posted Jun 23rd, 2025 - The second day of the Summer Classic 2025 brought even more smiles to the faces of the Golden Knights 4-way team, even though the day of the last three rounds did not start the best way from the perspective of the U.S. Army team.

In fact, it seemed like Arizona Airspeed would do on Sunday what the world's formation skydiving community has been used to in 4-way history. The still reigning 4-way world champion team won Round 8 with a great performance and cut the distance to the Golden Knights by two points, after two point deductions for the leader by judges Kirk Verner and Brian Krause. It was the first round that Arizona Airspeed won at the Summer Classic.

However, Airspeed's highlight of the meet was directly followed by disaster, which came with the first real exit funnel in team history and a cutaway for Joey Marshall that required a similar search mission like NMP PCH HayaBusa's swamp adventure last week in Laurinburg. For good sports, Airspeed could not and did not interrupt the flow of the competition and completed the meet with Round 10. Instead of catching up even more after the promising Round 8 on Sunday morning, Airspeed ended up 16 points behind the Golden Knights after Round 10, and the Super Sequence for the tie-breaking Round 11 had to remain unused. The Golden Knights confirmed their current lead in this U.S. duel with a 22.1 average for a very slow competition draw that included all 22 blocks.

Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2025		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,8,7		H,21,2		1,L,P,6		17,9,10		F,13,1		12,J,D,22		20,16,19		K,M,15,0		5,18,C		4,14,B		Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	19		22		24		23		25		19		20		26	-2	22	-1	21		221	22.1
2	Arizona Airspeed	19		22		23		23		22		19		17		28		13	-2	19		205	20.5
3	Platinum XP	10		12		11		12	-1	11		11		9		13		11		10	-1	110	11.0
4	XP Angels	10		11	-3	13		11	-1	13	-1	1		9	-2	12	-2	8		11		99	9.9

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Golden Knights - Arizona Airspeed at the Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2025

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It was not only Arizona Airspeed's shocking exit funnel in Round 9 that eventually increased the distance between the two top contenders for this year's national championship title and the right to compete for the U.S. delegation next year at Skydive Arizona. It was also an outstanding performance of the Golden Knights that made the situation for the defending champions even more challenging.

The complete lineup of the Golden Knights were available for new NSL Live Talk, without coach Niklas Hemlin though. Former Golden Knights member Matt Davidson was nearby though and joined the conversation at the beginning.

The Golden Knights knew exactly the reasons for the progression to the 4-way top position in the United States. The logistics for their training have not changed much at all, and they enjoy the same privileges that a full-time team of the U.S. Army usually have. The main two factors for the current success is a new and different team spirit that outside center Mitch Stockenberg explained. Coach Niklas Hemlin did not only provide technical expertise for the Golden Knights. He also added a more spiritual approach to the team that Arizona Airpeed has been famous for. Last and not least at all, the recent joint training venture with NMP PCH HayaBusa had its own and very helpful impact on the team situation. The Golden Knights now have nine weeks to get ready for the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025 in Teuge, Netherlands, where they will be facing the French Aethers the second time at outdoor competition this year. Arizona Airspeed is not eligible for FAI/ISC medals and will use the time for training and work.

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NSL Live Talk with the Golden Knights

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