posted Nov 9th, 2024 - The Golden Knights used to be frequent visitors at Skydive DeLand in Florida for the Shamrock Showdown. They competed at the event every other year between 2003 and 2010. The Shamrock Showdown has mainly been a 4-way competition, only with an extension to 8-way whenever there was interest and secured participation.

The focus of the U.S. Army delegation shifted from 4-way back to 8-way in 2009, and the Shamrock Showdown 2010 had two Golden Knights 4-way teams on the leaderboard due to the 8-way extension that year. The Golden Knights 8-way team was interested in getting competition practice for the showdown with France and Russia at the outdoor world championship in Menzelinsk later the same year.

The Golden Knights finished 2nd behind France in Menzelinsk, which was still the beginning of a new decade of 8-way dominance by the United States and the U.S. Army. The Golden Knights won 8-way gold medals in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, and the Shamrock Showdown had no Golden Knights 4-way teams on the leaderboards in that time period. Then the U.S. Army command reduced the support for the competition teams, and the corona virus crisis interfered with any events between 2020 and 2021. The Golden Knights focus shifted again to 4-way competition, while three members of the current lineup won 8-way gold medals with GKXP8 at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, Jeshua Stahler and Mike Connors in the active lineup, Mitch Stockenberg as the GKXP8 alternate at Crystal Coast.

Shamrock Showdown 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		N,E,A,16	9,B,18	4,C,15	8,13,12	7,5,P	L,21,F,J	G,3,H,22	M,2,10	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	US	28	25	17	16	23	29	21	18	177	22.1
2	Sinapsi PD	IT	23	24	19	15	24	28	19	18	170	21.3
3	Golden Knights	US	26	24	19	17	19	27	17	19	168	21.0
4	Synchronicity	US	20	18	14	11	16	20	14	14	127	15.9
5	Phoenix	SE	20	17	14	11	19	22	16	-	119	17.0
6	Sebastian DaneZ	DK	14	14	15	11	15	18	14	11	112	14.0
7	Sebastian Teiwaz	US	15	14	14	11	13	16	12	12	107	13.4
8	Mr. Pink	US	15	14	11	10	15	16	12	11	104	13.0
9	Spaceland Inferno	US	16	12	12	8	11	18	13	8	98	12.3
10	Chikara	US	15	14	12	8	13	17	11	7	97	12.1
11	UBI	UK	13	12	11	8	9	11	11	11	86	10.8
12	Remscheid	DE	11	10	9	7	9	6	-	-	52	8.7

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DeLand Majik - Golden Knights at the Shamrock Showdown 2003

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The focus on 4-way training and competition and the impressive progression of the current Golden Knights 4-way team have been the foundation for the new 4-way plans for the 2025 season and longer. There is even a realistic chance that the current and unchanged 4-way lineup will be a serious challenger for the new Arizona Airspeed lineup.

The last time that a Golden Knights 4-way team competed for the U.S. delegation at the FAI Outdoor World Championship was in Gap 2003, and the U.S. Army's 4-way team used the Shamrock Showdown 2003 for competition practice early in the year.

The same lineup (Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Kurt Isenbarger, Chris Talbert) then lost the USPA Nationals 2003 after a dramatic 10-round showdown with DeLand Majik and Airspeed Vertical (213 - 211 - 210) and DeLand Majik competed for the U.S. delegation in Rijeka 2004. The Golden Knights continued with a new lineup, and the next battle for the top spot at the USPA Nationals 2005 was even closer and required a jump-off with a Super Sequence to break the tie. The Golden Knights knew of the DeLand Fire strength after the Shamrock Showdown 2005, and DeLand Fire then won the U.S. qualification in Perris and the FAI gold medals in Gera 2006. It took 14 years until the next Golden Knights 4-way team traveled to Florida again to compete at the Shamrock Showdown 2024. It was the beginning of the second year for the new lineup who had a very promising start with the 2nd place at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2024.

Shamrock Showdown 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		G,5,19		7,12,15		18,21,Q		17,16,A		E,L,22,11		2,10,M		F,6,N,9		J,13,O,8		C,K,H,P,B		D,20,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		22		23		27	-2	25		23		34		25		53	-5	23		282	28.2
2	France Aethers	FR	21	-1	18		22		24	-1	21		20	-1	29		22		42	-1	20		239	23.9
3	Golden Knights	US	23	-1	17	-2	18	-3	24	-1	21		21		27	-4	19	-2	40	-2	19		229	22.9
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19		16		18		22		19		17	-1	27	-1	22		39	-1	17	-1	216	21.6
5	Nephtys	FR	14		16		17		18		17		17		20	-3	20		31	-2	17		187	18.7
6	Chicken Bolts	US	17		14		12	-2	15	-3	13	-1	16		21	-1	16		29	-4	16		169	16.9
7	Thyra	NO	10	-2	9	-1	10	-1	12	-2	14		15		19	-1	16		23		10		138	13.8
8	Teiwaz	US	8	-1	11		11		13		11		11		15		8		14	-1	10		112	11.2

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Arizona Airspeed - Aethers - Golden Knights at the Shamrock Showdown 2024

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Arizona Airspeed, XPG4 and SDC Rhythm XP had taken the medal positions at the USPA Nationals 2023, and the Golden Knights finished in 2nd place at the national indoor championship this year, ten points ahead of XPG4 and Rhythm. They knew that they could not keep up with Arizona Airspeed at this year's Shamrock Showdown and later at the USPA Nationals. However, they continued with 4-way and 8-way training both until and through the outdoor world championship and then decided to shift the complete focus only on 4-way training and competition from here on forwards.

There is a good reason for the Golden Knights to continue in 4-way, as there could be a realistic chance to keep up with Arizona Airspeed this year. It is a fact that Joey Marshall, Chris Kuhlmann and team videographer Alex Swindle need two new team mates, and reigning world champion Niklas Hemlin has been coaching the Golden Knights to their current level.

He will continue to explain all the 4-way tricks to the U.S. Army team, and the Shamrock Showdown 2025 will feature the strongest 4-way team in the world in March 2025. The Golden Knights then have half a year to get ready for the qualification as the U.S. national team in 4-way Open at the next world championship in 2026. No U.S. Army 4-way team has won gold medals at outdoor world championships yet. The Shamrock Showdown 2025 is also the championship event of the Florida Skydiving League 2025 and is open to any other 4-way teams who would like to compete at the same event together with the best 4-way teams in the world.

Shamrock Showdown 2025			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
-	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Aethers	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Golden Knights	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Qatar Lions	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-