posted Jan 18th, 2024 - The recent NSL News updates around the turn of the year were a mixture of contemporary topics and evaluations of the state of Formation Skydiving competition in the bigger picture. The topic of the current 8-way situation in Germany is actually connecting this combination in an interesting way.

The events related to the situation between Operation Adler, winner of the national championship in 2023, and Airbus, Germany's former national team in 8-way Open for many years, are directly connected to international 8-way competition, as one of the two German teams is supposed to represent the country at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2024.

The NSL News pointed out that either of the same two German teams is facing the next opportunity to win another set of FAI 8-way medals at Crystal Coast Skydiving, North Carolina, in October. However, the same opportunity is not only offering itself to the German 8-way teams, who still have to find out who will compete at the outdoor world championship. German, British and Australian 8-way teams have been battling with each other at 15 world championships since 1985, and together they have moved slowly and carefully closer to the 8-way medal positions, until Germany's Airbus lineup of 2022 eventually won the first FAI medals for their country.

Germany - Great Britain - Australia in 8-way since 1985

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It is no secret that the medal position for Airbus was only available in the absence of a Russian 8-way team, and due to a cut in the French budget. French national coach Mathieu Bernier could not recruit a strong 8-way national team, despite the almost unlimited potential of world class 4-way and 8-way competitors in his country, and Russia is still banned from participation.

However, Airbus still had to outscore the British and French national teams at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022 to make it to the 3rd place and win the first medals for their country.

United States, France, Russia, and Qatar as a new 8-way powerhouse, have been controlling the medal level since 1985. Only the absence of any of 8-way teams from these countries allows other teams to get closer to the medal level, and Germany, Great Britain and Australia have done this together in the past.

The same three countries still competed with each other only for the 5th place at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2016, where all four 8-way powerhouses were present and took the medal positions and the 4th place. Two years later, France did not compete in Australia 2018, and the same three countries competed for the 4th place. MicroClim8 won the 5th place in 2016 and the 4th place in 2018.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	31	25	26	22	20	22	19	26	24	24	239	23.9
2	France	FR	22	20	25	18	16	19	17	23	19	20	199	19.9
3	Tanay	RU	23	19	25	17	14	16	16	21	20	19	190	19.0
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	19	16	20	15	7	10	13	16	15	15	146	14.6
5	Microclim8	UK	15	14	16	14	11	13	13	14	13	17	140	14.0
6	Airbus	DE	16	15	17	11	11	13	12	14	12	15	136	13.6
7	Australia	AU	13	13	14	12	9	13	12	15	10	14	125	12.5
8	Divergence	CA	11	10	9	11	8	10	8	10	11	11	99	9.9
9	Brazil	BR	11	8	10	9	5	9	9	11	8	13	93	9.3

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MicroClim8 - Airbus - Innuendo at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016

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None of the three countries sent 8-way teams to Russia for the FAI Tanay Mondial, where participation was still compromised due to the impact of the corona virus crisis. However, only the 5th place would have been available, as the same four 8-way powerhouses were present and took again the three sets of FAI medals and the 4th place.

Only Great Britain and Germany were back in 8-way action in Eloy 2022. Australia was still dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic. Australia's ISC Delegate Mark Szulmayer, Chair of the ISC Formation Skydiving Committee and passionate 8-way competitor, said that international travel was still not permitted until well into 2022: "Opportunities to create and train teams were greatly hampered. Revenues also tanked as there were no operations for a long time, so the APF decided it would not send a team."

There is a good chance that the same three countries will be represented together again at this year's outdoor world championship. This time, they would be facing the same opportunity that Germany's Airbus had in Eloy 2022 - competing for the bronze medals. Neither Great Britain nor Australia have won any 8-way medals since 1985. Even France, still without support for the 8-way team by the skydiving federation, could be a part of the battle for 3rd place. Manu Sarrazin's Mojo team has lifted the scoring level from 10.7 in Eloy 2022 to 12.1 at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving in Norway, and they could be even more competitive in October this year.

FAI World Meet 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		21,L,B,G	22,18,17	19,7,O	J,16,12	10,A,D,15	Q,M,F,C,N	H,20,P,13	6,14,11	E,2,5	4,1,3	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	21	18	24	19	29	21	18	17	33	224	22.4
2	Tanay	RU	21	21	17	22	20	28	16	18	18	28	209	20.9
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	19	16	15	18	14	21	16	14	14	23	170	17.0
4	MicroClim8	UK	17	15	12	14	15	21	15	12	13	18	152	15.2
5	JYR8	AU	14	14	13	17	11	20	14	14	12	21	150	15.0
6	Airbus	DE	13	15	9	15	11	16	12	12	10	16	129	12.9
7	Brazil	BR	11	10	9	12	9	12	9	10	9	16	107	10.7

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MicroClim8 - JYR8 - Airbus at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018

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