posted Feb 25th, 2025 - Kamuran "Sonic" Bayrasli was done with his NSL Live Talk coverage for the NSL News after his conversation with the Golden Knights and the conclusion of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025. He had interviewed Aethers Medjay, Tunnel Vision, SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed on the days before the competition began and completed his assignments with the Golden Knights after Round 10 on Sunday.

The Golden Knights still had to step up to the top position on the 4-way Open Class podium of the U.S. national indoor championship for the award ceremony after the interview. This was not the case for the guest team from France, Aethers Medjay, even though they were still honored as the best 4-way AAA Class team during the award ceremony.

The NSL News was not done with the French national team in 4-way Open and asked them for more NSL Live Talk in the aftermath of the competition. There is no question mark any longer at the moment that Aethers Medjay have taken the top position in the 4-way world, after outscoring NMP PCH HayaBusa, Golden Knights and Tunnel Vision at the Wind Games and adding Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP at the U.S. indoor championship. They won both events with similar authority, which gives their opponents a lot to work on in the near future. Only the bronze medal winner of the previous FAI indoor (2024) and outdoor (2024) events, Qatar Tigers, could not be defeated, as they were neither present at the Wind Games nor at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship. They will only compete at the military CISM World Championship this year.

Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		10,O,F,7		21,20,3		Q,G,2,5		B,19,P,1		H,9,11		16,14,6		K,E,A,22		J,15,8		4,C,12		17,N,D,M		Total	Avg
G	Aethers Medjay	FR	33	-1	22	-1	32	-1	32		36		27		35		23	-1	27		45	-1	312	31.2
1	Golden Knights	US	31		21	-1	27	-2	31	-1	34		23	-1	30		24		23	-3	40	-1	284	28.4
2	Tunnel Vision	US	30	-1	20	-1	27	-2	27	-1	32		24		31		24		24		38		277	27.7
G	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		21	-1	24	-3	26		32		23		29		24		22	-1	41		271	27.1
G	Qatar Lions	QA	27	-2	20	-1	23	-3	27	-1	27	-2	20	-1	26	-3	20	-2	22		37	-1	249	24.9
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	26	-3	17	-3	23	-3	26	-1	26	-4	18	-3	29		20	-2	22		37	-1	244	24.4
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	25		17	-2	24		24	-1	28		21		29		20	-2	20	-2	35	-1	243	24.3
4	Killers of Hopes and Dreams	US	23	-2	17	-2	24		23	-1	27		19		27	-1	20	-1	22		31	-1	233	23.3
5	XPerimental	US	25		15	-1	23		22		24		18		21	-2	19		19		28	-1	214	21.4
6	Buc-ee's and Boot-ee's	US	22	-2	15		19	-1	22		22	-1	18		22	-1	16	-2	19		22	-3	197	19.7
7	GPTNT	US	18	-1	15	-1	20		19	-1	21	-1	15		19		17		14		20	-1	178	17.8
8	Kirk and the Double D's	US	15	-4	12	-1	20		22		18	-1	15		19		15	-2	14	-2	27		177	17.7

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Aethers Medjay at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025

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The NSL News was interested in the recent history of the team and in the way how they made it to the top of the world. The French national coaches have mostly shared a similar format in selecting the lineups for the national teams in 4-way Open. After a certain period, usually two or four years, from one outdoor world championship to the next one, they continued with two team members who would bring their experiences into the new lineup, which would include two new members with young French talent.

National coach Mathieu Bernier applied the same format when he was assigned to his job for the French delegation in Formation Skydiving competition, even though his own situation was different when the complete previous lineup was replaced by national coach Jerome David in 2007. It was a very successful move though, as the new lineup with Mathieu Bernier (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Guillaume Bernier) ended up winning several 4-way and 8-way gold medals, including the historic double-gold for only Mathieu Bernier in Menzelinsk 2010.

Current Aethers Medjay members Damien Gouriou and Alban Rumolo were in the previous lineup (2019 - 2021), finished in 4th place in Tanay and then continued under Mathieu Bernier with Tom Mattoni and Mathieu Quizy. The French format of selecting a new lineup for the national team in 4-way Open is actually almost identical with Arizona Airspeed's in the past decade. The new French 4-way Open Class team missed a medal position again in Eloy 2022, which has been very unusual in the French 4-way history. However, Mathieu Bernier was convinced that he had selected a very promising lineup for the coming years and made no changes. Result was the 2nd place at Crystal Coast 2024, at the end of a difficult year with Tom Mattoni's injury, and the current top position in the 4-way world.

Lineups of French national teams in 4-way Open since 1985

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Three of the four Aethers members have grown up in skydiving families. Only Damien Gouriou found his way into the skydiving world by himself. He was selected for the new 4-way lineup who replaced the 4-way and 8-way world champions of 2010. As usual, two previous team members continued after Dubai 2012 (Julien Degen, Mathieu Bernier), and Damien Gouriou was one of the two new members in 2013 (Pierre Emmanuel Balageas). He has continued until now under the guidance of his former team mate Mathieu Bernier.

Alban Rumolo and Mathieu Quizy have Formation Skydiving competition in their families. The NSL News reported on 20 May 2024 how both families competed with and against each other at 4-way and 8-way events in France.

Tom Mattoni was naturally a part of these family events, as well, as his father Stephane Mattoni and his even younger brother Noe Mattoni both trained and participated regularly at Formation Skydiving competition events. Two Rumolo's and two Mattoni's even joined forces for a 4-way competition once. Stephane Mattoni is one of the founding members of the Monaco team, who go as far back in 4-way competition as 2005. They added an 8-way lineup to their competition agenda later, as well. Noe Mattoni will probably watch his brother Tom winning the indoor world championship live in April. He is a member of Martial Ferre's 8-way team No Name who won the qualification for the indoor world meet at the Weembinamic 2024. It's a strong lineup who will probably be in 8-way medal contention themselves.

Weembinamic 2024			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		16,A,18	19,7,13	K,2,G,F	21,E,M,H	O,L,J,C,P	9,14,12	N,6,D,17	20,11,22	B,10,15	4,1,3	Total	Avg
1	No Name	FR	29	20	24	19	33	21	27	24	27	40	264	26.4
2	Nova	FR	29	20	25	26	29	20	22	25	22	38	256	25.6
3	QRF XONR8	FR	29	18	22	21	29	18	25	21	23	39	245	24.5
4	Infinite Octane	US	26	16	20	22	26	20	28	20	20	39	237	23.7
5	QRF3	FR	19	14	15	16	14	13	17	17	16	23	164	16.4
6	Quiet Chaos	FR	17	11	15	14	17	14	18	15	11	24	156	15.6
7	Les Sans Noms	FR	10	11	9	13	11	13	16	13	12	20	128	12.8
7	ACCUR8	UK	12	9	12	10	15	12	16	11	12	19	128	12.8
9	Team 42	IT	14	11	10	13	12	11	12	9	11	18	121	12.1
10	Banter Panthers	UK	15	8	11	10	14	9	13	10	9	15	114	11.4
11	The Afterfall Collective	SE	9	10	13	11	13	10	14	9	10	14	113	11.3