posted Jan 6th, 2025 - The NSL News update of the recent U.S. Sweep in all four Formation Skydiving competition events at Crystal Coast included a chart with an overview of the winning national teams since 1985. The story pointed out the other five world championships of Formation Skydiving competition when the delegation of one and the same country won all FAI gold medals.

Only two sets of gold medals were on stake between 1985 and 1999. The U.S. delegation won 4-way and 8-way both three times (1985, 1995, 1997) in this time period. One FS Sweep took place after the 4-way Women category was added to FAI events in 2001. The U.S. delegation won all three sets of gold medals in Rijeka 2004.

The French Formation Skydiving delegation accomplished their own FS Sweep for the first time when 4-way VFS was added to the FAI agenda in Menzelinsk 2010. It was the first world championship where a country's delegation won all four sets of FAI gold medals before the U.S. delegation did the same last year at Crystal Coast.

The recollection of FS Sweeps in the history of Formation Skydiving competition since 1985 was showing another interesting record that was neither specified in the same NSL News update nor at any other time. There have been only two world championships since 1985 when the U.S. delegation left the competition site without any set of gold medals, and also without the William H. Ottley Sword for the 4-way and 8-way world champions, also known as the Excalibur, in their travel bags.

FS Sweeps at FAI World Championships since 1985

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FAI World Championship winners in Formation Skydiving since 1985 - U.S. teams in blue

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This never happened when only 4-way Open and 8-way Open competition were part of Formation Skydiving world championship (1985 - 1999). The national 4-way and 8-way teams of the United States won one or the other event in this time period, and they swept both FS events three times (1985, 1995, 1997).

Airspeed Vertical and Synchronicity won two of three sets of gold medals when 4-way Women was added to the FAI format in 2001, and Russia's 8-way team stopped the FS Sweep by the U.S. delegation in the same year. Arizona Airspeed's 8-way team finished only one single point behind Russia in the dramatic 2001 battle that almost completed the U.S. Sweep.

The almost accomplished FS Sweep at the first FAI World Championship with three different events was followed by the first time that the U.S. delegation left the competition site without any gold medals, and with neither 4-way nor 8-way Excalibur swords on the way back home in 2003. France won in 4-way Open, Russia in 8-way Open, Great Britain in 4-way Women. The FAI World Championship in Gap 2003 was also the only event in history since 2001 when each event generated winners from different nations.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	-	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge	FR	16	26	23	19	21	37	24	21	19	23	-	229	22.9
2	Golden Knights	US	17	24	22	19	18	35	22	18	19	20	-	214	21.4
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	13	24	21	19	18	36	19	16	19	21	-	206	20.6
Rank	8-way Open		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	G,O,17,H	Total	Avg
1	Evolution Pro	RU	23	19	24	16	26	21	19	18	21	15	19	202	20.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	19	24	17	23	20	19	17	24	16	19	202	20.2
3	Maubeuge	FR	25	17	21	13	25	20	16	16	24	16	-	193	19.3
Rank	4-way Women		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	-	Total	Avg
1	V-Max	UK	11	19	15	15	14	28	17	15	16	15	-	165	16.5
2	Norgie Girls	NO	11	20	17	15	14	24	19	12	12	18	-	162	16.2
3	Synchronicity	US	9	19	14	14	12	22	17	14	16	16	-	153	15.3

It was a very close call in 2003 when Arizona Airspeed and Evolution Pro had to perform an extra round to break their tie after ten rounds. They tied their scores again in Round 11, and Russia won the gold medals with the highest score of the competition in Round 5. The Golden Knights 4-way team ended up in 2nd place, as well. V-Max, British national team in 4-way Women, won by three points over the Norgie Girls, with U.S. team Synchronicity in 3rd place.

The U.S. delegation followed up just a year later with a new FS Sweep, after FAI/ISC had decided to change the schedule with only one year of time between the world championship in 2003 and 2004. DeLand Fire and Airspeed Odyssey won 4-way Open Class gold medals for the U.S. delegation in 2006 and 2008 before Menzelinsk 2010 brought the next world championship without any gold medals for the United States.

Menzelinsk 2010 was the first event with 4-way VFS on the meet agenda, which made any FS Sweep even more challenging. However, French national coach Jerome David took on his Mission Impossible and accomplished it, with current national coach Mathieu Bernier winning gold medals in 4-way Open and 8-way Open. The second event in history where the U.S. delegation did not win any gold medals was totally different compared to the first one in 2003, where three different countries won their respective events. The French delegation has been the only one accomplishing a 4-event sweep before Arizona Airspeed, GKXP8, XPG4 and SDC Core did the same last year.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	21	22	56	20	22	24	22	24	40	26	277	27.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	21	53	23	20	24	23	25	40	23	274	27.4
3	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	21	56	21	19	21	23	22	41	21	264	26.4
Rank	8-way Open		3,21,N	6,20,9	E,G,17,5	K,16,2	12,C,22	B,D,M,1	7,15,J	13,L,P,11	4,18,O	10,14,19	Total	Avg
1	France	FR	25	19	16	21	22	25	18	19	23	15	203	20.3
2	Golden Knights	US	23	17	18	20	22	27	20	17	21	11	196	19.6
3	Barkli	RU	20	19	16	17	22	20	18	19	20	14	185	18.5
Rank	4-way Women		10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge	FR	20	19	47	18	19	20	21	21	32	19	236	23.6
2	Team Bodyflight	UK	16	17	44	17	17	19	18	19	30	19	216	21.6
3	Spaceland Blue	US	17	14	38	15	16	15	17	15	29	12	188	18.8