posted Sep 3rd, 2025 - Four more rounds had to be completed in 4-way Open and 8-way, three in 4-way Women and VFS, on the last day of the competition. There was even a deadline at 4 pm on Tuesday that the meet director had set to be able to accommodate judging of the last rounds, paperwork, and the award ceremony in the evening. There was serious time pressure, and the weather was still not perfect.

Meet director Ronald Overdijk, ISC delegate for the Netherlands, asked the teams and competitors to support shortening the call from 45 minutes between competition rounds to 30 minutes. There was general agreement, and result was the completion of ten rounds in all events at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025.

The 4-way Open Class teams started the last day of the competition on Tuesday morning and completed the missing four rounds as quickly as possible to make room in the jump planes for the other events. It was almost exactly at 4 pm when the last loads were dropped. A brief extension of half an hour secured the successful completion of the event. As expected, the competition for the precious slot behind the 4-way Open Class medalists turned out to be the most exciting part of the outdoor world cup. Five teams were in contention from the beginning to the end, including the two U.S. teams behind the Golden Knights. The FAI world cup events allow a total of four teams to register in each category.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,Q,19,F		G,13,K,A		12,7,8		16,E,6		1,J,9		10,15,21		5,18,L		M,20,11		C,17,2		22,O,P,3		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Lille	FR	36	-2	36		20	-1	25		29		20		24	-1	24		24	-1	25		263	26.3
2	Golden Knights	US	33		31	-2	20		24	-1	27	-1	16	-2	23		24		24		24		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33		28	-3	19		24		30		18	-1	19	-2	22		21	-1	23		237	23.7
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	27	-1	22	-5	17		22		21	-3	14	-2	20	-1	18	-1	20		19		200	20.0
5	U.S. Team	US	24	-2	21	-2	17		20		24		15	-1	18		19		21	-1	19		198	19.8
6	Skywalkers Junior	CZ	28		22	-2	16	-1	20		23		15	-1	18		18	-1	17	-2	19		196	19.6
7	Echochamber	SE	26		25		16	-1	20		24		12	-1	16	-1	19		18	-1	19		195	19.5
8	Agera	NO	27	-1	23	-1	17		18	-2	23	-1	16		17		17	-1	17	-2	19		194	19.4
9	RhEvolution XP	US	27		22		15		18	-1	21		15		13	-2	17		17		17		182	18.2
10	Out Of The Blue	NL	21	-2	22		13	-2	17		21		14		16		17	-1	17		17		175	17.5
11	AYRO	BE	24		22		13		18		21		12	-1	13	-2	17		17		15		172	17.2
12	Papea	ES	21	-3	22		17		18		18	-3	14		13	-1	15	-2	16	-2	16	-1	170	17.0
13	Chop Chop!	AU	18		16		11		12		16		9		10	-1	14		12	-1	13		131	13.1
14	Les Hermines	FR	17	-2	16	-1	10	-1	12		15		8	-1	10		14		13		13		128	12.8
15	British Army Volt4ge	UK	16		12		10		12		14	-2	11		9	-1	11	-1	10	-1	11		116	11.6
16	Axis	UK	13	-1	10	-2	10		10		14		9		8		11		10	-1	9	-2	104	10.4

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NSL TV Unfiltered: Tuesday Morning at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025

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SDC Rhythm XP was in 4th place after the four rounds of the first 4-way day and maintained the same ranking position until Round 10. The four 4-way world champions of the third U.S. Team (Brenn Richards, Michelle Karamon, Niklas Hemlin, Craig Girard, Taylor Buffington on camera) were in 9th place after Round 4 and worked their way up the leaderboard until they finished in 5th place, two points behind SDC Rhythm XP.

Both U.S. teams had to shake off the Czech Skywalkers from Most, who had already impressed the 4-way world at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025, where they finished in 4th place of the national 4-way Open Class teams. The Skywalkers won the unofficial title of the amateur indoor world champion at Paraclete XP in April.

They repeated the indoor success on their journey towards the top of the 4-way world with the outdoor performance at Skydive Teuge, even though their previous outdoor scores in 2025 (13.5 - 17.2) did not indicate a strong showing at the outdoor world cup. The Czech Skywalkers train from a PAC 750XL at their home in Most and were not familiar at all with exits and sub-terminal pages from a Cessna Caravan. As in training, they launched mostly Stars (M) and needed to build the first formation of each sequence as the first maneuver, the same way as Spain's Papea CISM team begin each competition round at FAI events.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Countries		B,Q,19,F		G,13,K,A		12,7,8		16,E,6		1,J,9		10,15,21		5,18,L		M,20,11		C,17,2		22,O,P,3		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Lille	FR	36	-2	36		20	-1	25		29		20		24	-1	24		24	-1	25		263	26.3
2	Golden Knights	US	33		31	-2	20		24	-1	27	-1	16	-2	23		24		24		24		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33		28	-3	19		24		30		18	-1	19	-2	22		21	-1	23		237	23.7
4	Skywalkers Junior	CZ	28		22	-2	16	-1	20		23		15	-1	18		18	-1	17	-2	19		196	19.6
5	Echochamber	SE	26		25		16	-1	20		24		12	-1	16	-1	19		18	-1	19		195	19.5
6	Agera	NO	27	-1	23	-1	17		18	-2	23	-1	16		17		17	-1	17	-2	19		194	19.4
7	Out Of The Blue	NL	21	-2	22		13	-2	17		21		14		16		17	-1	17		17		175	17.5
8	Papea	ES	21	-3	22		17		18		18	-3	14		13	-1	15	-2	16	-2	16	-1	170	17.0
9	Chop Chop!	AU	18		16		11		12		16		9		10	-1	14		12	-1	13		131	13.1
10	British Army Volt4ge	UK	16		12		10		12		14	-2	11		9	-1	11	-1	10	-1	11		116	11.6

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NSL NSL Live Talk with Skywalkers Junior

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The Czech Skywalkers still finished with a new team record average despite the exit handicap and challenged the two U.S. teams until the last round. They outscored all other unofficial amateur teams and took the 4th place behind the three expected medal winners, four points behind SDC Rhythm XP (200 - 196).

In the field of national teams only, the Skywalkers would have taken the 4th place, while they ended up 6th on the official world cup leaderboard. Neither the 4-way Open Class rankings offered them an FAI 4-way Open Class medal yet, nor would the unofficial amateur championship title be rewarded. However, the young Skywalkers, still with an 18+ average age, were also a part of the FAI European Championship that is embedded in the 4-way Open Class competition. That's the event where they finally received their first FAI outdoor medals.

The FAI Indoor World Championship 2025 at Paraclete XP did not include a separate European Championship leaderboard, and the 4th place was only the unofficial amateur title. The Skywalkers explained in the NSL Live Talk after the end of the competition on Tuesday how excited they were about sharing the podium later with Aethers Lille and NMP PCH HayaBusa. Sweden's Echochamber happened to be at the next table during the NSL News conversation with the Skywalkers, and they joined and greeted each other after everything was said and done in the competition. Both teams were separated by one single point, and Norway's Agera were another single point behind in this exciting 3-team battle.