posted Oct 31st, 2024 - The 8-way competition for the medal positions at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships ran smoothly and peacefully. The three teams in the top positions could only try to show their best and improve their own performances and scoring levels in their respective team histories.

GKXP8 finished miles ahead of Qatar Tigers (239 - 190) after tying the highest meet average in 8-way history and posting a new world record for a single round with the 37-pointer in Round 9. Qatar Tigers copied that on their own specific team level and had a 46-point lead (190 - 143) over Germany's Operation Adler after all ten rounds.

The German 8-way team had even less competition for the bronze medals and finished in 3rd place 51 points ahead of Brazil's Netunos (143 - 92). The Airbus 8-way team had to work a little bit harder in Eloy 2022 to win the first FAI world championships medals ever in German Formation Skydiving history since 1985. The British MicroClim8 finished 14 points behind in 4th place (133 - 119). The facts were on the table before arrival at Crystal Coast Skydiving, and Operation Adler knew that they just needed an average performance to secure the bronze medal position. The 14.3 average at Crystal Coast still turned out to be the highest result for a German 8-way team since Dubai 2012.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-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	GKXP8	US	19	-1	21	-1	22		26		21	-1	21	-1	25		24		37		23		239	23.9
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	16		18		19		21		17		16	-1	20		19		25	-2	19		190	19.0
3	Operation Adler	DE	14		14		11	-2	13	-1	13		14		15		14		20	-2	15		143	14.3
4	Netunos	BR	10		8		9		8		5	-3	9		12		9	-1	12	-1	10	-1	92	9.2
5	Ap8thy	UK	11		6	-1	8		11		6	-1	6	-1	10	-1	8	-1	14		11		91	9.1

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26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships: Operation Adler (Germany), Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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Four Operation Adler members (Olaf Biedermann, Thomas Mack, Göran Meyer, Jörn Thiele) were in the 2012 lineup, as well, and provided a solid foundation of 8-way experiences. The 14.8 average in Dubai was not good enough for medals at that time, as the three top positions positions were taken by United States (22.9), France (22.5) and Russia (19.2) at the outdoor world championship. EADS ended up in 4th place with the highest 8-way average in German history in a 10-round competition.

Olaf Biedermann, Göran Meyer and Jörn Thiele had also finished in 4th place in Maubeuge 2008 where they stood at 16.3 after the seven completed rounds. Italy's 8-way team Ex3mo had taken advantage of the absence of a Russian 8-way team and won the bronze medals.

Olaf Biedermann, Göran Meyer, Thomas Spielvogel and Max Thiele then won their first FAI bronze medals with Airbus in Eloy 2022 in a similar situation as Italy was in 2008. Olaf Biedermann and Göran Meyer added two more years to win their second bronze medals at Crystal Coast, and their 2008 team mate Jörn Thiele replaced his brother Max Thiele of the 2008, 2012 and 2022 lineups.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		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	Paraclete XP8	US	25	-1	20		20	-1	18	-1	18		19	-1	23		26	-1	16	-2	20	-2	205	20.5
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	-1	14	-2	16	-1	17		16		15	-1	19	-1	20	-1	14	-1	12	-4	164	16.4
3	Airbus	DE	18		14		14		13		4	-1	12	-2	16		16		12		14		133	13.3
4	MicroClim8	UK	16		9	-2	12		10		11	-1	7	-3	15		16		11		12	-1	119	11.9
5	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		10		11		10		11		10	-1	8	-5	13		9		10		107	10.7

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25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships: Airbus 8 (Germany), Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/Omniskore

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Operation Adler did not need much training together to maintain a similar performance level, which was enough to defend the German 8-way bronze medals successfully, and the Airbus/Meltemi team mates were well trained 4-way and 8-way competitors who would just have to listen carefully to their experienced 8-way team mates and Airbus coach Solly Williams, then deliver their individual performances.

The 8-way vacation to Crystal Coast on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean's east coast of the United States was well deserved and earned though after the 8-way thriller at the German Outdoor Nationals 2024 where the Qatar Falcons witnessed the final showdown and qualification for the German slot at the outdoor world championship.

The Qatar Falcons used the event as a warm-up for the last outdoor competition of the year, while the two German teams did not know at that time in September who would travel to North Carolina. There was more drama at GoJump in Gransee near Berlin than the leaderboard may indicate. The scores are showing a solid dominance by Operation Adler for the first eight consecutive rounds, and the defending German 8-way champions were eight points ahead of Airbus. However, coincidence saved the fastest two sequences for the last rounds, and eight points could still be lost or won in Round 9 and Round 10.

German Outdoor Nationals 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,13,8		5,P,4		18,M,14		7,3,B		1,19,6		G,22,21		C,10,13		2,17,A		K,N,Q,E,F		16,D,1		Total	Avg
1	Qatar Falcons	QA	14		21		15	-1	17	-2	16		18		17		15		21		20	-2	174	17.4
2	Operation Adler	DE	12		16		14		16		12		14		13		12		17		14	-2	140	14.0
3	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	12		15		10	-1	15	-1	12		13		13		11		19		14	-1	134	13.4
4	Coriolis Hildesheim	DE	4		6		4		3	-3	6		5		5		4		6		7		50	5.0

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Operation Adler - Airbus 8way at the German Outdoor Nationals 2024

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Airbus won the first of the two last rounds by two points, the well trained team's first sole highscore. They had new momentum and were much more familiar with the techniques of the two fast blocks in Round 10.

The remaining 6-point difference was still a very long shot considering the meet experiences of the Operation Adler members. It still became very quiet at the event site when Operation Adler reported a bad exit in Round 10.

They completed the first formation of the sequence after 13 seconds and had 37 seconds of working time left to score the nine points they needed to carry a 1-point lead over the finish line. The highest alert level pushed the performance to the 14 points on the leaderboard, which was more than enough to win by the same six points.

Airbus had taken as little advantage of the fast sequence in Round 10 as Operation Adler did and ended up with a weak 14-point performance. Consolation for Airbus may have come with the fact that they would have won the bronze medals for Germany at Crystal Coast, as well.

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NSL TV Unfiltered: Round 10 drama at the German Outdoor Nationals

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