NSL News on 25 October 1999

posted Jul 20th, 2024 - France has taken the lead in the 4-way Open. Airspeed showed another weak spot in Round 4. The incomplete cat on the first page caused a costly penalty. The defending world champions had to watch France take the 1st place after four rounds. France is very eager to win Excalibur back after Airspeed took it from France in 1995. Even without the bust, France would have scored the highscore in Round 4. Now, Airspeed is really facing a tough challenge. And the simultaneously running competition in 8-way doesn't make it any easier.

The meet director is running 4-way and 8-way at the same time. Airspeed may have been effected by the bust in Round 4. They switched to a slower and scored 17 in Round 5, which Sebastian XL were able to match. France has yet to do Round 5, but they seem to have the chance to pick another point on Airspeed.

It will be difficult in 4-way for Airspeed, while things are looking a little bit better for them in 8-way at the moment. After Russia and France both took three points off Airspeed's lead in Round 4, Airspeed came back with the highscore in Round 5. They are three points up on Russia going into Round 6. Russia and France already did Round 6 with good results, but Airspeed will have the chance to increase the lead.

The incredible race between the DeLand Norgies and Sebastian XL for the bronze medal in 4-way Open continues. However, finally they got split after Round 5. XL scored an excellent 17 matching Airspeed's score for this round, and the Norgies got a 16. Both teams then tied their scores once again with 23 in Round 6. Other great battles are taking place between Russia and Australia for the 5th place in 4-way Open, and between Germany and Japan in 8-way.

NSL News on 26 October 1999

Round 7 and Round 8 in 4-way Open finally separated Norway and Great Britain. Sebastian XL took a 1-point lead over the DeLand Norgies in Round 5 after racing head-to-head through the first four rounds. Maybe XL shouldn't have done that, it almost looks as if this XL lead inspired the Norgies to juice it up a bit. The Norgies won by two points in each of the following two rounds and have currently secured a 3-point lead over XL for the bronze medals. Now, it will be up to XL to do something about it. There are only two more rounds to go for both teams.

Airspeed and France still have to complete Round 8. As expected, France increased their lead to two points in Round 5. However, Airspeed fought right back in the next round to win back the two points and tie the game. The 26 in Round 6 is an outstanding score. This time France were not too impressed took a new 2-point lead over the defending world champion in Round 7. It is just very impressive to see how both teams are moving on - regardless of what has happened previously in the meet. As in all the last world championships, this meet will most likely be decided again in the last round by a very small margin. In 8-way Open Airspeed used a weak Russian Round 6 to gain three more points for the lead which is currently up to six points. There are still four rounds to go, while Airspeed is very obviously the most consistent and cleanest team in the medal positions. It is hard to imagine that they could still give away the 1st place. But, as we all know, it's not over until the fat lady sings. Solly has news for us:

FAI World Championship 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		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	-	-	167	20.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	16	17	26	19	19	-	-	163	20.4
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	21	23	16	17	16	23	20	19	-	-	155	19.4
4	Sebastian XL	UK	21	23	16	17	17	23	18	17	-	-	152	19.0

Solly Williams on 26 October 1999

Hello again! Another weather hold. It's 10am here in Australia. Most of you are probably in la-la land punching out zzzz......z's. Yesterday was a good day to be South African in a country where Rugby (similar to American Football) is a religion. The night before we watched South Africa beat England in the quarter-finals of the world cup. That means we play Australia on Sunday in the semi-finals. As current world champions in Rugby this means a lot to us. Yahoo.

What a day yesterday was and what a meet we have here. The atmosphere on the dz is electrifying. Nerves are at their ends, and you can see it on the faces of most seasoned competitors. It's great to be here and witness what might end dramatically. Whether it be skysurf, freestyle, women's world cup or 4-way/8-way - it's all extremely competitive with the lead in each event changing every few rounds. I'm sure most of you are up to speed on the scores so I'll just give some details.

Solly Williams on 4-way Open

Aussies are having a great meet here and managed to finish the day level with the Russians in 5th place. The battle continued between XL and the Norgies. Round 4 had both teams produce good jumps with the Norgies about one second ahead of the Brits, but both scoring steady 17's. The tables turned in Round 5 with XL team being one second ahead of the Norgies. This time, however, we saw the first point difference come into the picture as XL out scored the Norgies by one point. Round 6 again produced two gems with both team scoring 23-pointers. XL just got the 23 which was the start of Block 20, while the Norgies where half-way through the vertical. This is how tight things are here. It's down to the wire jump for jump. No team showing any signs of cracking. You see what happens when both teams choose coaches from the same camp. Right now, I have the Norgies slightly ahead in each round on average. It's ironical to see them a point behind but it's the breaks. Four more rounds to go, and XL are performing really well. Right now there's not much more the Norgies can do but to sit back, ride the wave and see if it changes course.

At the top of the leaderboard we saw the French put a good Round 4 together. Still had some minor glitches, but when these guys get going they're on their own. Airspeed took the most efficient engineering for the sequence, which meant they did Block 15 in their B-slots. They never really got fired up, and they were also punished for starting a Cat 360 without everyone on. That turnaround put the French one point up, after starting the round two points behind. Airspeed completed Round 5 too and got going after a shaky start on the hill. They were half-way through Block 8 on the freeze-frame which gave them the 17-point score. I doubt very much that the French will do less then 17 and there is potential for a 19 in that round. For whatever reason, the French were omitted from the Round 5 cycle yesterday, and are next team up once we get going. The sun seems to be breaking out as I write this, so hopefully that won't be too long. In summary I suspect the Airpseed/French saga will continue to Round 10, and it will be a battle of the nerves from here, more then the execution of technique that these teams have been training away.

FAI World Championship 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open Top 3		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	-	-	-	-	125	20.8
2	Russia	RU	20	23	20	23	14	19	-	-	-	-	119	19.8
3	Maubeuge	FR	15	21	22	23	13	21	-	-	-	-	115	19.2

Solly Williams on 8-way Open

Yesterday wasn't Airspeed's day. They seemed tight in 4-way Open and even more so in 8-way. A bust in Round 4, along with being outscored, gave the Russians the break they needed. The French produced one of the best 8-way rounds so far. Clean and easy to judge, which has been their down-fall up to now. It must be hurting them to know that it's busts that are keeping them away from occupying the 1st place. Same goes for Russia. At this level it's not a matter of speed but in reducing errors. Round 5 which was a mirror (Block 2) seemed to take it's toll on all top teams. Russians had a rough round with some funky engineering and where busted for another hard-to-judge situation.

The French were ripping there round until 40 seconds came up. Someone brain-locked for a bust and destroyed the jump from then on. No points in 10 seconds of world-class skydiving. Can you imagine that? I don't think that's the end of the drama here as the tension mounts. Airspeed scored 16 to the Russian 14 and the French got 13. That means Airspeed are three up on the Russians with the French probably a little out of reach now. That's all for now. On a personal note: it's been fun to compete with Gary on a coaching level. He is doing a great job with XL, and we can still have a good laugh about it. I hope we are this close in Round 10. How about a few jump-off rounds...?