posted Dec 21st, 2023 - The most attentive visitors of the NSL website may have noticed that a new NSL Profile has been added to the NSL list of celebrities in the sport of Formation Skydiving competition. Dennis Praet is the fourth NMP PCH HayaBusa member with career information that goes beyond the usual NSL News coverage.

Brothers David and Andy Grauwels were the first HayaBusa members with their separate NSL Profiles. It was difficult enough to separate them by then, and they still had their own profiles since December 2015, a year after they won their first world championship title together.

The NSL News obviously did not know in 2015 that David and Andy Grauwels would repeat the ultimate achievement in Formation Skydiving competition three more times together (2016, 2018, 2021) before they would separate and go their own ways. However, the NSL News expected the HayaBusa story to continue, one way or another.

David Grauwels had already switched to the camera slot when HayaBusa's 2021 lineup (Andy Grauwels, Dennis Praet, Jeroen Nollet, Michele Silvi) won the next gold medals at the FAI Tanay Mondial. That's when Andy Grauwels joined the only two other 4-way competitors in history who won gold medals at four consecutive world championships, Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno with the French national teams between 1987 and 1993.

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

---

Arizona Airspeed - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Dubai Mondial 2012

---

Dennis Praet balanced the scale of 4-way success between France and Belgium when he won his own 4th consecutive gold medal with HayaBusa's 2021 lineup. He and Andy Grauwels did between 2014 and 2021 what Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno accomplished between 1987 and 1993.

David and Andy Grauwels received the attention with the NSL Profile after winning their first world championship and in anticipation of more to come, while Dennis Praet had to wait until he had really won his 4th gold medal. However, original HayaBusa member Sven Ibens had to wait even longer before his NSL Profile was posted in April 2016. He had never won a world championship title in his ongoing active 4-way career. However, each and every HayaBusa member considers him the godfather and mentor of the team, including Dennis Praet in the most current HayaBusa profile.

The two French and two Belgian 4-way world champions with four consecutive gold medals are still not on the top of the 4-way gold medal count. Original Airspeed member Mark Kirkby has won five times, even though he needed a longer time period. He started with the original lineup (1995 and 1997), continued with Airspeed Vertical (2001), won again with Airspeed Odyssey (2008) and added the 5th gold medal with Arizona Airspeed in Dubai 2012. Mark Kirkby needed 17 years to collect his five 4-way gold medals (1995 - 2012). Andy Grauwels and Dennis Praet won their four times within eight years (2014 - 2021). Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno did the same in seven years (1987 - 1993) as their time period did not include the cancellation and rescheduling of an event.

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		G,22,1	9,6,2	D,7,17	8,J,C,K	Q,B,14,20	19,15,4	A,10,13	12,M,N,P	H,O,3,16	5,21,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	17	16	19	21	22	19	21	28	17	202	20.2
G	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	23	16	17	16	15	21	16	20	26	15	185	18.5
G	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	12	15	12	15	16	13	17	20	13	149	14.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	17	14	11	15	15	17	14	13	18	13	147	14.7
G	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	18	12	13	10	13	18	14	16	15	11	140	14.0
6	SDC Rhythm XP8	US	12	11	12	13	11	15	12	15	14	12	127	12.7
7	Paraclete XP8	US	13	11	10	11	12	14	12	11	14	10	118	11.8
8	Spaceland Gummies 8	US	11	11	8	7	10	12	9	10	10	9	97	9.7
G	Perris Spider Pigs	US	5	7	4	5	6	5	7	5	4	7	55	5.5

---

Golden Knights - Fly-In Machine 44 at the USPA Nationals 2017, Video Footage Courtesy of of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

---

Dennis Praet pointed out that his favorite competition was not one of the world championships where he won his four gold medals. He said that he became a world champion later because of the learning experience in Dubai 2012. The dramatic finish of the event was the one where Mark Kirkby added the 5th gold medal to his collection. Dennis Praet's gold medal count began at the next world championship in Prostejov 2014. He and Andy Grauwels would be alone on the top of the medal count list with five consecutive 1st places had it ended differently in Dubai. However, Dennis Praet has more gold medals for HayaBusa in mind, and he can still get to the very top and tie Mark Kirkby with the next gold medal.

It was actually not 4-way competition that created one of the highlights for Dennis Praet in his career. The profile information is showing that it was an 8-way event that left a memory for him. The Belgian 4-way world champions of 2014 and 2016 visited the USPA Nationals 2017 to get serious competition practice that European events could not create by then.

The U.S. 4-way teams could not threaten NMP PCH HayaBusa with their new tail Jeroen Nollet too much, and they won by 12 points (270 - 258) over Arizona Airspeed at that time. There was a second Belgian 4-way team on Airspeed home turf in Eloy, which included original HayaBusa member Sven Ibens with his new team ISR FireFlash.

NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash joined forces for the 8-way competition and the Fly-In Machine 44. Dennis Praet remembered the 1-point lead over the Golden Knights after Round 3 as one of the funniest moments in his career. The Golden Knights, 8-way world champions of 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, were obviously caught on the wrong foot and had to get serious. The Fly-In Machine 44 eventually still took the 2nd place over Qatar Falcons and Arizona Airspeed.