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The story explained some of the reasons why the French team has been performing so strongly in 2009 and 2010. The same story mentioned that France and Arizona Airspeed had not competed directly with the original lineups since the World Challenge 2009: "It is coincidence that only Airspeed has not met this new French 4-way power directly so far."
The NSL News went a step further and forecasted an increasingly difficult situation for Airspeed at the World Challenge 2010: "This time, Airspeed might be challenged more than ever before. The French lineup has completed a whole year of only 4-way training and has already posted very impressive outdoor scores. The French 4-way confidence must be on a very high level."
A lot of information has been provided during the event and after the conclusion, including an interview with the team members on 5 April 2010, and the NSL News has covered the French team since it was assigned as the French national 4-way team at the end of the 2006 season.
Actually, Julien Degen, Jeremy Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier were covered by the NSL News much earlier, as they were selected as members of the French national 8-way team at the end of the 2003 season. The NSL News reported the World Meet 2004 live from Croatia where the new French 8-way lineup won the silver medals, three points behind Arizona Airspeed.
National coach Jerome David eventually assigned them in 2007 as the national 4-way team, as well, and they won the additional 4-way silver medals at the World Meet 2008, one singe point behind Airspeed. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet and Guillaume Bernier then dropped the 8-way event and began to focus only on 4-way, while Mathieu Bernier is still doing both events.
The NSL News has covered the history of those four French competitors obviously since 2004, first indirectly as members of the French teams and then more personalized recently. However, where are they actually coming from, and what did they do before they were selected for the national teams? French national coach Jerome David kindly provided more information of the 4-way top contenders for gold medals at this year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Russia.
France had never won a gold medal in 8-way, and Jerome David wanted to change that. He selected a group of "old French competitors", including himself, to secure another bronze medal in 2001 after only 100 training jumps, while he began to recruit new young French talent for the serious 8-way project.
He invested all available funds into the 8-way project, which began with seven recruiting camps in 2000 where he tested more than 45 different candidates. He worked together with two other very experienced French competitors during those camps, Martial Ferre and Manu Ars.
Amazingly, it turned out that seven of those ten candidates would eventually win the first 8-way gold medals for France at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier were four of the seven 8-way world champions who traveled to Perris with Jerome David in 2001.
Manu Sarrazin, Damien Sorlin and Bruno Perin were the other three selected candidates of 2000 who would win the 8-way gold medals in Germany. Clement Martin St Leon, currently team captain of the French 8-way team, joined the project in 2003.
All B-Team 4-way members would also train in 8-way here and there. However, Jerome David and Martial Ferré had set them up in two 4-way lineups in December 2000, the "Toshib West" team (Manu Sarrazin, Mathieu Bernier, Damien Sorlin, Jean Debièvre, Benji Reffet) and the "Toshib East" team (Bruno Perin, Jérémie Rollet, Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen).
"Toshiba" is the nickname of packer Fred Leroux who has been working for the French delegation since 1996.
Brothers Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier, who had been training and competing in the two different B-Team 4-way lineups, finally became 8-way team members in 2004, won the 8-way gold medals in 2006 and 2008 and have also been pursuing 4-way gold medals at a world championship since 2007, together with Jérémie Rollet and Julien Degen.
They did this for two years in both events and missed the double gold by one single 4-way point in 2008.
The compromise situation, with the complete new 4-way team also in the 8-way lineup, was worked out under the condition that the 8-way goal had priority. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier accepted and won 8-way gold and 4-way silver in 2008.
The next twist came after the World Meet in 2008. National coach Jerome David and his 8-way world champions may have realized that the situation was similar to 2003 and decided that Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier would focus only on 4-way from then on. The results speak for themselves so far.
"It's funny that the actual Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge lineup is nearly the same as the Toshib East team of 2001, except that Mathieu Bernier now fills the slot of Bruno Perin who was not available for 4-way and 8-way both after the World Meet in 2006."
Mathieu Bernier still has a special position in the current French delegation. He is the only competitor who continues to train and compete in both events. No team and no individual has ever won a gold medal in 4-way and in 8-way at the same World Championship of Formation Skydiving. Mathieu Bernier has a realistic chance this year.