posted Oct 7th, 2011 - The 4way Open Class leaderboard of the World Cup 2011 features a new scoring level in the history of Formation Skydiving competition. It was the first time that a team scored only 22 points or higher in each round of a 10-round competition.

The NSL News has covered the scoring progression extensively over the years, and it has been the 20-point elite club that used to catch the NSL News attention. DeLand Majik was the first team that managed to score only 20-pointers and higher and was joined by only a handful of other world class teams ever since.

The 21-pointer level was naturally the next step, and only Arizona Airspeed accomplished this challenge at the Valentine's Meet 2011 before Aerodyne Aerokart and NMP-PCH Hayabusa both posted scores of only 21 points and higher in each round at the World Cup. The French team went even a step further...

World Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Open Class	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	22	27	23 (-1)	22	26	25 (-1)	25	24	24	37	255	25.5
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	22	27	23	21 (-1)	24	25 (-3)	21 (-4)	23	24 (-1)	39	249	24.9
3	Paratec-Saar	16 (-2)	23	19	15 (-2)	19	18 (-1)	16 (-2)	19	20	31	196	19.6
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	18	21	19	16 (-2)	19 (-1)	16 (-3)	15 (-4)	19	19 (-3)	33	195	19.5
5	Gradient Alpha	17	21	17 (-2)	13 (-2)	20	20 (-1)	19	18	17 (-2)	27	189	18.9
6	EX3MO4	15 (-1)	19	17	17	17	16 (-1)	19	18	16 (-2)	28	182	18.2
7	Bardagi	15	20	17	15	16 (-1)	14 (-3)	19	15 (-1)	17	29	177	17.7
8	Dynamite	14	18	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	-	149	16.6

The previous French lineup, with national coach Jeremie Rollett, joined the 20-pointer club at the World Cup 2009. They missed the same goal at the Shamrock Showdown 2010 with a 19-pointer in Round 4, which was however the only score below 21 points, which would have been the next level. The French national coach of 2010, Jerome David, noticed this in March in DeLand and commented jokingly: "They will skip the 20-point level and move straight up to the 21-point challenge."

Guillaume Bernier, Mathieu Bernier, Julien Degen and Jeremie Rollet, with Olivier Henaff on camera, came close again in June 2010 in France. For the second time they did not score below 20 points in any round, and only one 20-pointer in Round 5 kept them from accomplishing the 21-pointer deal. Then they repeated this at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010.

There was still no team at the end of the 2010 season that had ever scored only 21-pointers or higher, and the French lineup would now change.

The new French lineup, with Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin in Jeremie Rollett's Center Inside slot, started the 2011 season with an 18-pointer at the Dubai Championship 2011 and four more scores below 20 points at the Valentine's Meet 2011, while Arizona Airspeed's new lineup set the new benchmark with only 21-pointers and higher on home turf in February this year.

Then the Shamrock Showdown 2011 brought both teams very close to the next level of only 22-pointers. Airspeed missed it with a 20-pointer in Round 5 where Aerodyne Aerokart scored 19 points. All other scores of both teams were 22 points or higher.

The French team then eventually did what Jerome David predicted at the Shamrock Showdow 2010 - just on another level and with a different lineup. Aerodyne Aerokart skipped the 21-pointer level and posted only 22-pointers or higher at the World Cup in Germany. NMP-PCH Hayabusa completed enough points within working time (Round 4 and Round 7) but had too many point deductions. However, the Belgian team actually did what Jerome David had expected from his own French team: Hayabusa skipped the 20-pointer level that they had never accomplished and went straight to the 21-pointers - almost to 22...