posted Feb 16th, 2024 - More personnel changes in 4-way lineups have recently taken place, and one of them is on the top level of Formation Skydiving competition. In fact, the involved team is arguably a top contender for the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2024, the U.S. national team in 4-way Women, XPG4.

XPG4 trained and competed with Michelle Karamon (Point), Jeana Billings (Outside Center), Brenn Richards (Tail) and Anna Brunner (Inside Center) since the beginning of the 2022 season. Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings and Brenn Richards together had Morgan Womble in their lineup for a year before the original XPG4 member did not continue after the USPA Nationals 2021.

They recruited Anna Brunner as the new inside center, who had won the AA/Intermediate Class competition with Kaos Theory XP at the same national outdoor championship at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. Previous inside center and original XPG4 member Michelle Karamon moved to point and made room for the slot that the new team member would be familiar with. Original XPG4 member Jeana Billings continued in her outside center slot. The new lineup continued with an impressive progression and won outdoor world championship bronze medals for the U.S. delegation at the end of the new lineup's first year in Eloy 2022. They followed up a year later with gold at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving and the team's first 20+ average.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	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	XPG4	US	21		20		20	-1	19		17		38		16	-1	16	-1	18	-2	18	-1	203	20.3
2	France 4-way Women	FR	17		15	-1	20		17		15		33		14		14	-1	14	-2	18		177	17.7
3	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	12	-2	15		16		16		11		25	-1	12		12		15		16		150	15.0
4	Thyra	NO	11	-1	12		14		13		11		21		10		12		12		14		130	13.0
5	NFTO	UK	11	-2	11		12	-1	12	-1	11		25		10		10		12	-2	13	-1	127	12.7
6	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		11		15		11	-1	10		21	-1	11		11		9	-2	11	-1	123	12.3
7	Alola	UK	11		12		13	-1	12	-1	10		20	-4	11		10	-1	11	-1	11	-1	121	12.1

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XPG4 at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video Footage Courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

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Anna Brunner, the latest XPG4 member, does not continue with the U.S. national team in 4-way Women, after rising to the 2nd place on the USPA Open Class leaderboard right behind Arizona Airspeed. This could be a serious setback and and an obstacle on the team's way to winning their first FAI world championship gold medals in 4-way Women.

Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings have already won their first FAI world championship gold medals with the 1st places for Airspeed XP8 at the FAI Tanay Mondial and in Eloy 2022. Michelle Karamon did not continue with the U.S. 8-way team after winning the two 8-way gold medals, while Jeana Billings is still training and competing with both teams in 4-way and 8-way.

The three U.S. national teams in the horizontal Formation Skydiving events (4-way Open, 4-way Women, 8-way Open) are currently the world's top contenders and won all three FAI gold medals at the outdoor world cup in Norway. There did not seem to be anything in the way of a new FS Sweep at this year's outdoor world championship. On top of that, Jeana Billings has been on the way to copying Mathieu Bernier's unique accomplishment of gold medals in 4-way Open and 8-way Open at the same world championship with the 4-way Women/8-way Open combination. The recent change in the XPG4 lineup could make it more difficult and encourage their opponents from France (Nephtys) and Great Britain (NFTO).

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		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	21	21	30	20	17	19	24	35	20	17	224	22.4
2	French Girls	FR	21	18	30	23	17	18	24	34	18	14	217	21.7
3	NFTO	UK	17	15	21	19	13	16	18	26	17	13	175	17.5
4	Montreal Fuzion	CA	18	15	19	16	14	16	17	25	17	14	171	17.1
5	Les Stunts	BE	15	14	20	16	11	13	16	24	15	13	157	15.7
6	Bellatrix	AU	13	12	20	16	12	13	15	22	13	14	150	15.0
7	Skymix	DE	13	11	15	15	12	13	14	23	12	12	140	14.0
8	No Mercy	PL	14	14	19	13	9	11	12	19	14	11	136	13.6
9	Infra Red Band	RU	15	12	16	13	9	11	13	17	14	10	130	13.0
10	CZ Ladies	CZ	11	11	14	13	9	10	12	19	9	10	118	11.8
11	Valkyria	DK	10	8	16	10	9	10	11	17	12	10	113	11.3

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Goldern Knights 4-way Women at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016 - Video Footage Courtesy of Omniskore/FAI/ISC

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However, the broad community of well trained world class competitors in the United States usually offers options for the top teams who are recruiting new team members, or if they need substitutes on a shorter notice. XPG4 did not need too much time to find a solution for the unexpected situation.

Jennifer Davidson, 4-way Women world champion of 2016 and 8-way world champion of 2018, both with the Golden Knights teams, was able to adjust her schedule according to XPG4's 2024 season, at least through the outdoor world championship in September.

It will neither be too difficult for XPG4 to continue on the level where the team has recently performed, nor for Jennifer Davidson to fill the open slot adequately. The Golden Knights 4-way Women team won the world championship gold medals in 2016 with a 22.4 average. XPG4 have a 22.5 average in the team records after the USPA Nationals 2023, which was supported by a Super Sequence in Round 1 (O,E,C,Q,H) and the 46-pointer. Jennifer Davidson also continued with the Golden Knights 4-way Open Class team, after the gold medal in 4-way Women, and spent three 4-way years with her husband Matt Davidson in the same lineup, then another year with the Golden Knights 4-way team of 2021. Jennifer and Matt Davidson will not be back together in 4-way or 8-way this year, while they both compete for the same U.S. delegation of 2024 and try to sweep the horizontal Formation Skydiving competition events at Coastal Carolina in October.