posted Mar 20th, 2024 - Arizona Airspeed added the next set of ten competition rounds to their collection of highscores for single rounds. No team could tie their scores at any time during the Shamrock Showdown 2024, and the record number has gone up to 117, opposed to three lost rounds since February 2022.

Not even the French national team in 4-way Open, Aethers, could threaten the reigning 4-way world champions in horizontal Formation Skydiving competition. Aethers were expected to challenge Airspeed round by round, which became impossible when team member Tom Mattoni had to step out after an injury during the training camp before the competition.

National coach Mathieu Bernier stepped in, and the new Aethers lineup were showing their potential at least once in Round 3, when they ended up only one point behind Airspeed. Tom Mattoni will be back for the indoor world cup, where Aethers have the next and better opportunity to get closer to Airspeed.

Arizona Airspeed missed competition pressure from behind once again, while they still posted the second highest meet average in this lineup's history. Niklas Hemlin (Outside Center), Christopher Kuhlmann (Inside Center), Mikhail Markine (Tail) and Joey Marshall (Point) have started into their 5th year, now with Alex Swindle on camera, and they had concluded their first year together with a 29.3 average at the 4-Way FS Skydiving Championships at Skydive Arizona in November 2020.

Shamrock Showdown 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		G,5,19		7,12,15		18,21,Q		17,16,A		E,L,22,11		2,10,M		F,6,N,9		J,13,O,8		C,K,H,P,B		D,20,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		22		23		27	-2	25		23		34		25		53	-5	23		282	28.2
2	France Aethers	FR	21	-1	18		22		24	-1	21		20	-1	29		22		42	-1	20		239	23.9
3	Golden Knights	US	23	-1	17	-2	18	-3	24	-1	21		21		27	-4	19	-2	40	-2	19		229	22.9
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19		16		18		22		19		17	-1	27	-1	22		39	-1	17	-1	216	21.6
5	Nephtys	FR	14		16		17		18		17		17		20	-3	20		31	-2	17		187	18.7
6	Chicken Bolts	US	17		14		12	-2	15	-3	13	-1	16		21	-1	16		29	-4	16		169	16.9
7	Thyra	NO	10	-2	9	-1	10	-1	12	-2	14		15		19	-1	16		23		10		138	13.8
8	Teiwaz	US	8	-1	11		11		13		11		11		15		8		14	-1	10		112	11.2

---

Arizona Airspeed at the Shamrock Showdown 2024 and the 4-way FS Championships 2020

---

The 28.2 average last weekend at Skydive DeLand was supported by the Super Sequence in Round 9. The NSL News reported on March 16th that new Golden Knights videographer Skyler Romberg pulled the five random formations out of the hat, for the next scoring opportunity on world record level in Round 9.

Arizona Airspeed ended up with a 53-pointer after five point deductions, all of them for "non-stationary grips". It is impossible to detect the infringements easily with untrained or even trained eyes, and only the slower motion replay allowed the judges to find and define them.

The same Airspeed lineup had posted 43 points for their previous Super Sequence in competition. The NSL Live Talk conversation with all team members after the conclusion of the USPA Nationals 2023 provided more details and insights of the Super Sequence situation in Round 1. The 53-pointer came with a significantly better performance compared to the 43-pointer, and the five point deductions kept the score for the round in the lower 50s. Without the penalties, a 58-pointer would have been the highest score for a single round by the current lineup.

4-way FS Championships 2020		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	J,B,A,D,C		22,20,16		10,18,3		E,1,O,N		H,Q,P,L,9		8,G,F,12		15,M,11		13,14,21		6,K,17		2,7,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	57	-1	20		19		32		49		23		22	-1	20	-1	28		23		293	29.3
2	SDC Rhythm XP	51	-1	20		18		28	-1	45		23		23		20		26		22	-1	276	27.6
3	Bullet	37	-2	13		14		21	-1	26	-1	14		16		14		17		14		186	18.6
4	XPG4	32	-2	13		13	-1	22		25	-4	17		15		14		16		16		183	18.3
5	Jerry and the Jets	25	-2	14		12		20		25		13	-2	14		15		17		15		170	17.0
6	SDC RhEvolution XP	22		8		8		15	-1	20		10	-2	14		12		15		13		137	13.7
7	Repeat Offenders	19		9		9		14		18		11		11		9		11		10	-1	121	12.1
8	Day 2	17	-4	8	-1	9		12	-2	17		11		10	-1	11		12		10		117	11.7

Arizona Airspeed's historic record average at the 4-Way FS Skydiving Championships included the team's highest score for a single round, the Super Sequence in Round 1, with only one point deduction. Arizona Airspeed was going on a 58-point pace at both sequences in November 2020 and March 2024.

Airspeed's historic 29.3 average in 2020 was also supported by another very fast sequence in Round 5 (H,Q,P,L,9) which added 49 points to the Airspeed total. The two fast sequences together accounted for 106 of Airspeed's 293 total. The 57-pointer in November 2020 was still not a historic Airspeed number. The previous lineup (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Ari Perelman, Thiago Gomes, David French on camera) scored a 60-pointer at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018, which was still not enough to outscore NMP PCH HayaBusa (62).

The Belgians own this 62-pointer for the currently official world record for a single outdoor round. It was the same lineup (Andy and David Grauwels, Jeroen Nollet, Dennis Praet, Luc Van Britsom on camera) that posted the highest outdoor average in history without a Super Sequence a year later at the USPA Nationals 2019. It was the same event where SDC Rhythm XP won the USPA gold medals, and Arizona Airspeed missed the first outdoor world championship since 2008. Now they are on the way to add their second set of FAI gold medals to the Airspeed collection.