posted May 26th, 2024 - Arizona Airspeed celebrate their 30-year anniversary this weekend at Skydive Arizona in Eloy with the Arizona Airspeed Challenge 2024. The celebration takes place almost exactly on the day when the longest standing 4-way project in the history of Formation Skydiving competition was launched.

The consistently battling 4-way teams from the U.S. east and west coast, DeLand Vertical Speed and Perris Air Moves at that time, had lost the actual showdown with the French national 4-way teams at the biennial world championships four consecutive times (1987 - 1989 - 1991 - 1993), DeLand Vertical Speed the last time in Eloy 1993.

The U.S. world class 4-way teams were eventually tired of the placements behind France, after wasting their energy in the run-up to the world championships with the domestic rivalry and duels for the top spot. They scheduled a meeting with members of both teams at Skydive DeLand in the spring of 1994 and decided to set aside the rivalry, leave the 4-way history of the past decade behind and join forces. Result of the first discussion in DeLand and the following negotiations was the first and original Airspeed lineup (Kirk Verner, Dan BC, Jack Jeffries, Mark Kirkby, John Lemming on camera), with their home at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, and two consecutive 4-way gold medals in 1995 and 1997.

FAI World Championship 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		15,7,13	B,12,E,3	20,K,11	23,H,J	F,2,8	D,6,P,22	N,A,M,G,16	21,L,14	10,C,4	1,9,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	25	20	20	16	22	25	19	21	21	211	21.1
2	Russia	RU	20	23	20	23	14	19	26	19	22	23	209	20.9
3	Maubeuge	FR	15	21	22	23	13	21	26	19	20	20	200	20.0
Rank	4-way		9,24,A	O,M,2,Q	14,P,11	19,3,15	N,8,12	C,1,E,20	K,23,17	B,16,21	L,22,J,7	G,5,6	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge	FR	23	23	18	19	18	24	21	21	21	20	208	20.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	16	17	26	19	19	20	19	202	20.2
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	21	23	16	17	16	23	20	19	20	16	191	19.1

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Arizona Airspeed in 1999

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30 years later, Arizona Airspeed are still and again the reigning 4-way world champions, currently with Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Chris Kuhlmann, Joey Marshall in the lineup, Alex Swindle on camera. They are in the middle of their preparations for the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2024 and for collecting the 7th set of FAI gold medals, the second one with the same lineup.

15 Airspeed members (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Dan BC, Mark Kirkby, John Eagle, Craig Girard, Neal Houston, Eliana Rodriguez, Andy Delk, Josh Hall, Thomas Hughes, Niklas Hemlin, Joey Marshall, Christopher Kuhlmann, Mikhail Markine) have collected the six sets of FAI World Championship gold medals, with five different team videographers (John Lemming, Marc Steinbaugh, Steve Nowak, Bill Schmitz, Brendan Haddon).

Only the original Airspeed team won twice with the same lineup, before the current lineup got on the way to copy the success of 1995/1997. Original member Mark Kirkby is the leader in the gold medal count (5). Niklas Hemlin will take the 2nd place with three gold medals after this year's world championship. The three other original members (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Dan BC) and the three other current members (Joey Marshall, Christopher Kuhlmann, Mikhail Markine), together with Craig Girard, will follow with two gold medals at the end of this year. Original Airspeed videographer John Lemming is the only one with the same two gold medals in 1995 and 1997.

FAI World Championship 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	19	25	21	19	20	20	20	23	17	30	214	21.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	19	20	20	18	21	21	19	23	20	31	212	21.2
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	19	22	20	18	19	19	19	21	18	31	206	20.6
Rank	8-way		16,P,13	1,Q,O,5	B,K,6,8	15,9,19	21,12,20	L,7,G,H	J,F,M,C,22	3,18,17	E,11,A,14	4,D,2	Total	Avg
1	Russia	RU	19	15	18	17	17	21	22	22	19	23	193	19.3
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	19	17	17	17	19	23	21	21	19	19	192	19.2
3	France	FR	16	17	16	15	19	20	20	18	18	20	179	17.9

Original Airspeed member Kirk Verner is the only competitor who is still in contention for FAI world championship gold medals. In fact, there is hardly any doubt that he will add a new 8-way gold medal to his own personal collection, not with an Arizona Airspeed 8-way lineup though. He and Craig Girard won additional 8-way gold medals together in 1999 (Airspeed), 2004 (Airspeed) and 2022 (XP8). Kirk Verner was also in the Airspeed XP8 lineup at the FAI Tanay Mondial and will most likely add the next FAI world championship gold medal to his collection later this year with GKXP8.

Arizona Airspeed's medal count could have been even more impressive with more successful attempts of winning 4-way and 8-way events both at the same world championships. They tried it twice and missed the double-gold with the complete 4-way lineup competing in 8-way at the same time.

The original lineup agreed to be a part of the Airspeed 8-way team after winning their two 4-way gold medals in 1995 and 1997. They won the 8-way gold medals in Australia 1999 under Craig Girard's leadership, while they ended up six points behind the new French 4-way team. Airspeed's new Vertical team, now with Craig Girard in the 4-way lineup, as well, tried it again two years later and came even closer. This time, Airspeed Vertical (Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, John Eagle, Neal Houston, Marc Steinbaugh on camera) won 4-way gold and finished one single point behind Russia in 8-way. No complete 4-way team has yet won gold medals in 8-way at the same event in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

Arizona Airspeed 4-way lineups between 1994 and 2024

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