posted Sep 26th, 2024 - The NSL Power Rankings in the previews of the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2024 needed adjustments when new and more current results of national championship and other events became available. The latest update on the 4-way Open leaderboard was posted on September 9th, after the completion of the British and the German national outdoor championships.

Not much had changed for the German team, Airbus Oceanside Illertissen, who confirmed their strong position in the race for the unofficial amateur world championship title behind the four medal contenders from the United States (Arizona Airspeed), France (Aethers), Belgium (NMP PCH HayaBusa) and Qatar (Tigers).

In fact, Airbus recently added another statement to their goal when they posted a new team record average (19.1) at the ESL Championship 2024. British national team Apex was moved up in the preview power rankings where they are now in the position of an Airbus opponent. Apex did not win the national championship at the end of August, and the team in 1st place, SOAR, might have been an even stronger opponent if the team were qualified as the national team for Great Britain. SOAR finished with a 19.4 average and would be on almost exactly the same scoring level as Airbus.

British Outdoor Nationals 2024		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	L,21,C,10		19,18,13		12,P,8		Q,22,11		3,D,6		4,N,9		E,15,2		A,M,17,J		G,16,K,7		5,H,1		Total	Avg
1	SOAR	19	-1	16	-1	16		15	-1	19		19	-2	19		31		20		20	-1	194	19.4
2	Apex	17		16	-1	13	-1	16		19		20		18		27	-1	14	-2	20		180	18.0
3	NFTO	14		12		11		14		14		16		16		26		14		14		151	15.1
4	British Army Volt4ge	10		9		9		8		9		12		9		14		5		7		92	9.2
5	Vantage	9		9		7		7		8		10		7		9		8		11		85	8.5
6	Axis	9		9		6		8		6		9		9		9		9		8		82	8.2
7	Dynamite Wolf Squadron	8		5		5		9		9		8		8		11		8		10		81	8.1
8	SORA	8		9		6		8		8		8		6		10		8		9		80	8.0
9	Winged Hussars	7		7		7		8		6		9		7		10		6		7		74	7.4
10	Silver Linings	7		8		5		5		7		8		8		9		7		7		71	7.1

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SOAR - Apex at the British Outdoor Nationals 2024

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However, the qualification for the British 4-way Open Class slot took place at last year's national championship that Apex won with a 16.9 average and a different lineup. In the meantime, Hari Ganapathy has replaced Pete Mather, and the scoring level was standing at 18.0 average at the end of August. Apex will probably need another boost to threaten Airbus seriously.

SOAR are the new British 4-way AAA Class champions, and they will be eligible for FAI's outdoor world cup next year. The qualification for the next outdoor world championship in 2026 is the British national championship in 2025, while a total of up to four teams may compete at any world cup. Fact is that Apex will compete for Great Britain at Crystal Coast in North Carolina next month.

The NSL News mentioned in the earlier update that three former Chimera members, Sarah Ashworth, James Woods and videographer Pete Harries, competed for SOAR last month. Former Satori XL team mates Julia Swallow and Pete Allum actually completed the lineup. Sarah Ashworth, James Woods and Pete Harries had won the precious 5th place with Chimera at the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2022, and they will not be able to defend the position with SOAR. The complete SOAR lineup consists of well trained and highly experienced 4-way competitors with world championship and world cup experiences, while this year's outdoor world meet will be the first one for all Apex members.

British Outdoor Nationals 2024		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	L,21,C		19,18		13,P,8		Q,22,11		D,6,4		N,9,E		15,2		A,M,J,G		Total	Avg
1	Children of the Corn	11		7		11		8		8		14		8		17		84	10.5
2	Chillies	9		8		9		8		8		11		7		15		75	9.4
3	Equinox	8		8		7		8		6		12		7		14		70	8.8
4	Wavey Wackers	7		7		8		5		7		13		7		15		69	8.6
5	Eximius	4		5		4		6		6		7		4		9		45	5.6
6	Ice Bank Foxes	5		4		4		4		7		5		5		10		44	5.5
Rank	A Class	L,21		C,19		P,8		Q,D,6		4,N		9,E		2,A		M,J,G		Total	Avg
1	Nakama	7		9		9		9		8		13		8		17		80	10.0
2	University of 4ork	7		5		2		7		7		8		7		11		54	6.8
3	Bootie Call	5		6		4		5		3		7		8		12		50	6.3
4	Tilstock v3	6		4		3		4		4		7		5		9		42	5.3
4	Tachyon	4		5		3		5		5		5		6		9		42	5.3
6	Pole Position	2		3		2		5		5		5		6		8		36	4.5
7	REME Lightning	5		2		4		5		2		4		6		7		35	4.4
Rank	Rookie	L,C,P		Q,D,N		E,A,M		J,G,K		H,D,B		F,Q,M		P,D,B		E,J,O		Total	Avg
1	Fall Fast Finish Last	10		13		15		9		17		25		15		15		119	14.9
2	XL Poo	6		4		10		3		9		12		8		8		60	7.5
3	Suckling Lamb Gizzards	3		4		9		5		7		11		7		9		55	6.9
4	The Nuggets	3		4		6		4		7		7		6		8		45	5.6
4	Portent	6		3		9		4		9		1		4		9		45	5.6
6	Who's On Fours?	4		3		6		2		8		4		3		2		32	4.0
7	Genesis	0		4		4		3		3		7		1		6		28	3.5
8	Notts Noodles	1		1		4		1		5		4		1		4		21	2.6
9	Buzz Lightyear	0		0		0		2		0		1		1		2		6	0.8

Three of the Apex members yet have sufficient international FAI meet experiences together, as well. Mark Fletcher, Hari Ganapathy and Dave Rogers trained and competed together with ACM Weembi since 2017 and attended several high-level indoor events, including the FAI Indoor World Championship 2019 at Weembi Lille.

The wealth of outdoor experiences of the SOAR lineup probably made the difference at the British national championship this year. Apex only competed at the national outdoor championship in 2023 and did not attend any other indoor or outdoor competitions ever since.

Pete Allum has been active with indoor and outdoor training and competition ever since he started 45 years ago and without any interruptions. He and Julia Swallow also shared 4-way team time together for Satori XL in 2015 and 2016. Julia Swallow was one of the Satori founding members in 2008. Sarah Ashworth, James Woods and Pete Harries have spent just as much time together, and the complete SOAR lineup completed 80 training jumps together, plus an hour of windtunnel time, before posting the 19.4 average. It's a new record average for the three former Chimera members, while Julia Swallow and Pete Allum have a 21.0 average together in their records that Satori XL posted at the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2016.