posted Sep 12th, 2006 - The NSL News goes back to Germany, host of this year's FS World Championship, and the conclusion of the DFV-Cup. The NSL News story on September 7 covered the 4-way competition, and the more exciting 8-way competition received comprehensive attention on September 8.

The national 4-way team of the past years, EADS, defended the 4-way title successfully and without serious problems against the young challengers of team Next Generation. Earlier NSL News stories had already covered the 4-way situation in Germany.

The charge of the young German 4-way rivals was obviously not exciting enough for EADS this year. The EADS members, Olaf Biedermann (Center Inside), Jens Goennemann (Center Outside), Goran Meyer (Tail), Thomas Spielvogel (Point) and Marc "Euro" Ewert on camera, felt strong enough to put some of the training efforts into a new project.

The healthy rivalry with Next Generation over the past two years finally ended up in a joint 8-way venture. Both 4-way teams scheduled some of their training camps and competitions on the same dates and used the opportunity to get familiar with the 8-way dive pool and with each other in the same 8-way team.

The NSL News story on September 8, including the scores of the 10-round competition at the DFV-Cup, already announced the conclusion. The "EADS Achter" won the competition, and Germany has a new national 8-way team for 2007. The EADS members won gold medals in 4-way and in 8-way.

It was only the third time in the German history of modern Formation Skydiving competition that a 4-way team also won the 8-way event at a major championship. The DFV-Cup is not the official national championship of Germany. The German Nationals take place every other year and are scheduled for the summer of 2007.

The DFV-Cup is the equivalent of the national championship in the off-year, as the World Cup of Formation Skydiving takes place a year after or before the official World Championship. The German DFV-Cup 2006 was also the official qualifyer for the status as the national team next year.

Two other 4-way teams of the past managed to win the 8-way competition at German Nationals, as well: "Colibri" in 1986 and "Horschtls" in 1988. However, only one German competitor has the opportunity to repeat this unusual success, and the stage is set for it.

Thomas "Spieli" Spielvogel was a team member of the winning 4-way and 8-way team in 1988, and he is also a member of EADS, last weekend's winner of both events at the DFV-Cup 2006. It will be a time period of 19 years until the same opportunity might come up again next year.

EADS has won the DFV-Cup in both events and will be the German national team in 4-way and 8-way for the 2007 season. However, Thomas Spielvogel and EADS will still have to repeat the effort successfully at the German Nationals 2006 to set a new record.

The main question still has to be answered: what will EADS and Next Generation decide to do next year? EADS has dominated the 4-way competition in Germany for a long time and might be motivated to push the German 8-way level up to a new level. There might not be much room for significant increases of the 4-way scoring level any longer for a weekend team.

This would not be the same situation in 8-way where the "EADS Achter" went from nowhere to a 14.4 average within months. The focus on 8-way would probably offer the potential of catching up and possibly passing the Italian 8-way team Ex3mo, which has recently moved away from the German 8-way team.

The focus on 8-way would probably not even jeopardize EADS' dominating position in 4-way. Thomas Spielvogel could still go after the 17-year repeat record and win both events again at the German Nationals next year. Next Generation would not be able to pass EADS, as long as both teams put their efforts into the 8-way event. Only additional 4-way training by Next Generation would make it more difficult for EADS to win again in 4-way next year.

If the two 4-way teams continue to focus on the 4-way competition, FSC Remscheid will have the opportunity for an 8-way comeback next year. The national 8-way team of the past decade has to re-build the team after the disappointing end of the 2006 season. However, the team members have enough experience for a successful make-over.

EADS has a free choice, as it seems. As long as Next Generation continues to work together with the former rivals, the chances will be even, no matter which event will receive the primary attention. The focus on 8-way will almost guarantee the German 8-way title next year, and it will offer great chances to win the 4-way event, as well.

The focus on 4-way will bring back the competition with Next Generation, and it would still offer the opportunity to win the 8-way event with the same line-up as this year. No matter what EADS will decide, Thomas Spielvogel will have a good chance to become the first German competitor to win both events two times - after 19 years...