posted Oct 9th, 2010 - Several competitors have tried it in the past, some of them a few times, and some came close. There is only one who finally made it.

Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge member Mathieu Bernier is the first and only competitor who won two gold medals at the same World Meet, one in 4-way and another one in 8-way at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010.

It was a unique project. Usually, the previous attempts were done by complete 4-way lineups who also competed in 8-way. There were a few exceptions where 8-way had priority, and a 4-way lineup also competed at the same World Meet.

The Golden Knights with team captain Andy Gerber did this in 1987 where they had to work hard to win the gold medals in 8-way against the French team in Brazil.

The US Army team also won silver medals in 4-way at the same event and challenged France (13.4 - 12.8) quite seriously.

World Meet 2008		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	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
1	USA Airspeed Odyssey	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	France Maubeuge	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	Belgium HayaBusa Defence	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Russia Sky Panthers	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5

Mathieu Bernier tried it all by himself. His three 4-way team mates did not compete in 8-way this year. The complete 4-way lineup had its own attempt in 2008 and missed it by one single point.

Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollet, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier won their first gold medals in 8-way at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Then they were also assigned as the national 4-way team for the following two years, while they continued in 8-way.

They won their second consecutive 8-way gold medals at the World Meet 2008 in France and added silver medals in 4-way.

The next assignment was only in 4-way, which ended up with the third set of gold medals this year. Only Mathieu Bernier also added the 8-way gold medal to his own collection.

He has now won six medals at the last four world meets, four gold medals (2006, 2008, 2010) and two silver medals (2004, 2008). This alone is probably also a new record for the history books.

Other teams came very close to the double gold, as well. Mathieu Bernier's 4-way team mates were not the only competitors who missed the gold medals in both events by one single point. Arizona Airspeed tried it a few times, as well.

The closest Airspeed attempt was the one at the World Meet 2001 in Spain.

Neal Houston, Craig Girard, John Eagle and Mark Kirkby won the 4-way gold by two points over France and finished one single point behind Russia with Airspeed's 8-way lineup.

That was the second Airspeed attempt. The situation had been reversed two years earlier at the World Meet 1999 in Australia.

Airspeed won the 8-way gold medals by two points over Russia, while Jack Jefferies, Dan BC, Mark Kirkby and Kirk Verner had finished six points behind France in 2nd place.

Then it was France's turn to try what Airspeed missed by one point in 2001. Marin Ferre, Julien Losantos, Davide Moy and Erwan Pouliquen won the 4-way gold medals at the World Meet 2003 in France by 15 points over the Golden Knights, but the French 8-way team with the four 4-way gold medalists ended up in 3rd place behind Russia and Airspeed.

The US delegation won all three sets of gold medals at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia, which was also a first time in itself, now copied by France in Menzelinsk.

However, the 4-way Open Class lineup (DeLand Majik) did not compete in 8-way where Airspeed won the gold medals.

Eliana Rodriguez was not a Synchronicity member any longer, as she competed for Airspeed in 4-way and in 8-way.

She could have become the first double gold competitor if she had still been with the US female 4-way lineup in Croatia.

Nobody tried to win gold or any medals in both events in Germany 2006.

The French 4-way lineup then missed it by one point in Maubeuge 2008, and Mathieu Bernier succeeded with his two gold medals this year.

He was still not the only competitor who finished with two medals in Menzelinsk.

Three Sky Panthers (Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin, Sergej Shenin) won the bronze medals in 4-way, and they also placed 3rd in 8-way with the Russian Barkli lineup.

The videos of Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge in 4-way and 8-way show Mathieu Bernier in action. He is flying the Point slot in both lineups.