posted Nov 12th, 2024 - It has not happened very often that the NSL News leaves the competition site of a major event without asking the best 4-way and 8-way teams and competitors in the world to share their knowledge, experiences and thoughts with the audience in the Formation Skydiving community and the rest of the skydiving world.

It is even more unusual when the NMP PCH HayaBusa members are not meeting with the NSL News for a conversation, at least once the competition is over. The Belgians have always been open and welcoming to the questions and the interest that is coming from NSL News and audience. However, it happens once in a while in the heat of the aftermath battle, and internet technology allows to catch up at a later time.

NSL Live Talk has been taking place on the internet platform on a regular basis in the past years, sometimes with the complete lineups if the logistics allow this to happen, and other times only with some of the team members. The NSL News caught up with the NMP PCH HayaBusa aftermath when team captain Dennis Praet took the time to spend an hour with the NSL News. Dennis Praet was the youngest HayaBusa member when he joined the team in 2010, first as the alternate, then with a full slot in the point position. He was 21 years of age by then, just a few years older than his latest team mate Ray Lodens.

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NSL Live Talk with Dennis Praet (NMP PCH HayaBusa)

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Dennis Praet is now the senior team member, with four FAI world championship titles and gold medals in his collection (2014 - 2016 - 2018 - 2021), and his name is engraved on the William H. Ottley Sword for the 4-way world champions, also known as the 4-way Excalibur, as the NSL News explained on October 21st.

He was in the same situation as first Neal Willems, now Ray Lodens, at the beginning of his 4-way world champion career and mostly listened very carefully what the senior members had for him. Now he is in the position of an extremely knowledged and successful 4-way competitor, together with his senior team mate Jeroen"Bob" Nollet, who he consults with when making plans and decisions. They won three world championship titles together and are guiding their two new team mates to the highest level of horizontal 4-way competition..

Dennis Praet took the time to discuss the team dynamics and compare them with Arizona Airspeed who have gone through a similar development with their lineups. Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine were guiding Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann to their first two sets of outdoor world championship gold medals. Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann will now be in the same situation after finalizing their new lineup with two new team members, who are most likely not previous 4-way world champions.

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 - Qatar Tigers - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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Dennis Praet said that his team was more than satisfied with the performance at Crystal Coast, and he pointed out a few special situations during a short debriefing of the competition videos. He confirmed that NMP PCH HayaBusa plan to be competitive for the medal positions in 2026 and still maintain their 4-year plan until the outdoor world championship in 2028. That's when they want to dominate 4-way competition again as HayaBusa did between 2014 and 2021 and Arizona Airspeed between 2022 and 2024.

NMP PCH HayaBusa have laid out their plans for this time period and follow it. Dennis Praet and his team still carefully study and evaluate videos and developments of their direct opponents, which are realistically Arizona Airspeed, French Aethers and Qatar Tigers. He expects the French team taking the top position in the world next year and with the best chances to win gold medals in 2026.

He sees a question mark behind the future opponent from the United States in 2026, which relates directly to NMP PCH HayaBusa in a different way. The Belgian military team had to work very hard to win the CISM gold medals this year for the 16th consecutive time. The Golden Knights challenged HayaBusa's CISM lineup with David Grauwels all the way throughout the eight rounds and finished only four points behind. There is no guarantee at all that Arizona Airspeed will be the U.S. team in 4-way Open in 2026. The new lineup first have to defeat the U.S. Army team at the USPA Nationals 2025. NMP PCH HayaBusa will face even tougher opposition at the CISM World Championship next year where they will try to defend their military title against Golden Knights and Qatar Tigers both.

CISM Military 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Male - Top 4		M,16,E,B		M,D,F,21		M,A,C,22		M,O,19,P		M,H,L,11		M,G,N,1		M,17,K,J		M,Q,R,14		Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	37	1	36		30		34		30	2	30	1	39		31	2	267	33.4
2	Golden Knights	US	35	2	35		28	2	36		34		30		37		28	1	263	32.9
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	38	1	31	3	25	4	37		31	1	25	3	38	1	29		254	31.8
4	Papea	ES	27	2	33		26		29		32		27	1	30	1	24		228	28.5

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NMP PCH HayaBusa - Golden Knights - Qatar Tigers at the CISM 2024, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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