posted Aug 24th, 2010 - France was another country that held this year's national championships after the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia. The competition was scheduled for August 18 - 22 and completed successfully.

However, the situation of the French national teams is different compared to most other countries. The three gold medalists (Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge's 4-way and 8-way teams, Aerokart Deep Blue) did not have to compete, as France's national championships is not a qualification event for potential national teams.

The result of this situation is the fact that the national teams are usually not the French 4-way or 8-way champions at the same time. Other teams have the opportunity to win this honor. This year, the 4-way champion of 2009, Aerokart Amada Maubeuge, successfully defended the title. The leaderboard below shows the six teams that made it to the final round in Vichy.

French Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	t.b.d.	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart Amada Maubeuge	19	20	24	14	22	17	15	24	18	19	192	19.2
2	Perros Dunkerque Maubeuge	14	15	17	15	15	13	13	17	13	16	148	14.8
3	C2 77 Chalons	14	15	16	15	16	12	12	17	14	15	146	14.6
4	Val Heureux Maubeuge Picardie	12	12	18	15	14	11	11	14	12	14	133	13.3
T5	Monaco Aerial	13	15	14	9	13	13	13	13	14	14	131	13.1
T5	Armee De Terre Soulac	7	13	16	14	15	13	11	17	12	13	131	13.1

There was still one new French 8-way world champion who managed to win in both national events this year. Thomas Perrin was one of the new members in the French 8-way lineup that won the gold medals in Russia. He has been a member of the 4-way B-Team Aerokart Amada Maubeuge for years. His team won the national 4-way title in 2009 and now defended it successfully in 2010.

Thomas Perrin and his three Amada team mates (Guillaume Bajolet, Patrick Boulongne, Florian "Foux" Denonfoux) also joined forces with new 8-way gold medalist and former B-Team member Arnaud Mille, plus a few other French 4-way and 8-way veterans (Manu Ars, Thierry Boiteaux, Polo Grisoni, Emmanuelle Nicols) to win the French 8-way gold medals of 2010.

Seven teams competed in the 8-way Open Class in France, 14 additional 4-way teams competed in the French Intermediate 4-way Class.

World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk: Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge's 8-way jumps

The time after this world meet is important for the B-Team members. Thomas Perrin, Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek were selected from the B-Team lineups after the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge and won their 8-way gold medals at the first attempt.

The lineups of the French national teams will now change again, as all goals for 2010 were achieved. There will be some open slots in the new 8-way lineup for the next two years, and even the 4-way lineup will most likely have a personnel change.

Guillaume Bajolet, Patrick Boulongne and Florian Denonfoux have been patiently waiting for years. They are young and eager and ready to move on. It will be interesting to see whether one or more of the old and new French 4-way champions will be selected for the new national lineups.

The French leaderboard in the Intermediate Class also shows the scores of two guest teams. A female 4-way lineup from Marocco competed in Vichy and finished with a 10.1 average after applying the French Intermediate Class rules and dive pool for the 10-round meet.

There was another team name once again on the French leaderboard, which is more familiar to the NSL News audience. The Irish national team Fast Air had attended the first Coupe de France competition in June (14.5) and now followed up with a 15.2 average after ten rounds.

Fast Air scored higher than all the French 4-way lineups in this category but was not eligible for any medals or a ranking on the official leaderboard.