posted Mar 26th, 2010 - It's time to wrap up the NSL-TV coverage of the 8-way competition at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. The videos of the remaining Rounds 6,7 and 8 have now been uploaded and are available for reviews.

The NSL News had explained the background of the first 8-way competition in the Shamrock Showdown history already with earlier stories. Basically, the Golden Knights were looking for serious competition practice with the new linup before the US Army team will represent the USA at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Russia.

There are not many 8-way meets, while 4-way teams can find competitions almost at any time somewhere. The discussion about possibly continuing the 8-way meet at the Shamrock Showdown has already started.

The logistics worked quite well, as the whole event, including ten rounds in 4-way and 8-way, fit easily into the 3-day time frame. Only the weather on Sunday was in the way for the 8-way teams to complete all rounds early.

The first five 8-way rounds were completed Friday morning. The 4-way competition draw followed around noon, and the 4-way teams completed three rounds on Friday afternoon. The remaining seven 4-way rounds were all completed on Saturday, and the 8-way teams were back in action on Sunday morning.

World Meet 2010 judges Judy Celaya and Rina Gallo were both glad to get some 8-way practice, as well. It seems like there is a very good chance that the Shamrock Showdown 2011 will again include both events.

The 8-way teams, and especially the Golden Knights, were glad to have the opportunity to continue with 8-way on Sunday morning. The weather situation was critical, as a weather front was approaching and eventually stopped the 8-way meet after eight rounds.

The Golden Knights had swallowed a good number of point deductions (6) in the first five rounds on Friday and were eager to post better numbers on Sunday. The faster sequences offered the opportunity to improve the average and the confidence level, and the US Army team took advantage of it.

The 26-pointer in Sunday's first round was already a team record for the new lineup. 23 points was the highest Golden Knights score at the USPA Nationals 2009. The next round brought an even higher team best for a single round with the 29-pointer.

Paraclete 8 had kept close to the Golden Knights on Friday and was only two points down after five rounds. Kirk Verner's 8-way lineup completed only one more round on Sunday before traveling back to North Carolina. Dallas Rogue completed the same number of rounds as the Golden Knights.

The 8-way experts will now begin to evaluate the Golden Knights performance in DeLand.

It is a fact that the 8-round average at the Shamrock Showdown (19.1) beats the team's 18.7 average at the USPA Nationals 2009. The penalties kept the average lower than what the Golden Knights actually showed in the 50 seconds of working time. The question is how far the US Army team can go from here until the World Meet at the beginning of August and how strong the opponents from France and Russia are.

The French 8-way team is currently training after 4-way and 8-way member Mathieu Bernier competed in DeLand and then traveled straight to Spain. He was surely interested in the Golden Knights performance.

So was national coach Jerome David who visited DeLand to observe his French national 4-way teams and to keep an eye on the US Army team. There is no doubt that the Golden Knights performance at the Shamrock Showdown has been carefully evaluated in Spain.

There was also a Russian observer in DeLand.

Aleksandr Tichinskii competed for Friday 13, a new 4-way lineup from Russia. He is also a member of the Russian 8-way team that was formed at the end of last year.

The NSL News introduced the lineup with the story on 5 December 2009 (Archives > 2009 > News > Search for: "Aleksandr Tichinskii").

It was interesting to see how the 8-way poll for the World Meet 2010 changed when the Russian lineup was introduced by the NSL News. Russia became again a factor in the race for 8-way medals this year. France was in gold medal position, USA in 2nd place.

The poll has changed ever since and in the runup to the Shamrock Showdown 2010. The Golden Knights have even overtaken the 8-way world champions from France at the moment. Russia is far behind in 3rd place.

The poll is still open for new voters and has been re-opened for previous voters who may have changed their mind after the Shamrock Showdown. It will be interesting to see how it will continue from here on.

The NSL News will try to get some information from France after the recent training camp and an update from Russia. There was a personnel change in the Russian lineup, as Aleksandr Tichinskii reported in DeLand. The NSL News will go back to this topic soon.

World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010
Who will win the 8-way competition?	France USA Russia Others
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