posted Jul 14th, 2011 - An interesting duel is coming up between NMP-PCH Hayabusa and the Golden Knights Gold team. It takes place this weekend at the CISM, the military world championships. Both teams then continue at the World Cup 2011, Hayabusa in 4-way and Golden Knights in 8-way. There was actually a third team with the same travel agenda, but Ireland's team Fast Air has canceled the participation at the World Cup and attends only the CISM competition.

The miltary event in Rio, Brazil, brings together two of the 4-way and 8-way top contenders at this year's World Cup. The CISM dive pool is very different and much easier, however, both teams will perform the same sequences round by round, and the scores can be compared directly.

Hayabusa and Golden Knights are the two best teams that the CISM championship competitions have ever seen in the history of the event. Hayabusa has shattered all previous highscores and won the event every year since 2007. The Golden Knights were the last team that won the CISM 4-way event in 2006. Then Hayabusa turned pro in the Belgian military and took over.

It was a tough fight to the last round before the Golden Knights had to accept Hayabusa as the winner in 2007. The Belgian team won by one single point (252 - 251) with a 31.5 average.

Both teams had three members of the current lineups at the CISM championship of 2007. The Golden Knights competed with Brian Krause, Kurt Isenbarger and Matt Davidson. John Hoover replaced 2006 member Eric Heinsheimer and was the 4th Golden Knight at the 2007 battle with the new Belgian soldiers. Hayabusa's original 3-way (Roy Janssen, Andy and David Grauwels) competed with Luc Verstrepen in the Center Inside slot.

The CISM championship in 2007 was not the first time that Golden Knights and Hayabusa members competed directly with each other. Matt Davidson and Brian Krause were with the Golden Knights at the Shamrock Showdown 2005. John Hoover and Brooks Weiner trained and competed in this 2005 lineup. Hayabusa attended the same event with the original lineup, which had Sven Ibens in the Center Inside position. Hayabusa was new and had no chance by then.

Shamrock 2005		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	11-16-J	15-17-H	F-20-9	P-L-5-6	7-Q-21	E-3-K-4	19-14-G	22-2-1	12-18-A	13-B-D-8	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	21	22	24	23	23	20	20	15	16	23	207	20.7
2	Golden Knights	21	21	23	25	23	20	19	15	16	21	204	20.4
3	Sinapsi PD	19	20	25	22	23	18	18	15	15	20	195	19.5
4	DeLand Majik	18	19	22	23	20	21	18	15	16	21	193	19.3
5	Fastrax	18	19	22	21	19	19	17	14	15	19	183	18.3
6	Spa Hayabusa	18	17	22	20	19	20	17	16	15	18	182	18.2

Golden Knights and Hayabusa have been staying away from direct competition with each other ever since the CISM 2007. Members of both teams were at the same locations of later events. All four Golden Knights of the 2011 lineup competed in 8-way at the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge, France. That's where Hayabusa won 4-way bronze medals with Luc Verstrepen.

Two Golden Knights (Brian Krause, Matt Davidson) also competed with GKXP (Kirk Verner, Andy Honigbaum) at the World Challenge 2009. Hayabusa placed 3rd (27.5) and GKXP finished in 6th place (24.7) in Bedford.

All four Golden Knights of 2011 competed at the Shamrock Showdown 2010 where Hayabusa competed with Waedong So in the Point slot and placed 2nd behind France with a 22.3 average. However, the Golden Knights were split up to share their skills and experiences with the new 8-way members. Brian Krause and Sean Sweeney competed with the Gold lineup, while Kurt Isenbarger and Matt Davidson were in the Black lineup.

The same year, the four Golden Knights Gold members of 2011 and the same four Hayabusa members of 2010 met again at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010. Hayabusa even had future team member of 2011, Dennis Praet, in Menzelinsk as the alternate.

Both teams still did not compete with each other. The Golden Knights won the silver medals for the USA in 8-way, while Arizona Airspeed competed in 4-way. The Hayabusa 2010 lineup ended up in 4th place in Russia last year.

Both teams will now make up for the missed opportunities in the past years and eventually face each other again and with their complete 2011 lineups. Hayabusa has grown into the world's top 4-way contender in the meantime and has to be considered the favorite in Brazil and in Germany. The Golden Knights are still mainly focused on 8-way. However, they are better prepared in 4-way this year and surely one of the strongest underdogs in the history of the sport.