posted Sep 9th, 2011 - The World Cup 2011 videos of Round 6 bring the attention back to the 8way competition, and the extended leaderboard once again includes the new point deductions.

It was the easiest round for teams and judges so far since only the Russian Sky Panthers Barkli lost one point due to an incomplete formation. It could have been different though, as the judges were apparently more lenient with the interpretation of "grip visibility" this time. Especially several of the inside grips at Block 12 (Lego - Eye), the Donuts and Cats were simply not visible due to the camera angle. There is no doubt that those grips were on the legs, however, the standards and interpretations had been different in other situations.

The Barkli Sky Panthers were also unlucky that their first Donut of Block 10 did not count as a scoring formation. A few frames of a complete Donut were not good enough for the Russian team, while the Golden Knights did not need a longer holding time to get their 21st point as a scoring formation, which was a Cat that lasted for a frame or two.

World Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Total	Avg
Rank	8way Open	7,M,15	8,14,D	5,18,J	B,9,2	Q,K,12,20	21,A,F,10	1,4,E	13,P,H,6	L,19,17	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	23	18	18	19	23	21	25	20	19	186	20.7
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	21	18	19	18	23	19	29	21	17	185	20.6
3	Sky Panthers Barkli	17	15	14 (-2)	17	16 (-3)	15 (-1)	19	19	15	147	16.3
4	Germany EADS	15 (-1)	13	14	9 (-4)	16	15	22	15	14	133	14.8
5	Switzerland VIVA	15	11	12	14	15	14	18	14	-	113	14.1
6	UK Brit Chicks	10 (-1)	10 (-1)	11	11	13	11	15	13	10	104	11.6
7	Germany Südwest	12	9 (-1)	8	10	11 (-1)	11	12	12	11	96	10.7
8	Russia Phoenix 11	11	8	9 (-2)	11	10	11	9	11	6	86	9.6
9	Netherlands M8Trix	8	6 (-1)	9 (-1)	6 (-2)	9 (-1)	8	9	11	8	74	8.2
10	Germany Saar 8	7	7	4 (-2)	7	3 (-2)	5	5	8	6	52	5.8

The German 8way team EADS had to defend the national title a few weeks after the 4th place at the World Cup, and they did so without a problem and despite a change in the lineup. The NSL News reported earlier that the national 4-way team Paratec-Saar had to enter the German Nationals 2011 with ISB Air member Petra van Overveld as a substitute for Dieter Schwarz.

She did a great job in 4way and filled the open 8way slot just as well. ISB Air training and competition had prepared her for the Paratec-Saar challenge in 4way. However, she really did not have much 8way experience, especially not on a performance level that won the 4th place at the World Cup.

EADS did not match the 14.8 average of the World Cup, but the 13.0 average at the national championships was still an impressive result. In fact, after the first six "warmup rounds" for Petra van Overveld, EADS was right on World Cup pace in the last four rounds (15 - 17 - 16 - 14). World Cup team Südwest finished in 2nd place with a 10.5 average, after the 7th place at the World Cup with a 10.7 average.