posted May 10th, 2024 - There is nothing unusual any longer when Julien Degen appears on 4-way and 8-way leaderboards with numerous different teams. NSL News updates have pointed out often enough that his team assignments go way beyond the original double duties of competitors with enough experience, knowledge and energy to perform with more than one team.

However, Julien Degen has lifted the meaning of double duties to a new dimension, and he may have set a new personal record at the 4-way competition of the Weembi FS Cup 2024. His name can be found in the lineups of six different teams, beginning on the very top in 1st (Black Hole Dynos) and 2nd place (Char-Liz-Angels), down to the 11th place with Madness Kama.

Other events permit double duties under certain conditions, as well, while the ones at Julien Degen's indoor home, Weembi Lille, have no limits. FAI/ISC events allow participants to only compete in different categories for double duties at world championships and world cups, excluding the combination of 4-way Open and 4-way Women. Julie Degen completed a total of 60 meet rounds in 4-way on the FS Cup weekend, and he added 20 rounds in 8-way to his agenda at the same event. His winning 4-way team, Black Hole Dynos, competed with exactly the same lineup as at the Weembinamic 2023 and ended up two average points below the previous 29.3 in November last year.

Weembi FS Cup 2024			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		21,6,K	L,1,P,2	J,E,11,20	8,G,18	12,17,A	Q,16,19	7,H,22	F,M,15,D	5,3,9	10,C,14	Total	Avg
1	Black Hole Dynos	UK	26	26	29	23	26	28	29	35	29	21	272	27.2
2	Char-Liz-Angels	FR	26	25	27	21	26	27	26	40	25	19	262	26.2
3	Zip Le Pingouin	FR	23	26	28	21	23	25	23	37	27	20	253	25.3
4	Nice Autrement	FR	23	23	27	20	20	25	22	36	26	21	243	24.3
5	FCUK Weembi	UK	25	26	26	21	18	25	23	29	26	21	240	24.0
6	Oui Oui Fromage	UK	21	22	18	19	21	19	21	34	22	19	216	21.6
7	Monaco Scratch	MC	23	19	21	19	20	22	24	27	19	15	209	20.9
8	Garudas	BE	21	21	21	18	19	22	22	24	18	16	202	20.2
9	WD-40	FR	18	18	20	14	14	17	19	23	13	13	169	16.9
10	Vedett Weembi	FR	16	17	16	14	14	16	16	19	16	12	156	15.6
11	Madness Kama	FR	14	17	15	13	13	17	16	16	16	12	149	14.9
12	Les Chicken Wings	FR	13	14	14	13	13	13	16	19	12	11	138	13.8

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Black Hole Dynos - Char-Liz-Angels - Zip Le Pingouin at the Weembi FS Cup 2024

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The main reason for the significant difference was probably the disproportional scores for the Super Sequence in Round 10 at the Weembinamic 2023, even though the recent NSL News update of the Top 10 indoor averages had pointed out that the highest averages in history were not boosted by scores for a Super Sequence.

However, participating teams at the Weembinamic were able to practice the Super Sequence in Round 10 for months before the event, as it was posted early enough for an exciting Weembinamic finish. Naturally, the teams knew and performed Round 10 significantly better than the other nine rounds. Black Hole Dynos had actually lifted their performance level significantly for the nine rounds after the highest score for a round and outscored Julien Degen's second team, Char-Liz-Angels, by then points (272 - 262).

Julien Degen may have set a new personal record with his 60 rounds in 4-way, while the NSL News picked up the event story for an even more interesting aspect. It was the travel agenda of some of the participants at Weembi Lille, which still connects with the two teams in the top spots that Julien Degen competed with. Black Hole Dynos and Char-Liz-Angels both had team members who completed the 4-way and 8-way competition on April 12-13 and then hurried to China where Round 1 of the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 was scheduled for April 17th.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,C,7		K,G,12,B		6,4,H		20,1,5		15,10,A		F,O,P,21		19,M,9		J,13,E,22		16,3,N		L,Q,D,18		2,11,17		Total	Avg
1	China	CN	27	-4	33	-1	31		26	-1	21	-3	44		32	-3	29		29		33	-1	-		305	30.5
2	NFTO	UK	26		27	-1	25	-1	25		23		36	-3	32	-1	27		23	-2	32		24	-1	276	27.6
3	XPG4	US	29		28	-2	26		25		24		39		31	-1	25	-1	23	-3	26	-3	23		276	27.6
4	China 2	CN	25	-2	30		25	-1	19	-2	14	-4	34		27	-1	19	-4	20	-1	19	-5	-		232	23.2
5	Indonesia	ID	22	-4	23	-5	21	-3	18	-4	18	-1	30	-2	25	-1	20	-1	16	-5	26		-		219	21.9
6	Fire Phoenix	IT	16	-5	15	-4	16	-1	14		14	-1	23	-2	19	-2	17	-3	13	-2	19		-		166	16.6
7	Singapore	SG	17		15	-3	16	-1	14		11	-2	23	-4	16	-3	15		13	-1	17	-1	-		157	15.7
8	Thailand	TH	11	-8	15	-3	15	-3	11	-2	11	-2	20	-5	17	-2	13	-3	15	-1	14	-1	-		142	14.2
9	Yangon	MM	8	-11	15	-2	16		10	-3	12	-1	23	-1	16	-3	15		10	-5	15		-		140	14.0

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China Women - NFTO - XPG4 at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024

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Niklas Hemlin and Gary Smith mentioned during their recent NSL Live Talk reviews of the indoor world cup that NFTO, British national team in 4-way Women, had a late arrival at the event site in Macau, China, and not much time to accommodate and practice. Vana Parker and Sian Stokes both were Julien Degen's teammates at the Weembi FS Cup and could only travel to China after the completion of the event in Lille, France. Their NFTO team mate Elizabeth Kennedy competed with Char-Liz-Angels and FCUK Weembi.

The challenging transition from France to China, and from one flying chamber to the next one, in just a few days still turned out successful for NFTO. No 4-way Women team was able to keep up with China, while NFTO manged to tie XPG4 after ten rounds and win the extra round for the 2nd place position.

XPG4 had won the previous duel with the same NFTO lineup at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, and the new U.S. lineup with Jennifer Davidson matched the 27.6 average at their first competition together. Elizabeth Kennedy, Vana Parker and Sian Stokes were not the only competitors at Weembi Lille who had to rush out of the place as quickly as possible and transition to China. Mathieu Quizy, point for the French national team, Aethers, in 4-way Open, finished in 2nd place with Julien Degen, Elizabeth Kennedy and Marco Arrigo for Char-Liz-Angels, and 3rd with Zip Le Pingouin and other members of the French Formation Skydiving delegation. He made it to China in time, as well, and finished in 2nd place behind Arizona Airspeed.