posted Aug 28th, 2024 - The first previews of the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2024 with the NSL Power Rankings conclude with the 4-way Women event, which seems to have the same participation as the 8-way competition with five national teams, according to the list of currently registered countries.

There is a question mark behind the defending champions from Great Britain though, as NFTO have not confirmed yet that they will travel to Crystal Coast in North Carolina. Anna Hicks, Vana Parker, Sian Stokes and Catherine Anderson, with Simon Brentford on camera, won the FAI gold medals for the British delegation in Eloy 2022. Vana Parker and Sian Stokes then continued with Lucy Davies and Danni Hurt at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 in Norway, where they finished in 5th place.

The 3rd place with the previous lineup at the British outdoor championship in September last year still qualified NFTO as the national 4-way Women team for the outdoor world championship.

The end of the 2023 season was also the end of the commitment for the 2023 lineup, and the reigning outdoor world champions of 2022 were back together in 4-way action at three indoor meets ever since, and they won the national indoor championship in November last year in the 4-way Open Class. British Skydiving then pre-registered the team for the outdoor world championship in October.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Nephtys	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Thyra	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

NFTO would naturally become a medal contender in 4-way Women if they decided to try and defend their world championship title. However, XPG4 has become the top contender in 4-way Women in the meantime, after winning the world cup title last year in Norway and posting a 20.5 average at the Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2024.

NFTO won the FAI gold medals over XPG4 in Eloy 2022, and the U.S. team won the next set of FAI outdoor gold medals over the new NFTO lineup in Norway last year. XPG4 with Jennifer Davidson in the lineup for Anna Brunner then tied NFTO's indoor signature lineup and defending outdoor world champions at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 and lost the extra round by a point.

Both teams had no chance to get anywhere close to the winning Chinese 4-way Women team on their home turf in Macau, who are not registered yet for the outdoor world championship in October, even though a 4-way team from China is pre-registered for the Open Class competition.

Without China or NFTO at the competition in October XPG4 would probably have no serious opponent in 4-way Women, even though the French Nephtys Maubeuge have caught up with XPG4's performance and scoring level last year and with the current lineup in June.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	18		23		21		21		25		15	-2	17		14	-1	23		23		200	20.0
2	Nephtys	FR	16	-2	20	-1	19		21		23		14		17		14	-1	24		21		189	18.9
3	XPG4	US	17	-1	21	-1	18	-1	20	-1	20	-3	16		15		15		21	-2	21		184	18.4
4	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	15		17		13		17		20		14		14		9	-2	18		16		153	15.3

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NFTO - Nephtys - XPG4 at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022

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XPG4 would probably not have much opposition without China and/or NFTO on the 4-way Women leaderboard, unless the French Nephys keep increasing their performance and scoring level as they have between Shamrock Showdown 2024 (18.7) and French Outdoor Nationals (20.2) last week.

Unexpected showings of either of the teams could also have a serious impact on the whole 4-way Women leaderboard. Germany's Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen and Norway's Thyra would be in contention for the bronze medals without China and NFTO. The chances for any medals in 4-way Women will be sinking dramatically for Germany and Norway, as the four best 4-way Women teams in the world (China, NFTO, XPG4, France) perform on a 20-average scoring level and higher.

No team from China and NFTO with the 2023 lineup could bring back Meltemi and Thyra to the position of medal contenders. Meltemi have won the duel with Thyra last year in Norway and will post scores next week at the German outdoor championship. Thyra finished with a 13.8 average at Norway's national championship earlier this month and will carefully watch the German performance. Thyra then travel early to the United States for a training camp at Skydive DeLand before the world championship in North Carolina, and they will probably copy the German competition draw during the training...

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		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	XPG4	US	21		20		20	-1	19		17		38		16	-1	16	-1	18	-2	18	-1	203	20.3
2	France 4-way Women	FR	17		15	-1	20		17		15		33		14		14	-1	14	-2	18		177	17.7
3	Meltemi Oceanside	DE	12	-2	15		16		16		11		25	-1	12		12		15		16		150	15.0
4	Thyra	NO	11	-1	12		14		13		11		21		10		12		12		14		130	13.0
5	NFTO	UK	11	-2	11		12	-1	12	-1	11		25		10		10		12	-2	13	-1	127	12.7
6	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		11		15		11	-1	10		21	-1	11		11		9	-2	11	-1	123	12.3
7	Alola	UK	11		12		13	-1	12	-1	10		20	-4	11		10	-1	11	-1	11	-1	121	12.1

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XPG4 - France Nephtys - Meltemi Oceanside at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023

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