posted Oct 5th, 2024 - Training, power rankings and speculations were over at 3 pm on Saturday at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, while there was still one more playful event waiting for teams and competitors, which took place at Fort Macon on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

The opening ceremony is a happy part of world championships and other major events, before it becomes very serious, especially when Round 1 demands the maximum attention of the competitors. Hosting site and weather matched the atmosphere of the participants perfectly at 5 pm in the afternoon, and Meet Director Melissa Nelson welcomed them for the host.

New ISC President Alberto Martin Paracuellos officially opened the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, and there was nothing in the way any longer for judges, teams and competitors to get serious as soon as possible. Chief Judge Pekka Salmela supervised the manual competition draw at Fort Macon, and the teams could go to work. It was a colorful mixture of jump preparations that followed the competition draw immediately, and they began already at Fort Macon.

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Opening Ceremony at Fort Macon

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French national coach Mathieu Bernier and his 4-way teams Nephtys and Aethers left the site of the opening ceremony as soon as it was over. He probably knew that there would be a high demand for creeping opportunities at the Crystal Coast Skydiving center and the creeper pad. Norway's Agera started dirtdiving at Fort Macon as soon as the competition draw was complete.

The Qatar Tigers had even brought their creepers to Fort Macon, while other teams, including Arizona Airspeed and Thyra ,were seen neither at Fort Macon nor at the dropzone. The competition site was deserted in the areas that are very active during the day. However, approaching the creeper pad was showing where the action was going on at sunset time.

The creeping area was busier than ever, and the 4-way and 8-way teams conducted their competition preparations in many different ways. The video footage of the next NSL TV Unfiltered clip features as much of the different ways as possible. It was the first time that the NSL News witnessed and recorded footage of China's 4-way Women team while they were at 4-way work. Round 1 tomorrow morning will be show time for the expected battles, and China and XPG4 are expected to be in the middle of one of them. The teams will be at the boarding area for Round 1 at 7.30 am.

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Preparations after the Competition Draw

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