posted Nov 11th, 2024 - The first previews of the Shamrock Showdown 2025 indicate another most exciting 4-way competition to come, while it also brings back thoughts of the 2024 season for the French national team in 4-way Open, the Aethers.

It was a turbulent 2024 season for the youngest FAI medalists at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, and the turbulences began literally at the event location of the Shamrock Showdown 2024. The NSL News had to report bad news with the preview on March 12th.

The French Aethers had arrived early at Skydive DeLand for training jumps before the start of the competition, and turbulent weather conditions on the team's 4th training day caused a serious injury for outside center Tom Mattoni, the youngest team member with his 19 years of age in March 2024. He broke his leg at the landing of the team's 31st training jump early in the morning, had to withdraw and travel back to France for medical treatment. His team continued with some training jumps to warm up national coach Mathieu Bernier, who stepped into the active lineup for the first outdoor competition of the year. It was a devastating start into it for the Aethers, after a very promising performance of the complete lineup at the Wind Games 2024.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 4		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	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	Aethers	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4

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Arizona Airspeed - Aethers at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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Nephtys outside center Pamela Lissajoux was helping out at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 in China a month later, while Tom Mattoni was working on his recovery from the injury. Aethers still finished in 2nd place with the second substitute.

Tom Mattoni was finally back in outdoor competition action at the French national championship in August. His team had missed a few months of training and re-started the outdoor season with a 25.1 average on home soil in France. The opposing teams at the upcoming world championship, Arizona Airspeed, Qatar Tigers and NMP PCH HayaBusa, could use the same few months to continue with their own preparations for the most important competition of the year.

It was actually impressive how quickly Aethers were back on the top level of the world's 4-way competition in October. Tom Mattoni did not show any signs of weakness after the injury and recovery. In fact, Aethers with their complete lineup kept up with Arizona Airspeed in more rounds than at any other previous competition.

There was a 21-point advantage for Airspeed after all ten rounds, which was still the closest distance since both teams started facing each other in October 2022, Airspeed after a 2-year head-start over Aethers. 47 points separated Airspeed and Aethers in Eloy 2022, which was down to 20 points at the Shamrock Showdown 2023, 21 points at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023.

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

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Arizona Airspeed - Aethers at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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Then came the Shamrock Showdown 2024 in March this year, with Tom Mattoni's injury before the competition even began, and Arizona Airspeed won by 43 points. Tom Mattoni's amazing recovery brought the Aethers back to the same 21-point distance that they had to Airspeed in 2023.

It is impossible to estimate how much the missed additional training in the summer months before the outdoor world championship would have lifted the Aethers scoring level at Crystal Coast. However, it is quite likely that the distance between the two top contenders would have been closer.

Fact is that neither Qatar Tigers nor NMP PCH HayaBusa could not even get anywhere close to the French national team in 4-way Open, and that Aethers tied Airspeed scores in four rounds. National coach Mathieu Bernier was still expecting more and better, as he mentioned during the NSL Live Talk conversation after the first four rounds on October 8th. However, he was not ready to discuss the new situation after the world meet and Airspeed's personnel changes, as he and his team were in the middle of the competition. Aethers continue with the same lineup, and the new Airspeed lineup begin with training in December. The outcome of the Shamrock Showdown 2025 will probably be different than this year, just a week after the indoor world championship at Paraclete XP, where both teams will go through their first direct confrontation.

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	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-