posted Mar 31st, 2025 - Matt Davidson is one of the three most successful 8-way competitors in the history of Formation Skydiving competition, together with Scott Rhodes and Craig Girard. They all have won six 8-way gold medals at outdoor world championships since 1985 in the active lineups of the Golden Knights, Arizona Airspeed and XP8.

Scott Rhodes won all his six gold medals consecutively with the Golden Knights between 1987 and 1997, while Craig Girard spread out his six 8-way medals over a time period of 32 years (1989 - 2021). Matt Davidson won his six world championship titles between 2012 and 2024, and he is the most current one of the three 8-way world champions, event though he was already the alternate for earlier Golden Knights lineups.

His wife Jennifer Davidson is a 4-way and 8-way world champion, as well. She won her first title in 4-way Women for the Golden Knights in Ottawa 2016. It was the same event where Matt Davidson won his third 8-way gold medal with the Golden Knights. The Davidsons joined forces in 8-way after the 2016 event and won their next FAI gold medals together with the Golden Knights in Australia 2018. They both did not continue after winning a world championship title together, while it was surely not the end of their competition career. Both had different reasons to take a break from high-level training and competition.

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FAI 8-way outdoor world champions between 1985 and 2024

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24		21		18		24		19	-2	29		21		18	-1	17		33		224	22.4
2	Tanay	RU	21	-1	21		17		22	-1	20		28		16	-1	18		18		28	-1	209	20.9
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	19		16		15		18	-1	14	-1	21		16		14	-1	14		23	-1	170	17.0
4	MicroClim8	UK	17		15		12		14	-1	15		21		15		12	-2	13		18	-1	152	15.2
5	JYR8	AU	14	-1	14		13		17		11	-1	20		14		14		12		21		150	15.0
6	Airbus	DE	13		15		9	-2	15		11		16		12		12		10		16	-2	129	12.9
7	Brazil	BR	11		10		9		12		9		12		9		10		9		16		107	10.7

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Golden Knights at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018

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Jennifer and Matt Davidson both had their comebacks after the respective breaks, even though with different teams. Matt Davidson returned with the XP lineup. He had retired from the U.S. Army and volunteered as the alternate for the next XP8 lineup in 2019, with his experiences of four previous 8-way world championship titles with the Golden Knights.

Two years later, and after the corona virus crisis, he committed to a full slot for the ASXP8 combination of Airspeed and Paraclete XP members. He had to step back for health reasons before AZXP8 won the next FAI gold medals in 8-way Open in Tanay 2021.

Matt Davidson was back a year later for the next XP8 lineup, with two more former Golden Knights (Brian Krause, Craig Girard), and together they added the next 8-way gold medals to their collections in Eloy 2022. Matt Davidson committed once again for two more years, this time with GKXP8 and three different Golden Knights, his former team mates Andrew Starr and Jesse Stahler, plus new Golden Knights member Mike Connors in the lineup. This GKXP8 lineup produced the next 8-way gold medals at Crystal Coast 2024. The situation last year was the same for the Davidsons as it was in 2016, as Jennifer had her comeback to 4-way and 8-way competition with XPG4 in 4-way Women. GKXP8 with Matt Davidson won the 8-way gold medals, XPG4 with Jennifer Davidson the 4-way Women event.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-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	GKXP8	US	19	-1	21	-1	22		26		21	-1	21	-1	25		24		37		23		239	23.9
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	16		18		19		21		17		16	-1	20		19		25	-2	19		190	19.0
3	Operation Adler	DE	14		14		11	-2	13	-1	13		14		15		14		20	-2	15		143	14.3
4	Netunos	BR	10		8		9		8		5	-3	9		12		9	-1	12	-1	10	-1	92	9.2
5	Ap8thy	UK	11		6	-1	8		11		6	-1	6	-1	10	-1	8	-1	14		11		91	9.1

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26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships: GKXP8, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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It seemed like the next step would also be a copy of the situation after the outdoor world championship in 2016. Jennifer Davidson did not continue with XPG4 and joined the new XP8 lineup for the 2025 season. She was already in the lineup who won the 8-way competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025.

However, Matt Davidson was not back for XP8 at the national indoor championship in February. It was not really much of a surprise, as other GKXP8 members of the 2024 world champion lineup (Jesse Stahler, Andrew Starr, Mike Connors) made room for new members Jennifer Davidson, Jill Stephenson, Brandon Kashani and Ian Pedowitz, as well.

The complete world champion outdoor lineup of 2024 will still be back for the upcoming FAI Indoor World Championship 2025, including Matt Davidson. His wife Jennifer will be back on the bench, where she was last year for GKXP8, and the new situation after the indoor world meet will not be the same as it was at the end of the 2016 season.

Jennifer Davidson will take her full slot for the new XP8 lineup, while Matt Davidson takes his next break from high-level training and competition. Neither Scott Rhodes nor Craig Girard can pass him on the top of the historic 8-way medal rankings. Only Kirk Verner will have the chance to join the 3-way in the top positions at the next outdoor world championship in 2026. It would also be the event where he could tie Craig Girard with a total of eight FAI outdoor gold medals in 4-way and 8-way combined.

Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		J,16,N,G	5,O,M,B	12,1,18	17,K,20	14,Q,3	L,19,11	15,10,A	6,E,P,D	C,9,7	F,22,13	Total	Avg
1	XP8	US	38	29	28	28	29	22	27	27	24	25	277	27.7
2	Prison 9	US	29	21	24	22	23	17	23	21	19	17	216	21.6
3	Infinite Octane	US	26	20	20	17	23	18	21	24	16	18	203	20.3
4	Bra Nok XP	US	24	21	19	19	21	15	19	21	17	17	193	19.3
5	Netunos	BR	16	20	16	17	18	11	11	20	14	11	154	15.4
6	Team Canada	CA	18	16	14	14	15	7	13	14	11	13	135	13.5
7	Papa D's G8ngsteRhs	US	11	14	16	12	16	12	13	15	10	11	130	13.0
8	Platinum XP8	US	12	11	12	13	14	8	10	15	12	12	119	11.9
9	34 Points	US	9	8	10	8	10	9	10	10	10	8	92	9.2

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XP8 at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025

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