posted Aug 20th, 2024 - British 8-way teams used to be in the hunt for the highest ranking behind the medal contenders until the Qatar Falcons occupied the 4th place in 2016. There was still no place on the 8-way podium in sight even when France did not send an 8-way team to Australia in 2018.

This changed in 2022 when Russia was banned from participation, and France did not send a state-supported national 8-way team to the major FAI events any longer. Only U.S. team Paraclete XP8 and Qatar Tigers were out of reach, and Germany's Airbus 8-way team was the first one who benefitted from the surprisingly available medal position.

British 8-way team MicroClim8 had outscored the German 8-way teams at previous FAI events and could not maintain the upper hand of 2016 and 2018 in Eloy 2022. Germany won the country's first FAI World Championship medals since 1985 with the 8-way bronze medals, and two German 8-way teams are competing for the chance to defend the position successfully at Crystal Coast in October. However, British 8-way teams continued to compete at FAI events. Ap8thy and Deton8 both attended the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 in Norway to represent Great Britain in the 8-way competition. Ap8thy was rewarded with the 2nd place of the embedded FAI European Championship..

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		3,G,N,19		11,17,L		13,7,C		2,D,O,8		14,K,J,12		9,M,P,H		5,4,18		15,1,10		16,21,E		F,20,6		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	US	27		22		19		19		20		24		24	-1	25	-1	23		25		228	22.8
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	18		18		16		13		16		20		16	-3	20		20		20		177	17.7
3	Prison 9	US	16		14		12	-1	11		12		13	-1	15		16		13		15		137	13.7
4	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		11	-1	12		8	-1	10	-1	14		12		13	-1	13		13	-1	121	12.1
5	Ap8thy	UK	11		9		10		7	-1	10		10		10	-1	11		10		11		99	9.9
6	Bra Nok XP	US	12	-3	6	-2	10		7	-2	9		10	-1	11	-2	11	-1	13		6	-4	95	9.5
7	Deton8	UK	4		2		4		0		0		3		3	-1	2		3		3		24	2.4

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Ap8thy - Deton8 at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023

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Ap8thy and Deton8 both were back for this year's national 8-way outdoor championship last weekend in Netheravon, where a total of seven teams competed. The results in the 8-way Open Class created a very rare situation.

The same two British 8-way teams had also followed up with scores at their national 8-way championship after the trip to Norway, less than a month later. Ap8thy had defeated the 3rd U.S. team on the 8-way leaderboard, Bra Nok XP, by four points (99 - 95) after a 10-round battle.

The British team increased their scoring average, which was almost enough to win the 8-way title. The weather did not allow the completion of the national championship, and Ap8thy ended up tied with Aeolus in 1st place. Aeolus won the championship title with the highest score on the 8-way leaderboard in Round 2.

This year's 8-way competition was even tighter between Ap8thy and Skywars, as both teams completed all ten rounds, and there was still enough time for an extra round. Both teams tied their scores again, and another 13-pointer in Round 9 became the tie-breaker this year. Ap8thy ended up once again in 2nd place with the same total as the 8-way winner. However, Ap8thy will compete for Great Britain at the upcoming world championship.

British Outdoor Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	A,E,16,2	M,15,14	N,19,G,5	10,21,17	6,O,1	-	-	-	-	-	-	Total	Avg
1	Aeolus	10	13	11	8	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	52	10.4
2	Ap8thy	10	10	11	9	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	52	10.4
3	Skywalkers	8	9	11	7	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	46	9.2
4	Deton8	0	2	1	0	0	3	-	-	-	-	-	6	0.6
British Outdoor Nationals 2024		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	M,B,4,20	12,8,17	22,1,Q	15,21,6	3,E,13	A,5,7	N,10,2	9,H,L,P	16,O,F,D	G,11,18	14,K,C,J	Total	Avg
1	Skywars	10	9	11	11	11	8	8	7	13	10	10	98	9.8
2	Ap8thy	11	9	10	11	9	9	8	12	10	9	10	98	9.8
3	008	7	6	5	7	9	8	7	8	6	7	-	70	7.0
4	Cark 8	2	2	4	3	3	3	2	3	1	2	-	25	2.5
5	Just M8S	4	1	2	2	0	2	1	1	3	1	-	17	1.7