posted Sep 12th, 2003 - It is getting tight for Arizona Airspeed in 8-way. The U.S. 8-way team carries the only remaining hopes of the U.S. delegation to win a gold medal in any of the three Formation Skydiving events. The Golden Knights and Synchronicity are both too far behind to help avoiding a situation that has never happened before. The World Meet in France could become the first one in history where the U.S.A. might not win a gold medal. With the additional point that Russia won in round seven, the lead is now up to four points. And only two rounds are left. Everything is still possible since a lead can slip easier in 8-way than in 4-way. However, the Russian 8-way team has not shown any sign of a possible weakness until here. The performance of the defending world champion in 8-way is currently almost as dominating as the French one in 4-way Open. Russia gave only round four to Airspeed and has not stumbled ever since.

Round eight was an even stronger signal than the previous rounds. Airspeed indicated after their landing that they had a good jump and probably expected to win back a point or two. And then the Russian team came last on the screen and posted the highest score for this round, one point more than the U.S. team. Both teams have been performing extremely well. There is not much more Airspeed can do than continue to skydive as well as they have. Craig Girard and Mark Kirkby explained earlier that it has been a downhill race from the very beginning. The only thing left is waiting for Russian mistakes. It needs to be at least one four-point mistake or two smaller ones. Time is running out... Round nine is scheduled for Friday afternoon.