posted Dec 13th, 2023 - The Norwegian 4-way delegation was heavily involved with Fun Flag activities at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving on their home turf at Skydive Voss. Actually, it was the cooperation between two of the three Norwegian 4-way teams that brought the success of possession and eternal physical presence on the Fun Flag.

4-way Women team Thyra and 4-way Open Class team Grumsen eventually presented the Fun Flag proudly in public, after the Grumsen effort that the NSL News covered on August 25th. At the same time, the third Norwegian team, Agera, were battling for a Top 10 spot on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard and did not participate in the Norwegian chasing of the Fun Flag.

However, Thyra and Grumsen both also had their own 4-way battles on the respective leaderboards. In fact, Thyra even won bronze medals in 4-way Women for Norway in the European Championship, which was embedded in the competition. They outscored the official British national team Alola and even NFTO by three points in this category to finish behind France and Germany in 3rd place. Agera missed the Top 10 and ended up in 11th place of the world cup in 4-way Open, in 7th place on the European leaderboard, while they were not sighted near the Fun Flag.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open/4-way 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	Arizona Airspeed	US	26		27		26		25		22		48	-1	22		21		25		25		267	26.7
2	France 4-way Open	FR	23		25	-1	26		24		19		45	-1	19		19		23		23		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	20	-4	20	-2	25		23	-1	18	-2	45		20		19		24		24		238	23.8
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20	-1	22	-1	23		20		19		40		13	-4	17	-1	22		19	-4	215	21.5
5	XPG4	US	21		20		20	-1	19		17		38		16	-1	16	-1	18	-2	18	-1	203	20.3
6	SDC Rhythm XP	US	18		17	-1	19	-2	19		17		38		16		17		18		18	-1	197	19.7
7	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	17	-1	18		20	-1	17		14		31	-1	15		15		18		18		183	18.3
8	Amnesya	IT	16	-1	17		19		17	-1	16		31	-1	15		14		18		18	-1	181	18.1
9	Papea	ES	14	-3	17	-1	18	-1	17		14	-1	32		14	-1	15		18		18		177	17.7
9	France 4-way Women	FR	17		15	-1	20		17		15		33		14		14	-1	14	-2	18		177	17.7
11	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	17		16		19		17		16		29		14		14		17		17		176	17.6
12	Out Of The Blue	NL	17		15	-1	18		16	-1	15		31	-4	14		13		16		18	-1	173	17.3
13	Agera	NO	15	-2	13	-2	16		18		12	-1	32	-1	13	-1	15		18		13	-4	165	16.5
14	Lightspeed XP	US	14		15	-1	17		15		12		30		13		13		15		17		161	16.1
15	Chaotic Motion VIXX	NL	15		13	-2	15	-3	16	-1	13		30	-1	12		11		15		18		158	15.8
16	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	15	-1	11	-4	16	-2	16		13	-1	32		14		10	-1	15	-1	14	-3	156	15.6
17	Qatar Lions	QA	0		14	-1	16		18		13	-2	31	-2	15		14	-1	14		17	-2	152	15.2
18	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	12	-2	15		16		16		11		25	-1	12		12		15		16		150	15.0
19	Aurora	SE	14		14		15	-1	13	-1	12		26		11	-1	13		13	-1	17		148	14.8
20	Sequenz	DK	14	-1	12		15	-1	12	-1	10	-1	24	-1	12		11		12	-1	13		135	13.5
21	Thyra	NO	11	-1	12		14		13		11		21		10		12		12		14		130	13.0
22	NFTO	UK	11	-2	11		12	-1	12	-1	11		25		10		10		12	-2	13	-1	127	12.7
22	LUX	NL	12		11		13		13		10		23		10		9		11		15		127	12.7
24	Whitefish	AU	11	-1	10	-1	14		13	-1	11		20	-1	9	-2	11		12	-1	15		126	12.6
25	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		11		15		11	-1	10		21	-1	11		11		9	-2	11	-1	123	12.3
26	Alola	UK	11		12		13	-1	12	-1	10		20	-4	11		10	-1	11	-1	11	-1	121	12.1
27	Mriya	UA	11		10		9	-2	11		10		20	-1	9		9		10	-1	14		113	11.3
28	Grumsen	NO	12	-1	9	-1	12	-2	13		10		21	-3	7	-2	10	-1	10		8	-3	112	11.2
29	DNF	UK	11	-1	9		12		11		9		21		9	-1	9		8	-1	10	-2	109	10.9
30	4igami	NL	8		8		8		9	-1	8		14	-1	7		7		10		11	-1	90	9.0
31	4Reigners	UK	9		8		7	-1	9		7		16	-1	7		0	-10	8	-1	10	-1	81	8.1

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Mriya - Grumsen - DNF at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video footage courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

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Grumsen was involved in a very competitive area of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, as well. They could not keep up with the other two Norwegian teams, neither with Agera nor with Thyra, while they had their own international battle with Mriya from Ukraine and the official British national team in 4-way Open, DNF. The three teams were separated by only four points after Round 10.

Grumsen were probably aiming at Thyra who they had outscored by seven points at the Norwegian Outdoor Nationals a month before the world cup. They were probably surprised when Thyra lifted their scoring and performance level by 1.6 average points in the four weeks between the two meets.

The Grumsen lineup included Kristoffer Thorstensen who was one of the original Agera members when the the current national 4-way team started in 2019. The NSL News reported on 1 October 2022 that DeLand Norgies member and World Cup Director Carl-Erik Tuv replaced Kristoffer Thorstensen at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022 in Eloy. Agera continued with Amund Meyer after the outdoor world championship, and Kristoffer Thorstensen eventually joined the Grumsen lineup this year.

Norway Outdoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,4,G	5,6,17	O,1,C,7	A,21,L,M	J,12,15	19,11,B	P,K,D,20	16,18,10	N,14,Q,3	E,H,F,9	Total	Avg
1	Agera	14	17	19	21	14	16	20	15	15	36	187	18.7
2	Norgyx	15	18	19	20	12	17	21	14	15	34	185	18.5
3	Grenland Grumsen All Star	12	11	13	10	9	13	11	10	9	23	121	12.1
4	Thyra	12	13	10	15	8	11	13	8	8	16	114	11.4
5	IRIS	8	9	8	13	8	9	11	5	8	19	98	9.8
6	Gloriasses	8	9	11	11	7	8	7	5	7	15	88	8.8

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Agera - Thyra - Grumsen at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video footage courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

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Agera were battling with the national teams from Netherlands (Out Of The Blue), Spain (Papea), Italy (Amnesya) and Germany (Airbus) for the best Top 10 positions, while Grumsen had to deal with two other national teams from Great Britain (DNF) and Ukraine (Mriya). None of the teams ahead of DNF at the British Outdoor Nationals 2022 were ready to compete at the outdoor world cup a year later, except for Alola in 4-way Women, and the two British teams at Skydive Voss (DNF, 4Reigners) gladly took the open slots in the British delegation.

Grumsen had a 5-point lead over DNF and Mriya both going into Round 10. The weak Norwegian finish at the very end changed the outcome of this 3-team battle. Grumsen still held off DNF by three points, while the team from Ukraine finished with their best round of the competition. Mriya left DNF behind with their 14-pointer and won by one point over Grumsen.

Mriya's 14-pointer in the last round tied Thyra's score for the same sequence and outscored four other teams ahead of them on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. The team from Ukraine was not done with 4-way competition after the outdoor world cup in Norway. They continued with former Amnesya and NMP PCH HayaBusa member Michele Silvi in the lineup at the Danish Indoor Nationals 2023 last month in Berlin, Germany, where they finished in 3rd place on the open AAA Class leaderboard.