posted Feb 4th, 2008 - The NSL News reported on 10 January 2008 that the IPC delegates would re-consider the skydiving disciplines included in the World Air Games 2009 at the January meeting in Paris, France.

The 3rd World Air Games will take place in Turin, Italy, in 2009. The Parachuting events originally included Freestyle, Style & Accuracy, Canopy Formation and Canopy Piloting. However, Formation Skydiving competition came back into the discussion since Turin has a problem with haze in the summer.

Fiona McEachern, Chair of IPC's Formation Skydiving committee, updated the NSL News after the conclusion of the IPC meeting in Paris. She confirmed that the IPC decided to replace the classic Style discipline with Formation Skydiving 4-way competition.

Rumors spread after the meeting that the rotation of the international events with skydiving competition (World Games - World Air Games - World Championship - World Cup) would be changed once again. Truth is that only the qualification for the World Air Games 2009 was discussed and decided upon.

Fiona McEachern explained the qualification rules. Five 4-way teams will compete at the World Air Games 2009 in Italy. The placements and results of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving this year in France will be the deciding factor of who will qualify for the World Air Games.

An interesting aspect of the qualification rules is the fact that teams of both 4-way events have the opportunity to qualify for the Formation Skydiving competition at the World Air Games, teams of the Open Class and teams of IPC's female 4-way category.

The five highest meet averages will count, and the scores of the Open Class teams and of the all-female teams will be compared directly with each other. This part of the new qualification rule seems to indicate that the IPC does not seem to see a reason why all-female teams could have a disadvantage in the race with their male opponents or with mixed teams.

The best teams in IPC's female 4-way category are expected to score above the 20-point average level this year. It will still be a long way to catch up with the Open Class teams at a significantly higher scoring level.

USA, France, Belgium and Russia seem to be too far away for any all-female team to catch up. Norway and Canada will most likely perform significantly higher than 20.0 in August this year. Other teams are approaching the 20-average level, as well. However, the opportunity is there, and five slots will be available.

Fiona McEachern also confirmed that the Formation Skydiving committee is still seriously looking at half-speed judging. The 2008 season will be an important year and hopefully provide the additional feedback and experiences for the committee to make a most educated decision in 2009.

The IPC FS Chair from Australia kindly clarified the new definition of "two dimensional video evidence". The NSL News story on 31 January 2008 had pointed out the new language in the rules.

The request for the new language in the rules for "Performance Requirements" (3.3.5) and "Judging" (5.5), came from the judges who wanted clarification for certain situations. "Two dimensional video evidence" strictly means that whatever is shown on the video is what will be used for judging. There is no room for imagination or interpretation, as Fiona McEachern explained:

"So if it looks like a grip on the freeze frame it should be judged as a grip, even if you suspect that the hand may be above the grip. Same goes for the centrepoints crossing. If they cross on the video - it is an infringement."

The IPC Formation Skydiving committee has some new faces, too. Trude Sviggum from Norway and Sven Ibens from Belgium have joined as members. Phillipe Schorno from France and Sara Sacchet from Italy are new advisors to the committee. Anatoly Zhirov from Russia remains as a member and Jerome David from France as an advisor. Former committee member Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle from Germany has become an advisor, as he wished to be a member of the Canopy Piloting committee.

Trude Sviggum is a current member of the Norwegian national 4-way team in the female category, Fortitudo. Sven Ibens trained and competed with Spa Hayabusa until the end of the 2006 season. Philippe Schorno is a former member of the French TAG team that dominated the 4-way world in the late 70's and early 80's. Sara Sacchet is a very experienced FAI judge and guided Italy into the international 4-way network.

Anatoly Zhirov competed with several Russian national 4-way and 8-way lineups years ago. Jerome David is a multiple 4-way world champion with France Maubeuge and currently the national coach and team manager in France. Dr. Rainer Hoenle trained and competed with the German national 8-way team in 1986 and 1987.

IPC's Formation Skydiving committee is obviously a group of very experienced current and former international competitors and Formation Skydiving experts. The important decisions for the sport seem to be once again in very good hands.