posted Oct 10th, 2024 - Five years is the time that the current Arizona Airspeed lineup have spent together in 4-way competition and training, and they lost only two competitions, the very first one in January 2020 at the Wind Games, and the online NSL Cloud Mondial 2020 that substituted for the canceled outdoor world championship that year.

They won the following 19 indoor and outdoor competitions consecutively, including this week's outdoor world championship. In fact, Arizona Airspeed of the past five years have not lost any live outdoor competition at all, as the Wind Games is an indoor event, and the NSL Cloud Mondial was not a live event with all teams at the same place and the same time, due to the pandemic situation.

This alone sounds impressive enough, and it becomes even better with the numbers after these two events in 2020. The Airspeed lineup of 2020 - 2024 followed up with a total of 184 rounds of 4-way competition, and they lost five of them to SDC Rhythm XP in 2021, one to the French national indoor team in 2022 and another one in 2023. SDC Rhythm XP and XPG4 outscored them in Round 1 of the USPA Nationals 2023, the Golden Knights in Round 1 of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2024.

They have not given away a single round in any of the FAI world meets or world cups in the same five years together. The French Aethers were the most successful international opponent with the four tied rounds this week. Arizona Airspeed's lineup of 2000 - 2024 have been dominating the world's 4-way competition at least as much as NMP PCH HayaBusa's signature world champion lineup did between 2014 and 2021.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		14,G,13		J,C,17,12		D,A,21,P		18,B,H,F		E,L,O,8		22,2,K		6,7,16		9,20,15		3,M,N,4		5,1,10		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	24		27	-1	33		36		31		23		26		26		25		22	-1	273	27.3
2	Aethers	FR	22		23	-4	33		32	-1	29		23		22		21		25		22		252	25.2
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	21		20	-3	26	-2	32		29	-1	20		21		20		19	-2	20		228	22.8
4	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	19		21	-2	25		25		25	-1	20		19		17		21	-1	20		212	21.2
5	Echochamber	SE	17		21	-1	24	-2	26		22	-1	16	-2	20		14	-2	19	-1	17		196	19.6
6	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	17		19		21	-1	26		23		16		19		15	-1	18	-2	16	-1	190	19.0
7	Agera	NO	14	-1	17	-2	18	-2	26		24		17		17		15		19		17		184	18.4
8	Out Of The Blue	NL	13	-1	17		22	-1	22	-1	22	-1	12	-1	19		14		18	-1	16	-1	175	17.5
8	Apex	UK	15		18		21	-2	25		21	-2	13	-2	18		14	-1	15	-2	15		175	17.5
10	Papea	ES	14	-1	15	-2	23		20	-1	23		14	-2	17		16		13	-1	15		170	17.0
11	Havoc	AU	13		13	-2	19	-1	16	-1	18		13		14	-1	12	-2	16		14		148	14.8
12	Netunos	BR	11		15	-1	17	-1	18	-1	19		13		15		10	-1	14	-1	12	-2	144	14.4

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Arizona Airspeed

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The same time period has come to its end now, as Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine are leaving Arizona Airspeed after nine years of training and competition together. Joey Marshall and Christopher Kuhlmann are in the middle of their recruiting project to select the two new team members.

The last 10-round performance confirmed the unique dominance of the lineup one more time, as Arizona Airspeed won by 21 points over the French Aethers, while the French national team in 4-way Open finished with a new team record average and tied the Airspeed scores in four rounds, more than in any other previous confrontations with the U.S. team. The world's top spot will be in reach for the young French team very soon.

Aethers dominated the competition for the silver medals at Crystal Coast even more than Airspeed. The French team outscored Qatar Tigers by 24 points and also did not give away a single round to their direct opponent. Last and not least, the Tigers won the bronze medals by 16 points over NMP PCH HayaBusa and confirmed the expected ranking positions of the Top 4. However, the Belgian national team was showing signs of their progression with the new lineup. New member Ray Lodens recorded his first 21-average performance, and HayaBusa outscored Qatar Tigers twice. The next race to new FAI medals began after Round 10 and may offer a much tighter field on the top of the leaderboard.

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Aethers (France) - Tigers (Qatar) - NMP PCH HayaBusa (Belgium)

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