posted Jul 19th, 2010 - The German teams completed seven rounds at the Mid-German Championships last weekend. Goal was a 10-round meet, but the weather did not cooperate well enough.

The secret of the person who filled the Tail slot for the injured Final Four Remscheid member Chris Schaefer was lifted soon after the scores and the video were posted. Dieter Kirsch, member of the German national lineups in 4-way and 8-way years ago, made himself available and helped out.

He attended his last World Meet in Australia 1999. "Daedalus" made it into the finals and finished in 7th place with a 15.5 average. The Final Four Remscheid average (15.3) last weekend was almost identical.

July 17th, 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	18,Q,4	B,13,K,L	5,9,F	G,3,14	15,2,19	22,O,M,D	11,6,10	21,P,H,N	A,12,J,1	C,7,20	Total	Avg
1	Pro Team	16	22	26	16	16	21	15	23	17	19	191	19.1
4	X3M4S Elements	13	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	31	15.5

The Road to Russia

Last weekend's meets brought together indirectly two Scandinavian teams that will both soon compete at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia. The Pro Team will compete for Finland, X3M4S Elements represents Norway in the Open Class competition.

Both teams had only two rounds in common, as the weather was perfect in Finland while the Norwegian teams at the next Norwegian Cup event struggled with clouds and winds once again.

The meet in Norway was actually another round of the Norwegian Cup for the teams that competed at earlier meets this year. The NSL News has reported the race of the Norwegian A Class teams, which has turned into a duel between M.O.I.S.T. and the Golden Lockpins. The Norwegian national 4-way team, X3M4S Elements, used the meet to get at least a little bit competition practice.

X3M4S Elements tried to put some pressure on themselves and were included in the handicapped scoring system for the A Class teams. However, the weather situation still did not allow much jumping and was the biggest obstacle. One round was completed in the morning. X3M4S Elements member Kjetil "Rookie" Nordin said that a game of home made skydive-monopoly followed before one round in the evening concluded the meet day.

Golden Lockpins scored 5 points in Round 1, but they took the lead with a total of 14.4 points after handicap, just ahead of M.O.I.S.T. with another 5-pointer that turned into 13.4 after handicap. X3M4S Elements without a handicap kept close with a 13-pointer for the AAA Class sequence.

Round 2 flipped the standings, as M.O.I.S.T. scored once again very well for a sequence with only Random Formations. The score of 19.4 after handicap would beat Golden Lockpins' 15.4 and win the meet. X3M4S Elements couldn't keep up with an 18-pointer.

The Norwegian national team is currently in 4th place of last weekend's AAA Class leaderboard, which has listed a total of 30 teams at the moment. The Pro Team is in 1st place, ahead of California's Founding Fathers, Germany's Final Four Remscheid and several teams from France. This indicates how strong the team from Finland has become.

The scores for the two rounds that both teams completed show that the Pro Team is far ahead of their rivals from the western coast of Scandinavia. However, Norway's X3M4S Elements had never planned to outscore any other specific team at this year's World Meet in Russia.

In fact, the teams from Finland and Norway are at very different points in time of their plans. The Pro Team is at the end of a very well executed 3-year plan, while the X3M4S Elements members were selected for the new national team this year. They are at the very beginning of their own 3-year plan.

World Meet 2008		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
5	Norway Arcteryx	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
12	DK Danish Blaze	18	20	14	11	16	16	-	-	95	15.8
15	Sweden Evolution	16	18	14	10	16	16	-	-	90	15.0
16	Finland Tigers	19	19	14	10	16	9	-	-	87	14.5

There is a good chance that Finland and Norway will switch places in the Scandinavian race. The Tigers competed for Finland at the World Meet 2008 in France and finished in 4th place of the four Scandinavian teams with a 14.5 average.

Arcteryx competed for Norway in 2008 and did not even think of the Scandinavian rankings. Derek Broughton, Ole Petter Hjelle, Mathias Nord and Ditta Valsdottir wanted to win a set of medals and finished with a 22.5 average in 5th place. It was still the highest meet average of any Norwegian team at a World Meet.

There is no doubt that X3M4S Elements wants to bring Norway back at least to where the Pro Team is this year. It probably requires a full time commitment these days to get to the medal level at a world championship. However, the unofficial title of the best amateur team in the world is very challenging, as well, as it seems to be above the 20-point average level.