posted Nov 24th, 2023 - The NSL News goes back to the 4-way competition at the Weembinamic 2023 after the excursion to the 8-way action at the same event. ISR FireFlash member Sven Ibens witnessed the exciting event at Weembi Lille from the very beginning to the very end, and he was available to share his experiences with the NSL News.

The NSL News covered the FireFlash journey from a weak start to the 2nd place with the update on November 22nd, and Sven Ibens provided more details of the event story. He had very interesting insights to share that were related to the psychology of the different competition format.

The two strongest teams of the competition, Black Hole Dynos in 1st place, ISR FireFlash in 2nd place on the traditional leaderboard, had to wait until the two rounds in the finals (9 - 10) until they were facing each other directly in their 2-round duel for the Weembinamic 2023 championship title. Sven Ibens explained that the psychology of the elimination duels plays into the game, at least to a certain extent, especially at an indoor competition with a very different environment, much more up close and personal compared to outdoor events.

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NSL Live Talk with ISR FireFlash member Sven Ibens

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The two teams, who battled each other directly only at the very end of the competition, could not have been much more different than they were. ISR FireFlash have trained and competed together since 2017, and the lineups changed just the same way as it happens to 4-way teams who have plans for longer time periods. The Black Hole Dynos lineup consisted of highly experienced world class competitors who competed together for the first time.

Members of the Black Hole Dynos have trained and competed together before in 4-way and 8-way and in many different combinations, while the 4-way lineup at the Weembinamic was new and unique. Vana Parker and Sian Stokes had just won the British Indoor Nationals with NFTO and a 27.1 average without a Super Sequence. Julien Degen had competed at the same event with Weembi Unicorns, and Pal Kolbenstvedt, DeLand Norgies FAI bronze medalist of of 1999, 2001 and 2003, joined the lineup for some indoor training before the event and the ten 4-way rounds.

Pal Kolbenstvedt ended up as a winner of multiple medals at the Weembinamic, like Julien Degen, Martial Ferre and Jeana Billings did with their numerous teams. Pal Kolbenstvedt won the 4-way competition with Black Hole Dynos and placed 2nd with Veloce QRF in 8-way. Julien Degen was his 4-way team mate and battled against him at the same time with 4-way bronze medalist Weembi Unicorns. Julien Degen added the 8-way gold medal to his collection, together with Jeana Billings and Martial Ferre who both won gold (Ultim8) and silver (QRF) in 8-way.

Weembinamic 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class Top 10		L,4,20		B,14,6		19,O,D,15		2,13,5		11,17,22		3,P,K,G		18,10,1		A,H,12,J		8,21,16		Q,M,F,C,N		Total	Avg
1	Black Hole Dynos	UK	22	-1	23	-2	28		23	-1	21		31		20	-1	29	-1	21	-1	75	-3	293	29.3
2	ISR Fireflash	BE	19		19	-2	27		21		22		29		20		30		21		71	-4	279	27.9
3	Unicorns Weembi	FR	24		26	-1	21	-3	21		21		30		19	-1	29	-1	20	-1	66	-2	277	27.7
4	FCUK Weembi	UK	22	-1	23	-1	23		22		19	-2	26	-1	19		27	-1	20		71		272	27.2
5	Chesspaf	FR	21	-1	25	-1	23	-1	20	-1	17	-1	26		18		25	-1	20		72		267	26.7
6	Nephtys	FR	21		23	-1	25		21		19		28		19	-1	27		19		64		266	26.6
6	Aerokart Monaco	FR	22	-1	25		27		19	-1	20		23	-5	18		28		20	-1	64	-1	266	26.6
8	Nice Autrement	FR	20		25		22	-1	19	-1	21		29		17	-1	28		21		34	-11	236	23.6
9	Once Pakoi	FR	21		21	-2	23		20		16		22		16		23		19		49		230	23.0
10	Oblivion	IT	17		22		18	-1	17		17	-1	21	-2	15		19		14		52	-2	212	21.2

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Black Hole Dynos - ISR FireFlash at the Weembinamic 2023

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ISR FireFlash competed only in one event, and Sven Ibens recalled the progression from a weak start to the team's peak performance in the last round with the Super Sequence. ISR FireFlash, at the team's first competition with new team member Lena Clynhens, had caught up to the top performance level of the Black Hole Dynos after the four qualification rounds.

In fact, the traditional leaderboard is showing that both teams were tying the total of their scores between Round 5 and Round 9. Sven Ibens said that they also exceeded their training results for the Super Sequence that they had practice a few times before traveling to France. The Super Sequence was available for training purposes months before the competition.

Black Hole Dynos did not have an easy journey to the finals, as well. Weembi Unicorns showed them in the first two rounds that they were ready to win this year, after ending up 2nd at the Weembinamic 2022, despite the 1st place on the traditional leaderboard. The first four rounds were not elimination duels, while the Unicorns performance in the first two rounds would have been enough to defeat Black Hole Dynos in an elimination duel. It happened later again. Black Hole Dynos would have been in trouble had they faced ISR FireFlash in the seminfinals (Rounds 7 - 8). However, the winners were facing the Nephtys in the seminfinals and won by three points (49 - 46), while FireFlash eliminated Weembi Unicorns (50 - 48) in the same two rounds. ISR FireFlash continue tomorrow at the ISR Grand Prix, where Sven Ibens is also competing with his family team, now under FSH2 instead of Family Flash...