posted Aug 7th, 2007 - The race in the 4-way Open competition is still as exciting and close after six rounds as it was ever since the first round. The three top teams are within two points of each other, and nobody else seems to be able to get close to this trio. Black Cat tied the highscore of 21 points in Round 6. However, the 8-point difference is too much in such an excellent field.

None of the three top contenders was able to settle in first place so far, which has made the competition very interesting round by round. The Sky Panthers had the first lead after Round 1 and were already overtaken by France Maubeuge in Round 2. Then both teams shared the lead after Round 3.

It got even closer when Hayabusa Defence joined France Maubeuge and Sky Panthers in Round 4 for a 3-way tie in the top position. Sky Panthers broke the tie in Round 5 and had the sole top position by one point.

It lasted only for one round. Hayabusa and France each beat the Russian team by three points in Round 6, and the Belgium team has the sole top position for the first time at the end of the first competition day. Congratulations to Belgium.

It is very obvious that there is no reason for Hayabusa to celebrate yet. Four more rounds can shake up the leaderboard again, as it has happened after each round so far. However, Hayabusa Defence has already left a great impression in the skydiving world. The team has shown very clearly that there is no way to the international gold medals this year and next year without a serious word from Belgium.

Solly Williams already commented the action of Round 5. Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle had some additional information that explained the moves on the leaderboard.

Exi's World Cup Corner

Several teams had serious problems with the exit Formation K (Hook) in Round 5. The exit itself and bringing it into the screen for the judges combined for several busts. The Russian team Rosto BBC scored 20 points in time and was close to the highscore for the round but lost the first three points. The Ukrainian team Paraskut had the sad record with four lost points.

We watched Hayabusa's video in Round 5 first and thought we saw a perfect performance. Then came the Sky Panthers and launched an even better and faster jump. The Russian top team completed 26 points in time and even lost the last point for a score of 25 and the first place on the leaderboard. Incredible! France Maubeuge's 23-pointer looked almost too nice compared to the Russian performance.

Exi added that Round 6 in 4-way would still be judged, then two rounds of 8-way would follow. He also mentioned that the live audience finally enjoyed the first viewings of artistic events (Skysurfing) on DZ-TV today. Nobody seemed to have cared that much since he had not heard of any complaints in his position as the official FAI Controller.

Round 6 brought the latest shake-up on the top of the leaderboard. The Sky Panthers were just as much involved as in Round 5, in a different way this time though. The impressive performance in the previous round was followed by a jump that caused a lot of dirty spots on the scoresheet. It seems as if the Sky Panthers were even lucky to save an 18-pointer past the 35-second finish line. Hayabusa and France delivered clean 21-pointers, and the field had a new leader.