posted Dec 27th, 2009 - Two of the the three medal winners of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2008 in France, Arizona Airspeed and France Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, have continued with exactly the same lineups throughout the 2009 season. Hayabusa Defence has trained and competed with Waedong So for Luc Verstrepen after the last World Meet. All three teams continue with the 2009 lineups in 2010.

The three defending medal winners of 2008 met each other directly on a competition site only twice this year. Airspeed, Hayabusa and France all competed at the World Challenge 2009 in April and at the World Games 2009 in July. Airspeed won both events, Hayabusa outscored France in Bedford and lost in Taiwan.

Perris Fury beat both teams at the wind tunnel competition, and the Sky Panthers took the second place in front of Hayabusa and France at the World Games. The video shows the last three rounds of Airspeed, France and Hayabusa at the World Challenge 2009.

Neither of the two meets took place under the same circumstances and meet conditions as they are provided at a World Cup or a World Championship. The World Challenge is obviously an indoor competition, while the teams suffered a few unexpected surprises and unusual conditions at the World Games.

Even the World Meet of 2008 was still compromised, as the teams completed only eight of the scheduled ten rounds, due to the weather conditions in Maubeuge. In other words: the current Airspeed, France and Hayabusa lineups have not had an outdoor competition yet where they went through ten rounds under perfect meet conditions.

The next opportunity is coming up at the beginning of January in Dubai where all three teams have registered to compete for the $45,000 jackpot in the 4-way Open Class category. Teams from Russia (Black Cat) and Canada (Evolution) make the Dubai Open Class field almost identical with the one at the World Games 2009.

The competition in Dubai will still not be the first ultimate showdown for the three potential top 4-way contenders of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010. The competition is scheduled for only eight rounds, and the event seems to be a part of a skydiving show, similar to the conditions at the World Games 2009. However, it will be a great competition, and the NSL News will collect as much information as possible.

There is another factor that will most likely make a difference, at least for the French national team. Point Mathieu Bernier will not be available, as he is training with the French 8-way lineup in Eloy while the competition takes place in Dubai. 4-way coach and alternate Marin Ferre will jump with the team this time.

Airspeed and Hayabusa travel to Dubai with their original lineups, and all three teams will surely use the first 8-round meet opportunity in 2010 to check out the performance level at the beginning of the World Meet season. However, the first 10-round meet for the same three teams with their original lineups might become the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010, which Airspeed, France and Hayabusa have in their meet schedule for the 2010 season. First, the Valentine's Meet 2009 will follow the Dubai meet before the same Top Trio will travel to Florida and then to Bedford for the next showdown. It will be an exciting spring for the 4-way fans.