way Open would become his first 4-way video experience. However, he signed up for the job anyway.

Brandon Kashani knew that the 4-way competition with Rippin Flatties would not be the most serious assignment in his skydiving career. In fact, the three USPA champions of 2021 went down to the last place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard after the gold medals two years back in their respective previous categories.

USPA Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way 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	Arizona Airspeed	43	-8	29		22		23	-1	28		21		26		23		20		33	-2	268	26.8
2	XPG4	46	-2	21		17		17		20		17	-1	23		18		17		29	-1	225	22.5
3	SDC Rhythm XP	48	-4	19		17		16		20		17		22		17	-1	16		25	-1	217	21.7
4	Golden Knights	39	-3	23		18		17	-1	21		17	-1	24		15	-2	14		28		216	21.6
5	Pour Decisions	35	-1	18		15		16		18		16		20		15		14		23	-1	190	19.0
6	RhEvolution XP	27	-4	19		13		15		16		15		16	-1	16		13		23		173	17.3
7	Skydive Midwest NEXT	26	-4	18	-1	12	-2	15		17		14		17		15		13		23		170	17.0
8	Spaceland Apex	22	-5	11	-1	11	-2	14		15		13	-2	19		14		13		22		154	15.4
9	Alti-2 Technologies	24	-1	12	-1	10		13		13		11	-1	14		11		11		18	-1	137	13.7
10	Rhetirement Party	21		12	-2	11		10	-1	8		12		13		12		10		17		126	12.6
11	Rippin Flatties	10	-4	4		3	-3	5		4	-3	4	-1	6		3		5		10	-3	54	5.4

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Rippin Flatties at the USPA Nationals 2023, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Khaos member Jason McClure had come up with his next idea after turning to Canopy Relative Work in 2022, which became possibly one step on his way back from the dark side to the horizontal freefall position. He came into the possession of several jumpsuits that were used in Formation Skydiving several decades ago, and he was recruiting a 4-way team that would compete with them in 4-way Open at the national championship.

Two VFS competitors, Richo Butts (Joe's Angels) and Vincent Faires (Why Not), signed up for the jumpsuit adventure, but only under the condition of an agreement that required their horizontal team mates, Carl Kallgren and Jason McClure, to use VFS apparel in a certain number of rounds. The final arrangement was to the advantage of the VFS competitors who had to wear the Bird Suits only in two of the ten rounds.

Carl Kallgren and Jason McClure had no booties or grippers available in the other eight rounds, although the Bird Suits also did not offer much of what any contemporary 4-way competition suits do. Only videographer Brandon Kashani felt probably slightly more comfortable in his Bird Suit, as he did not have to take any grips or perform sophisticated 4-way maneuvers. Brandon Kashani and Carl Kallgren will probably continue together in 8-way. They are still working on completing the lineup, and there could be an open slot for Jason McClure on his way back to horizontal Formation Skydiving...