posted Feb 14th, 2024 - Two of the largest and most popular 4-way competitions are coming up soon, the annual Wind Games and the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship. Both events are the national indoor championships at the same time, for the United States and for Spain.

The Paraclete XP Indoor Championship has been taking place at the beginning of February when the event was launched in 2011, then moved to the end of February in 2014. The Wind Games started in 2014 and were scheduled for the month of January or the beginning of February, where they have been taking place until 2020.

The corona virus crisis put an end to the Wind Games after the 2020 event, while Paraclete XP continued to run their 4-way and 8-way competition with little impact of the pandemic on the participation. The Wind Games management then decided to resume the previously annual 4-way indoor competition and announced the Wind Games 2024.

Unfortunately, at least for the U.S. teams, the Wind Games 2024 were scheduled exactly for the same meet weekend that Paraclete XP has been using for several years. Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP both traveled to Spain in 2019 and 2020 before the pandemic interruption of the Wind Games. They have to attend their own national indoor championship, and there will be no U.S. teams in Ampriabrava this year.

Wind Games 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class - Top 10		Q,F,6,14		1,13,4		8,J,15		O,9,D,5		21,A,P,H		N,C,20,12		7,G,K,19		10,16,22		17,E,11		M,B,3,L		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	-1	29		28	-1	44	-3	45		29		35		25		34		47		348	34.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	34		24	-1	29		45	-2	41		29		34	-1	23		34		39	-1	332	33.2
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	33		25		27	-1	44	-1	41		26		30	-3	23		30	-2	41	-2	320	32.0
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	27	-3	20	-3	25	-2	45	-2	36	-1	25	-1	30	-1	23		29	-2	33	-5	293	29.3
5	ISR FireFlash	BE	30		23		26		39		36		22	-1	27	-2	20		29		29	-4	281	28.1
6	Weembi Unicorns	IT	28		23		26		42		36		23		29		20		22	-4	26	-3	275	27.5
7	NFTO	UK	28		21		22		38		36		21		27	-1	18		24	-3	32	-1	267	26.7
8	Echochamber	SE	28		21		22		37		35		21	-1	23	-2	19		26		29	-4	261	26.1
9	Nephtys Weembi	FR	26		19	-1	20	-1	35		32		22		26	-1	19		22	-2	32	-1	253	25.3
10	Oceanside AtomiX	DE	25	-2	21		19	-2	31	-1	31		19		27		17	-1	22	-1	31		243	24.3

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Arizona Airspeed - SDC Rhythm XP at the Wind Games 2020

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Most of the world's best 4-way teams will compete on the last February weekend (24/25) while they complete ten different rounds with their own competition draws at different locations. Only NMP PCH HayaBusa will not be on either leaderboard, as team captain Dennis Praet explained during NSL Live Talk on February 12. The arguably two strongest 4-way teams will only be able to compare their scores indirectly. The French national team in 4-way Open will compete at the Wind Games, while Arizona Airspeed is facing only U.S. teams at Paraclete XP.

Wind Games 2024
Rank	NSL News Power Rankings
1	France 4-way Open	FR
2	ISR Fireflash	BE
2	Qatar Tigers	QA
4	Nephtys	FR
4	Fly X	IT
4	NFTO	UK
7	FCUK Weembi	UK
7	Chimera	UK
7	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE
7	Papea 1	ES
7	Autrement Nice	FR
12	Qatar Lions	QA
12	Qatar Cheetahs	QA
14	Once Pakoi	FR
14	Windabona Alakran	ES
14	Viserion	UK
17	Papea 2	ES
17	HSV Red Bull AerodynamiX	AT
17	Airdrops	CH
17	Windabona Angels	ES
21	Aerium	ZA
21	Magyx	ES
21	Falling Stones	ES
21	HiFly Madrid Kalash	ES

The first showdown between them at the beginning of the outdoor world championship year has to wait until the Shamrock Showdown 2024. The same counts for the 4-way Women category, where two of the top contenders compete at the Wind Games, while XPG4 has to win the national indoor championship title to qualify for the next FAI World Indoor Championship.

At least, the duel between the Nephtys for France and NFTO for Great Britain promises a European showdown at the Wind Games, before both teams may meet XPG4 either at the FAI Indoor Worl Cup in China or at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2024 in North Carolina.

The Nephtys represent France in 4-way indoor and outdoor events and will follow up with the same lineup at the Shamrock Showdown. NFTO return with the lineup that competed together throughout the 2022 and into the 2023 season (Anna Hicks, Elizabeth Kennedy, Vana Parker, Sian Stokes) before Vana Parker and Sian Stokes continued with Lucy Davies and Danni Hurt for the outdoor season.

The Wind Games followed the FAI/ISC guidance in the early years and had two different leaderboards for teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women, while Paraclete XP has always integrated the national indoor qualification in 4-way Women, and any other teams in this category, as a part of the 4-way Open Class leaderboards. The USPA Nationals apply the same integration at the outdoor championships.

The comeback event of the Wind Games has dropped the registration for a separate 4-way Women competition. This year's participation matches the one of the earlier events, where the few teams in 4-way Women had almost guaranteed medal positions on their separate leaderboards. Only three teams have all-female lineups and would qualify for the 4-way Women event. The NSL News will follow up with more information of the 4-way Open Class field in Spain.