posted Jan 17th, 2025 - The NSL News coverage of the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships at Crystal Coast included the unfortunate situation of the Norwegian national team in 4-way Women, Thyra. Silvana Disch, the youngest team member, got sick in the last days of the training camp in DeLand and had to withdraw from training, competition and the road trip to North Carolina.

National coach and DeLand Norgies FAI bronze medalist of 1999, 2001 and 2003, Carl-Erik Tuv, was at least lucky enough to fill the open slot on a very short call. His former team mate Lise Aune/Nansen was able to make herself available quickly, as well as former Arcteryx member Ditta Valsdottir, who eventually took the inside center slot.

Lise Aune/Nansen and Ditta Valsdottir both were in the outside center slot for their respective teams, and Ditta Valsdottir had to adopt the center work in the rear piece quickly. She had one day of training with the team before Round 1 of the world championship, after the long travel and the unavoidable jet lag. Thyra's substituted lineup could logically not increase any previous scoring numbers in the compromised performance situation at Crystal Coast. However, team and manager/coach Carl-Erik Tuv were showing great sports and did their best to be be a competitive participant of the event and represent Norway in 4-way Women.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
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
4	Kewara	IT	11	15	14	14	14	22	16	14	13	15	148	14.8
5	France	FR	11	17	15	13	12	22	17	13	11	-	131	14.6
6	Chicas	DE	9	12	10	10	11	16	12	10	10	-	100	11.1
7	Belgium	BE	9	14	10	10	12	8	7	7	7	-	84	9.3
8	Finland	FI	7	7	9	8	8	12	7	9	8	-	75	8.3

Substitute Ditta Valsdottir actually stands for a very successful tradition and history of Norway throughout the first decade of 4-way Women after the introduction of the event in 2001. She was in the first Norwegian 4-way Women lineup at a world championship in Spain 2001. Four national teams were separated by six points, and the Norgie Girls won silver medals behind U.S. team Synchronicity.

The Norgie Girls were back with Ditta Valsdottir two years later and finished once again three points behind the winner, V-Max from Great Britain.

Ditta Valsdottir did not return to 4-way Women competition, where Polaris, the national team of 2010 and 2012, won the next set of FAI medals for Norway with the 3rd place in Dubai. She continued in 2004 with Norway's national team in 4-way Open, Arcteryx, and made the Top 10 with her new team three consecutive times (2004, 2006, 2008). finishing in 5th place twice in 2006 and 2008. Ditta Valsdottir was still training and competing with Arcteryx when Echochamber's Mattias Nord had moved from Sweden to Norway and joined the Arcteryx lineup of 2008. They worked together in the center for two years, including the 5th place at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008 in Maubeuge, France.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	HayaBusa Defence	BE	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5
5	Arcteryx	NO	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
6	Evolution	CA	25	27	22	17	24	18	26	16	175	21.9
7	Spin Team	IT	23	21	16	13	21	16	21	-	131	18.7
8	Dynamic Fource	NL	22	20	16	12	21	16	22	-	129	18.4
9	VIVA	CH	19	23	17	13	21	15	18	-	126	18.0
10	FSC Eisenach	DE	21	17	14	13	21	15	21	-	122	17.4

Arcteryx discontinued after the World Games 2009, and Mattias Nord returned to Sweden. However, he and Ditta Valsdottir still joined forces once again at the World Challenge 2015 in a team for the meet that Mauretanian competitor Moulay Abbas recruited that year.

Ditta Valsdottir continued to compete randomly in Norway, while Mattias Nord eventually committed fully back to 4-way training and competition in Sweden, first with Gryttjom Volo between 2014 and 2016, then with Echochamber, first as a coach, followed by a player-coach position, and finally with a full slot last year.

Ditta Valsdottir and Mattias Nord eventually met again as active competitors at Crystal Coast in October 2024, when Ditta Valsdottir had to step in for Thyra at the very last minute. They were neither team mates nor opponents this time, even though they competed for different countries. Mattias Nord repeated his 5th place of Maubeuge 2008 with Arcteryx 17 years later with Echochamber at Crystal Coast. Ditta Valsdottir helped Thyra to their first world championship experiences, while she completed her 6th event on the highest international level. The unofficial amateur world champions of Echochamber with Mattias Nord showed no signs of slowing down when they discussed their team plans with the NSL News at Crystal Coast.

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
5	Echochamber	SE	17		21	-1	24	-2	26		22	-1	16	-2	20		14	-2	19	-1	17		196	19.6
Rank	4-way Women		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	XPG4	US	19	-1	22	-1	28		30	-1	28		20		20		18	-1	24		18		227	22.7
2	China	CN	18	-1	17	-4	29		27		28	-1	18		21		16	-1	21		17	-1	212	21.2
3	Nephtys	FR	17		20		27		26	-1	25		18		17	-1	15	-1	17	-2	16		198	19.8
4	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		17		21		23		20		16		15	-1	15		19		17		179	17.9
5	Thyra	NO	12		14		18		14	-2	11	-5	13		12	-1	12		14		12		132	13.2

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Echochamber Oceanside - Thyra at the the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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