posted Jul 10th, 2024 - NMP PCH HayaBusa were still in Hungary after the dramatic finish at the CISM World Championship that the NSL News reported yesterday. The official award ceremony was scheduled for the day after the last competition round, and the successfully defending CISM world champions were available for NSL Live Talk before the conclusion of the whole event.

The NSL News update after the completion of Round 8 included the fact that not only just by the numbers this year's CISM world championship was the closest one for NMP PCH HayaBusa since they won the first time in 2007 by one single point. The new NSL Live Talk conversation features the 8-round 4-way thriller from the perspective of the team members.

There was a lot of pressure on all of them, as only one current team member competed in his most familiar slot. David Grauwels has been HayaBusa's inside center since 2009, and he has won 16 consecutive CISM world championship titles since 2007, and more importantly three FAI outdoor world championship gold medals in 2014, 2016 and 2018, with a camera on his helmet for the team in 2021, as well. However, the pressure on him came in a different way, after his team decided to call him back to action after the retirement to the camera slot. He was supposed to help defend the CISM title that Belgium won last time in 2022, also with David Grauwels switching back from camera to inside center.

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NSL Live Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa on 10 July 2024

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The difference compared to 2022 was the competitive side. The Qatar Tigers were not strong enough by then to challenge NMP PCH HayaBusa seriously, and there was a 21-point difference between 1st and 2nd place (264 - 243) after the eight rounds in 2022. This time, the competition was as exciting as at any previous FAI world championships, and David Grauwels had to deliver his top performance to take home his 16th CISM gold medal.

Then there was new member Neal Willems who had never won a world championship title before, neither at CISM nor at FAI events. He competed for HayaBusa at the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2022 and finished in 2nd place on Arizona Airspeed's home turf, 33 points behind the winner. He was on the bench when David Grauwels competed at the CISM event the same year.

Neal Willems was in a new slot in Hungary, even though he has known the rear piece since he joined NMP PCH HayaBusa. He replaced inside center Michele Silvi in 2022 who switched to outside center when Andy Grauwels did not continue. He has been in the same slot until he had to switch to tail when David Grauwels returned to this year's CISM lineup. Neal Willems said that switching to tail was not too difficult, and this not only due to his previous slot-switching experiences in the rear piece. He explained that the CISM dive pool has only the same eight blocks for each competition, which makes learning a new slot much easier compared to the 22 blocks in the FAI/ISC dive pool.

CISM Military 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Male - Top 4		M,16,E,B		M,D,F,21		M,A,C,22		M,O,19,P		M,H,L,11		M,G,N,1		M,17,K,J		M,Q,R,14		Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	37	1	36		30		34		30	2	30	1	39		31	2	267	33.4
2	Golden Knights	US	35	2	35		28	2	36		34		30		37		28	1	263	32.9
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	38	1	31	3	25	4	37		31	1	25	3	38	1	29		254	31.8
4	Papea	ES	27	2	33		26		29		32		27	1	30	1	24		228	28.5

Team captain Dennis Praet then explained that there is still a challenge that is not known in traditional 4-way competition. He is also one of the most experienced 4-way competitors in the world as a winner of four gold medals in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021. He said that the average CISM pace is significantly faster compared to the ones at FAI/ISC competition draws.

The 10-round meets at FAI world championships, world cups and at national championships consist of a mixture of slow, average and fast sequences with different rhythms. CISM sequences always start with a Star (M), include two more random formations and one of the eight blocks. Any interruption of the rhythm can cause more damage than in a slower sequence.

Dennis Praet is the only HayaBusa member who has been in the same slot for CISM and FAI/ISC training and competition, while he is still new as the team's outside center. It's his first year in the new slot that David Grauwels had first (2002 - 2008), followed by Andy Grauwels (2009 - 2021) and Michele Silvi (2022 - 2023).Jeroen Nollet is actually looking forward to returning to his tail slot. He has been the HayaBusa tail since Roy Janssen left at the end of the 2014 season. He said that the action behind him was very unusual, after almost a decade of seeing everything in front of him. He, and all of his team mates, are expecting Ray Lodens to become a new Dennis Praet in the point slot. The newest and youngest HayaBusa member can hardly wait now for his own first world championship experiences.

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NMP PCH HayaBusa CISM lineup at the Belgian Indoor Nationals 2023 - FAI/ISC lineup at the ISR Grand Prix 2023

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