posted May 16th, 2024 - The NSL News 8-way update that covered the progression of the Qatar Falcons into the 2nd place in the world rankings mentioned the total dominance of the U.S. 8-way teams only briefly. The current national 8-way team, GKXP8, is so far ahead of any other opponents in this event that there seems to be only competition for silver and bronze medals at any world cups and world championships, and wherever the U.S. team is traveling to.

GKXP8 and Qatar Falcons were separated by 51 points (228 - 177) at their last outdoor competition, the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023, where the U.S. team won all of the ten rounds. The Qatar Falcons were able to tie a round at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2024, which was only possible due to four point deductions for GKXP8, while the difference was still 53 points (300 - 247) after Round 10.

The U.S. 8-way teams took turns in the past between Golden Knights and civilian lineups to bring back FAI gold medals from the world championships and world cups since 1985. It happened only five times in this time period of 20 world championships that other nations won the 8-way competition, Russia in 2001 and 2003, France in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

The U.S. Army teams won a total of ten world championship titles for the United States, civilian 8-way teams added the other five sets of FAI gold medals to the U.S. collection. The William H. Ottley Sword for the 8-way world champions, also known as the 8-way Excalibur, was in U.S. possession consecutively between 1975 and 1999, then again between 2012 and most likely 2024.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,L,10		14,A,G,C		M,K,1,12		N,17,P,F		4,11,5		D,8,18		15,E,J,9		B,22,6		7,O,16		H,19,21		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	US	27	-1	29	-2	36		36	-2	34		25		32		28	-4	31		22	-1	300	30.0
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	20	-3	24	-2	28	-2	32	-1	24	-3	24		24	-2	28		27	-1	16	-4	247	24.7
3	Infinite Octane	US	19		21		24		23	-1	22	-1	19		21	-1	20	-1	26		18		213	21.3
4	Prison 9	US	20		21		22	-2	27	-2	16	-4	16	-3	23		23	-1	26		17		211	21.1
5	Veloce QRF	FR	19		20	-1	25		23	-1	24		15	-2	14	-5	21		21	-1	15	-1	197	19.7
6	Bra Nok XP	US	16		17	-1	21		17	-2	20	-1	17		17		18		20		14	-1	177	17.7
7	The Gr8 Rhevival	US	14	-1	18	-1	19		19	-2	16	-2	15		18	-1	16	-1	20		13	-1	168	16.8
8	Marco's Maniacs	FR	12	-2	13	-2	13	-1	15	-1	12		12		11		14		10	-3	8	-2	120	12.0

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GKXP8 - Qatar Falcons at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2024

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The separation between Golden Knights lineups and civilian 8-way teams in the United States came to an end when Paraclete XP8 members and Golden Knights agreed to cooperate for the current GKXP8 lineup. Paraclete XP members Jeana Billings, John D'Annunzio, Kirk Verner, Matt Davidson and Andrew Happick joined forces with Jeshua Stahler, Andrew Starr and Mike Connors in 2023. Golden Knights 4-way members Nick Birkner and Mitch Stockenberg are the 8-way alternates.

The domination of 8-way competition by U.S. teams was already in place before the major change of competition rules in 1985, and civilian lineups won the first six world championship titles between 1975 and 1985. The Coors 8-way team from California won the first FAI gold medals after the rule change in 1985, which created the current competition format.

There is even video documentation available of 8-way training and competition in the days before the rule change. Videographers Rande DeLuca and Phil Pastuhov created the footage, together with 8-way competitor and director B.J. Worth, that resulted in the movie "Rainbow Magic", which featured the 8-way team Mirror Image in 1979. B.J. Worth, Craig Fronk, Mike Gennis, Gary Carter, Mike Eakins, Gary Sanders, Jim Captain, Steve Mayes, Marty Martin were in the Mirror Image lineup of 1979, with alternate Jerry Bird. Other civilian lineups had won the previous 8-way world championship titles in 1975 and 1977 and the following ones in 1981 and 1983.

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GKXP8 in 2023 - Mirror Image in 1979

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8-way medal positions at world championships between 1985 and 2022

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Vision/Coors won the FAI gold medals in 1983 and transitioned successfully into the new era of Formation Skydiving competition with the 1st place in Mali Losinj1985. Jerry Bird was the alternate in 1979 and then became a full Mirror Image team member in 1981, as the NSL News reported on 7 November 2010.

Team mates Jerry Bird and B.J. Worth were recalling some of their time together when the NSL News met them at Skydiving DeLand a few months after a previous conversation only with Jerry Bird at Skydive City. The history of 8-way team Mirror Image began several years earlier when 10-way was still the dominating competition event in Formation Skydiving. The world championship in Australia 1977 became the first 8-way event, and Mirror Image won the first 8-way gold medals for the United States.

Vision/Coors then won the first 8-way gold medals with the current competition format in 1985 before the Golden Knights took over in 1986 and replaced Mirror Image/Coors/Vision as the U.S. national 8-way team. The U.S. Army team defended the 8-way gold medals successfully in Brazil 1987, after a 10-round battle with France and a 2-point difference (119 - 117).

The Golden Knights were only defeated by Arizona Airspeed more than a decade later in 1998. Airspeed won the next 8-way gold medals for the U.S. delegation in Australia 1999. Coors won the 8-way gold medals in 1985 with highscores in each of the ten rounds and a 12.0 average. GKXP8 could copy this almost 30 years later this October while doubling the scoring numbers.