posted Oct 25th, 2024 - The tightest part of the 4-way Open Class competition at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships actually took place in the lower half of the leaderboard. British 4-way team Apex and Dutch team Out Of The Blue ended up tied in 8th place, with Spanish CISM team Papea only four points behind.

Tied totals and positions only get broken, first with an extra round, followed by the tie-breaking rules, if the involved teams are tied in medal positions. However, the application of the same tie-breaking rules behind the medal positions can still define the team that ends up ahead or behind the tied opponent: "The accumulated total of all rounds completed is used to determine the placing of teams. Only one completed round is required to declare champions. If two or more teams have equal scores the following order of procedures will be applied to determine the final placings: (a) one tie break round, if possible (for the first three placings only), (b) the highest score in any completed round,"

Apex won this duel over opponent Out Of The Blue with the 25-pointer in Round 4, which was also the highest score for a single round of the same three teams. Apex and Out Of The Blue both claimed three highscores for single rounds, Papea outscored both direct opponents in four rounds. It is an extraordinary outcome that the same three opponents, who finished only four points away from each other, did not tie their highest scores once in all ten rounds. All highscores were sole ones. In fact, there were only two tied scores between the same three teams in all 30 rounds that they completed together.

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	Apex	UK	15		18		21	-2	25		21	-2	13	-2	18		14	-1	15	-2	15		175	17.5
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
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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Out Of The Blue - Apex Papea at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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The lower half of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard was also the only area where the teams did not finish in the positions as expected in the final NSL Power Rankings before the start of the competition with Round 1. The four medal contenders were well defined in their positions at the end, as well as the contenders for the 5th place and the unofficial world amateur championship title.

Apex and Papea were expected to have a chance and participate in the same race for the 5th place, which Sweden's Echochamber eventually claimed after shaking off the German Airbus 4-way team. Apex and Papea both attended only one outdoor competition before the world championship, Papea only the military CISM World Championship, where they start each sequence with the same Star (M) that they launched for each round at Crystal Coast.

Dutch team Out Of The Blue turned out to finish as the over-achiever of the competition after only one year with new member and 4-way and 8-way veteran Paul Hofstee in the lineup. The new OOTB lineup attended two indoor and one outdoor competitions together before traveling to Crystal Coast, where they finished on the same level as the previous lineup after their five years together. Only Mechie Voermans, Ralf Pijnenburg and team videographer Leon van Leeuwen continued at the end of the 2023 season, with their new team mates Roald de Leest and Paul Hofstee. Apex, OOTB and Papea eventually completed the Top 10 positions on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, while Havoc (Australia) and Netunos (Brazil) battled behind them, as the NSL News reported on October 18th.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Aethers	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Echochamber	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Apex	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Out Of The Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Netunos	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Havoc	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-