posted Feb 17th, 2024 - The NSL News continues with the preview of the upcoming Wind Games, the annual indoor competition in Ampuriabrava that features most of the best 4-way teams in the world, except the teams from Russia and now also from the United States, as the NSL News explained on February 14th.

Black Cat had finished in 3rd place at the Wind Games 2016, IFS-Moscow 6th in 2018 and 4th in 2020, the last event before the corona virus break. Arizona Airspeed placed 2nd in 2018, 3rd in 2019, 2nd in 2020, SDC Rhythm XP 5th in 2019 and 3rd in 2020.

The current lineup of the French national team in 4-way Open will probably not have much opposition on the top of the leaderboard without Arizona Airspeed in the field. The reigning 4-way indoor and outdoor world champions from Arizona have not won the Wind Games yet. In fact, there has only been one winner at all Wind Games since 2014. NMP PCH Hayabusa have won the event seven consecutive times between 2014 and 2020.

Neither Arizona Airspeed nor NMP PCH HayaBusa will compete in Ampuriabrava this year, and France may have to hold off only ISR FireFlash and Qatar Tigers to win the event for the first time. The current French lineup in 4-way Open have not attended the Wind Games yet, as they were selected as the national team at the end of the 2021 season, after the pandemic interruption.

Wind Games 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
R.	AAA Class		D,2,P,13	C,21,11	Q,O,17,A	6,10,18	5,E,K,22	19,1,F	8,20,J	L,N,7,9	16,M,15	14,G,H,4	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	28	27	43	25	35	31	26	45	34	31	325	32.5
2	Weembi Lille	FR	29	27	46	24	32	31	27	43	30	31	320	32.0
3	France 4-way Open	FR	25	28	46	23	29	30	26	39	29	28	303	30.3
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	27	38	21	26	30	23	39	29	25	281	28.1
5	French Girls	FR	25	24	41	21	29	28	23	39	25	25	280	28.0
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	23	23	37	19	27	25	22	36	27	25	264	26.4
7	Ninja 4	IT	24	22	37	18	24	26	20	30	26	23	250	25.0
8	Airheads Realfly	CH	20	17	29	19	22	25	22	29	22	22	227	22.7
9	Chimera	UK	20	22	27	15	23	23	20	27	24	24	225	22.5
10	Wom'in France	FR	20	21	33	16	22	21	19	26	21	23	222	22.2
11	Amnesya Fly-In	IT	20	20	31	15	19	22	17	27	24	24	219	21.9
12	NFTO	UK	21	19	28	15	19	18	20	31	21	23	215	21.5
13	Tenanine	MA	17	20	23	17	21	22	20	29	21	20	210	21.0
14	Papea Masculino	ES	17	18	26	17	20	21	17	27	24	22	209	20.9
14	HF Chicks	CZ	20	18	29	17	20	19	21	25	21	19	209	20.9
16	Flyspot Chicks	PL	19	19	24	16	18	20	16	27	20	18	197	19.7
17	Monaco Tunnel Team	MC	17	18	24	14	18	20	17	25	20	18	191	19.1
18	Amrap	FR	16	17	29	15	13	17	18	24	20	17	186	18.6
19	Flyspot Sky4Four	PL	16	17	21	15	19	19	15	22	17	19	180	18.0
19	Jetmax	BE	17	18	24	14	17	18	16	21	17	18	180	18.0
21	4motion	PL	14	16	24	14	17	17	15	19	18	15	169	16.9
22	Aladeen	HU	17	15	25	10	15	15	15	16	19	18	165	16.5
23	Papea Feminino	ES	11	17	20	13	15	16	16	22	16	18	164	16.4
24	Shamal Loutres	FR	15	16	20	12	14	17	16	21	15	16	162	16.2
25	Shamal Haut	FR	12	14	19	10	14	13	11	20	15	14	142	14.2
25	Alakran	ES	13	15	18	12	13	14	14	15	13	15	142	14.2
27	Not Your March	HU	13	11	17	11	12	15	12	19	12	15	137	13.7
28	Mmmh Shamal	FR	14	13	16	11	14	11	11	18	12	16	136	13.6

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Weembi Lille - France 4-way Open at the Wind Games 2017

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Damien Gouriou is the only current team member who has competed at the Wind Games, as he was a member of the previous French national lineups. He placed 3rd with Laurence Herve, Kevin Mansion and Charles Rommel in 2017 and 2018, and the next French team in 4-way Open (Damien Gouriou, Aurelien Lemaire, Kevin Mansion, Alban Rumolo) did not compete at the event. Two other French Weembi lineups had tried twice to defeat NMP PCH HayaBusa and ended up in 2nd place in 2017 and 2019. Damien Gouriou will now most likely take HayaBusa's top spot with the current lineup.

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

ISR FireFlash will compete for Belgium and substitute for NMP PCH HayaBusa in the top positions on the AAA Class leaderboard. The French national team is probably out of reach for the currently best amateur team in the world, who will instead try to challenge the full-time 4-way competitors from Qatar.

Sven Ibens' former and original HayaBusa team mate Andy Grauwels is now coaching the Tigers, who are expected to compete for world championship medals, while ISR FireFlash will leave the status of the Belgian national 4-way team for NMP PCH HayaBusa with the new lineup. ISR FireFlash have been posting indoor meet results around the 28-average level and may offer the Qatar Tigers serious opposition after more recent indoor training.

The competition behind the three medal positions features a new duel between France and Great Britain in 4-way Women. The Wind Games do not include a separate leaderboard for this FAI/ISC category any longer, while it could still become a first preview of the situation before the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships in September. Italy's FLY-X team can be expected to be competitive on the same level.

There is probably a very tight group of five teams on the next level, and one of them will not make the Top 10, if the NSL Power Rankings reflect a realistic preview. It's a very colorful group of teams. It includes the two national indoor and outdoor teams from Germany (Airbus Illertissen Oceanside) and Spain (Papea), and the former British national team Chimera can be expected to join this group for their reunion.

Chimera competed last time at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022, where they won the precious 5th place over Papea. The German national team was in contention for the same finishing position, as well. Papea and Airbus have continued with training and competition, while Chimera took a long break and had no plans for a comeback. Papea and Airbus will now get their rematch a year and a half later.

Two exclusive indoor teams can be expected to challenge the national teams from Spain, Germany and Great Britain. The performance and scoring level of FCUK Weembi and Autrement Nice depends on the lineups they recruit for the event and how much indoor training they will be completing before. FCUK's Elizabeth Kennedy would have to perform double duties if she competes with NFTO at the same time. The two other teams from Qatar, Cheetahs and Lions, could join the group of Top 10 contenders if coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen have continued to lift their performance level in the meantime. They were already within striking distance of Airbus and Papea at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving and had enough time to catch up or even move ahead.