posted Jan 14th, 2024 - The recent NSL News coverage of the participation at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985 credited the four leading countries (United States, France, Belgium, Netherlands) with a flawless history in 4-way Open. Their national teams of 2020/2021 (SDC Rhythm XP, France 4-way Open, NMP PCH HayaBusa, Out Of The Blue) had even attended the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021, after cancellation and rescheduling of the event, due to the corona virus crisis.

The participation in Russia was still seriously impacted by the pandemic, and the total of nine competing teams in 4-way Open set a new negative record.

Most of the other regulars at outdoor world championships (Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Australia) did not have 4-way Open Class teams in Tanay, and it was not any better in 4-way Women and 8-way. Even Russia, host of the 2021 event, did not have a national team competing in this category.

On the other side, the evaluation of the participation since 1985 brought to the surface that several nations have a very strong consistency in representation at the most relevant event in the sport, even if they do not compete for medals most of the times. Being a part of the competition after qualifying for it domestically is very meaningful too, and there are usually internal battles all across the leaderboards, as well.

Canada in 4-way Formation Skydiving at FAI World Championship since 1985

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Canada is one of the countries with very consistent participation since the current competition format was introduced in 1985. In fact, a Canadian 4-way team was only not present in the 40-year history at the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021. The reasons for that were the same as for most of the other missing teams.

Canada had a very powerful start into the new era of Formation Skydiving competition, when Skydive University's Rob Laidlaw and his 4-way team of 1985 finished in 2nd place at the first event with the new format. The DeLand Air Bears, with Guy Manos and Tom Piras in the lineup, won the 4-way Open Class competition and the first FAI gold medals of the new era for the U.S. delegation.

Participation at the world championships was obviously important for Canadian 4-way teams, after the national team of 1985 had shown the way and created domestic attention to the event, even though the next teams did not make the Top 10 at world championships, with one exception in 1991. There was even a Canadian Skydiving League in the NSL Network for a decade.

Things changed on the athletic side when the Lemay family came into the world's 4-way picture with 4-way team Evolution in 2006. Youngest team member Benoit Lemay could not even compete at the family's first world championship in Gera 2006. He was packing parachutes for his father and two brothers at the event.

Canadian Outdoor Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	21,Q,13		5,1,15		J,C,9,22		E,O,N,3		B,2,F,14		12,A,H,17		K,M,D,6		16,10,P		4,8,11		19,18,20		Total	Avg
1	4Astrophe	19		15		17	-1	22		17		15	-2	22	-1	15		13		13		168	16.8
2	Flying Fuzion	13		10	-1	11	-2	13	-1	14		13		11	-1	10		10		9		114	11.4
Rank	AA Class	11,18,G		A,22,P,15		K,9,N,7		B,E,J,1		13,6,C		20,H,21		8,L,14		F,4,2		19,O,D,Q		M,O,C,6		Total	Avg
1	The Inflatables	5		7		10		12		7		9		5		10		8		11		84	8.4
2	G4CE	5		2		6		7		8		6		4		8		6		11		63	6.3
3	Lunatiks	4		3		7		5		5		6		6		8		8		9		61	6.1
4	Spectra	4		6		6		8		6		5		5		7		6		6		59	5.9

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4Astrophe at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 and at the Canadian Outdoor Nationals 2023

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The three Lemay's, with Francois Pigeon in the tail slot and Peter Toutoudakis on camera made the Top 10 again for Canada in Germany, 15 years after the last time in 1991.

That was only the beginning of the Evolution story and Canada's journey back to become a constant factor in the Top 10 at outdoor world championships. Two years later, it was the 6th place in Maubeuge 2008, this time with Benoit Lemay in the tail slot and Daniel Paquette on camera. Evolution improved their placements at each world championship between 2006 and 2014, and the three Lemay brothers (Martin, Vincent, Benoit) finally won FAI bronze medals in Prostejov 2014. It was the same event where the Grauwels brothers David and Andy won their first world championship title with NMP PCH HayaBusa.

Martin, Vincent and Benoit Lemay made Formation Skydiving competition history at the 2014 event when they also won FAI bronze medals in 4-way VFS at the same event. They slowed down after their peak performance in 2014 and a decade of intensive 4-way training, at the end in horizontal and vertical 4-way both, while they still continued until 2018. The next Canadian 4-way family had picked up the tradition in 2013 and knew the successful Evolution story. 4Astrophe eventually became the next Canadian national 4-way team, with father Richard Bisson, daughter Valerie and son Yannick in the lineup. They matched Evolution's Top 10 finish of 2006 at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022, with the 9th place, tied with Norway's Agera. 4Astrophe won the national championship title again in September last year and are qualified for their second world championship. Flying Fuzion won the more recent indoor championship that 4Astrophe did not attend.

Canadian Indoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	19,2,C	17,H,8	21,M,15	B,F,8,10	18,22,P	N,12,A,Q	16,G,14	11,20,K	O,7,D,5	9,J,L,13	Total	Avg
1	Flying Fuzion	17	16	17	17	14	16	16	15	20	22	170	17.0
2	Mixed Madness	11	12	13	12	11	11	11	11	14	14	120	12.0
Rank	AA Class	B,M,21	7,F,M	E,9,P	2,N,Q	15,L,D	G,A,K,4	J,O,6	C,19,14	9,M,B	7,D,E	Total	Avg
1	HerForce One	16	17	13	11	10	11	15	10	18	10	131	13.1
2	G4CE	13	17	13	10	10	8	11	8	19	15	124	12.4

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Flying Fuzion at the Canadian Indoor Nationals 2023

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