posted Nov 3rd, 2024 - The most exciting part of the 8-way competition at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships was naturally GKXP8's challenge of the historic scoring numbers, which ended with a new world record 37-pointer for the longest sequence in Round 9 (3,M,N,4) and the tied 23.9 record average after all ten rounds.

The medal winning teams did not face any competition for their ranking positions on the leaderboard, as the NSL News mentioned in the 8-way update on October 31st. However, there was a serious battle going on behind the medal positions, the 8-way duel between Brazil (Netunos) and Great Britain (Ap8thy).

The British Formation Skydiving delegation has a very consistent history of participation at FAI World Championships and has missed only two of the 21 events that were held since 1985. Both were hosted by Russia in Menzelinsk 2010 and in Tanay 2021. Brazil has sporadically sent 8-way teams to the outdoor world championships, in fact eight times in the same time period. Neither of the two nations have won FAI 8-way medals at world championships yet, even though British 8-way teams placed 4th right behind the medal positions three times (1989, 2014, 2018). The British delegation is the only one in Formation Skydiving history who was ever represented by an all-female 8-way lineup, the Brit Chicks in Dubai 2012.

Participation of 8-way teams at FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving since 1985

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8-way teams from Great Britain and Brazil had met each other seven times at outdoor world championships since 1985 before the most recent event at Crystal Coast Skydiving, and the British 8-way teams have always placed ahead of Brazil. This winning streak between the two countries came to an end after Round 10 last month.

It was an amazing battle between the Netunos and Ap8thy to stay away from the bottom of the 8-way leaderboard, which ended with a 1-point difference after Round 10. Despite the closest possible outcome after a tie, Netunos and Ap8thy never tied a round in the whole competition. Both won five rounds over and lost five rounds against their direct opponent. Netunos were two points behind at half-time after Round 5, turned the duel in Round 6 and then barely saved a 1-point lead over the finish line.

Netunos' 8-way lineup included the complete Netunos 4-way team, who were the only national team at Crystal Coast with double duties in 4-way and 8-way for the complete lineup. Jeana Billings (United States), Linda Koeb, Thomas Mack, Felix Pfeiffer, Alexander Prendinger (Germany) were the only other competitors with double duties next to the Netunos 4-way team. Ap8thy were used to a good 8-way battle before arriving at Crystal Coast. They defeated U.S. team Bra Nok XP at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 by a few points and had to perform an extra round at this year's British Outdoor Nationals to break the tie with Skywars after Round 10. They tied again in the jump-off, and Skywars won with the highest score in Round 9. However, Ap8thy would still be qualified for the next outdoor world cup in the Netherlands next year.

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: Netunos Brazil) - Ap8thy (Great Britain), Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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