posted Jul 24th, 2010 - Only one week is left until the start of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010. Next Saturday will be the official practice day in Menzelinsk, Russia, the first round is scheduled for Sunday morning.

The list of participating national teams is complete and has been added to the event pages of each category. The 8-way competition will feature only the race for the gold medals between the three 8-way giants France, USA and Russia. No other nations have registered 8-way teams for the event. Nine teams had competed at the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge, France. Italy is not trying to defend the bronze medals of 2008.

World Meet 2008 - 8way		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	17,P,4	H,13,7	6,M,1	9,22,C	16,J,8	K,F,G,18	O,Q,5,12	Total	Avg
1	France	23	18	26	22	22	24	16	151	21.6
2	USA	18	18	26	21	22	19	16	140	20.0
3	Italy	20	16	22	17	18	18	15	126	18.0
4	Germany	21	14	20	15	16	14	14	114	16.3
5	UnitedKingdom	15	12	15	13	14	13	12	94	13.4
6	Belgium	14	11	16	11	14	14	12	92	13.1
7	SouthAfrica	14	9	16	12	13	11	-	75	12.5
8	Spain	13	6	13	10	13	13	-	68	11.3
9	Australia	11	5	10	9	9	7	-	51	8.5

The Road to Russia

The participation in the female 4-way category is almost identical with the field in 2008. Eight teams competed in France, nine teams have signed up for the upcoming competition in Russia.

It is a different field though in the female category. Spain, Belgium and Australia are not back with teams for this year's world meet. France, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom and USA have female 4-way lineups once again. Russia and Sweden are back in this event after sitting out in 2008, Sweden even longer. Brazil and China are brandnew in the female 4-way category.

World Meet 2008 - Female 4way		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	Total	Avg
1	UnitedKingdom	24	26	17	15	21	17	120	20.0
2	USA	24	23	19	13	21	19	119	19.8
3	France	23	23	19	14	20	16	115	19.2
T4	Norway	22	16	16	13	17	13	97	16.2
T4	Australia	19	20	15	11	17	15	97	16.2
6	Germany	19	16	15	12	18	16	96	16.0
7	Belgium	10	14	12	9	16	-	61	12.2
8	Spain	7	11	10	8	12	-	48	9.6

United Kingdom (Bodyflight Storm - 120), USA (Fastrax Blue - 119) and France (Aerokart Deep Blue - 115) won the medals in 2008 and are again the top contenders for this year's first three positions.

Only one of the three top contenders comes back with the identical lineup though. Sophie Deremaux, Bérangère Duplouy, Françoise Simons-Hamouchi and Amélie Tirman have continued to train and compete with the same Aerokart Deep Blue lineup since the 3rd place in 2008.

Team Bodyflight (Tarnya Hollis, Amanda Kemp, Liz Matthews and Sarah Smith-Cannon) now represents the United Kingdom, and only Sarah Smith-Cannon was in the lineup that won the gold medals in 2008. Claire "Sparky" Scott, the second reigning world champion, is the alternate for Team Bodyflight.

Fastrax Blue is now Spaceland Blue and has three 2008 members in the lineup: Becky Brocato, Erin Murphy and Brianne Thompson. Perris Fury's Christy Frikken had filled the open slot in 2008. Annaliese Peterson, former Arizona Divewerkz member, has taken the Point slot.

Germany and Norway are also back with teams in the female category. Norway has a 3-way from 2008, as well. Trude Sviggum, Kristine Willadsen and Ellen Burchardt were members of Norway's national team of 2008, Fortitudo. Sissel Maria Finnseth is completing the new Polaris lineup.

Germany has a new team. The Chicas competed for Germany in 2008, won the next qualification in 2009 and then withdrew earlier this year. ISB Air is now the German underdog in Russia who will try to keep up with the three top contenders.

Russia almost won bronze medals in 2006 when the Ladybugs ended up in 4th place only by tie-breaking rules. This year's host did not have a female lineup in France and has registered a team for the meet on home turf. It is probably Prygalky who scored a 13.6 average at the Russian Nationals this year.

Sweden was a strong part of IPC's new female 4-way category in the early years, beginning with the test event at the World Meet 1999 in Australia. Bronze medals at the World Meet 2001 in Spain followed the 3rd place of 1999. However, the Swedish engagement ended after the 4th place at the World Cup of 2002. Sweden now comes back with a female 4-way team after a 7-year break.

Brazil and China have never had a team in the female 4-way category. It will be interesting to see what both new teams have to show in Russia. The NSL News will introduce the field of the 4-way Open Class competition later.