posted Aug 13th, 2019 - The UK Nationals are around the corner at the end of the month. The major outdoor event for the British teams will then be followed by the FAI Outdoor World Cup in October, where the British Parachute Association (BPA) will be present with a large delegation.

The British delegation for FAI world meets or world cups consists of the teams who qualified at the national championships of the previous year. The upcoming event includes the qualification for the FAI Outdoor World Meet in Tanay 2020, while the placements at the UK Nationals 2018 determined the teams in the British delegation for the world cup in October.

FAI rules allow delegations to register four teams per Formation Skydiving category. NFTO won the national championships last year, and Satori XL have not come back to 4-way competition this year so far, after representing Great Britain in the 4-way Open Class competition of the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018.

Chimera is ready to challenge NFTO for the top spot in Great Britain and have completed their travel plans to Arizona in October. Eros finished closely behind Chimera last year and have confirmed their attendance at the world cup, as well. Antimatter have not posted any scores this year, which left the 4th slot in the British delegation open for Pajama Pumas, as the NSL News reported on June 11th.

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UK Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,C,12,14	7,Q,K,G	B,J,2,A	15,D,4	L,13,M,F	6,8,O	11,18,N	9,10,5	1,17,22	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	19	27	27	16	25	19	16	19	17	185	20.6
2	Satori XL	18	27	25	18	25	18	17	19	17	184	20.4
3	Chimera	14	20	19	13	22	17	15	18	14	152	16.9
4	Eros	16	21	18	15	20	15	14	15	13	147	16.3
5	Antimatter	13	18	18	14	21	16	12	15	13	140	15.6
6	Pajama Pumas	12	17	18	11	17	17	12	13	10	127	14.1
7	Quadriga	12	13	16	11	15	11	10	10	11	109	12.1
8	Tyanno4us Rex	8	10	13	11	13	11	9	11	8	94	10.4
9	DWS	7	14	13	11	12	10	9	8	8	92	10.2
Rank	AA Class	E,C,14	7,Q,K	G,B,J,2	A,15,D	4,L,13	M,F,6	8,O,11	18,N,9	1,22	Total	Avg
1	Alola	11	11	14	11	10	17	9	10	-	93	11.6
2	Draconis	11	11	14	10	8	18	9	9	-	90	11.3
3	Boobasaurus Rex	10	14	13	8	9	11	10	11	-	86	10.8
4	Missing Blox	10	11	12	11	9	13	7	11	-	84	10.5

Yellow: British 4-way Open Class teams for the FAI World Cup 2019

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There is a 5th team in the 4-way delegation. The British Parachute Association has established the tradition that the winner of the AA Class competition at the national championships gets an invitation to join the British 4-way delegation for the FAI event in the following year.

Alola won the AA Class title last year and will compete in Eloy, as well. FAI events include only the AAA Class dive pool, except for the 4-way Junior competition with the 16 AA Class blocks and all random formations.

Alola left the AA Class behind after winning last year's national championship in this category and are ready to post the team's first AAA Class scores, first at the UK Nationals, then at the FAI World Cup.

Last year's four British AAA Class teams of this year's 4-way delegation all competed at the World Challenge 2019, while Alola have not posted any AAA Class scores this year. However, the team has taken on the new dive pool with the help of NFTO member Siân Stokes and will collect the first AAA Class meet experiences at the UK Nationals before competing with the British delegation at the world cup.

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World Challenge 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,H,Q,5	19,16,E	L,3,2	B,A,22,D	J,14,8	11,M,G,1	15,21,18	7,O,4	C,N,K,13	20,6,F	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	52	32	28	39	29	32	28	34	42	31	347	34.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	48	30	27	37	27	31	25	33	36	28	322	32.2
3	IFS-Moscow	RU	44	29	26	33	27	29	23	33	34	31	309	30.9
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	44	29	26	35	24	29	24	31	32	31	305	30.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	46	28	24	32	25	29	24	31	35	27	301	30.1
6	Airheads	CH	44	28	22	36	24	27	19	29	33	26	288	28.8
7	Weembi Unicorns	FR	43	28	23	32	23	28	19	28	33	26	283	28.3
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	40	26	24	33	24	25	19	25	28	26	270	27.0
9	NFTO	UK	35	25	24	29	24	25	20	27	30	24	263	26.3
10	Odin Parachute Systems	FR	35	28	21	29	22	25	20	25	29	25	259	25.9
10	Chimera	UK	36	24	21	27	23	27	21	25	29	26	259	25.9
12	ACM Weembi	UK	38	22	24	28	21	24	21	25	29	26	258	25.8
13	Gavroche Weembi	FR	38	27	23	26	21	25	14	27	28	23	252	25.2
14	Tenanine	MR	37	25	22	22	20	24	19	26	29	22	246	24.6
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	36	19	18	26	20	22	19	25	21	21	227	22.7
16	Eros	UK	27	21	22	24	19	23	17	24	27	21	225	22.5
17	Jazz Republic	ZA	29	22	18	23	19	20	18	24	23	22	218	21.8
18	Falco	BE	22	20	17	19	20	20	17	24	26	19	204	20.4
19	Blackjack	FI	24	20	17	23	19	19	15	21	22	18	198	19.8
20	Pajama Pumas	UK	27	21	16	21	19	19	16	21	20	17	197	19.7
21	Tempo	FI	26	18	18	23	18	19	15	21	20	18	196	19.6
22	Aladeen	HU	28	21	19	16	16	19	13	19	18	20	189	18.9
23	Alakran	ES	26	18	12	18	17	21	17	23	18	18	188	18.8
24	FlyPonots	FR	26	19	17	21	16	18	10	18	18	18	181	18.1
25	Nefertit	UK	24	18	16	18	15	16	13	20	17	16	173	17.3
26	Windobona Angels	ES	20	16	14	18	16	17	15	21	17	18	172	17.2
27	Ayro	BE	16	18	15	18	17	15	14	19	19	17	168	16.8
28	Koloncok	HU	21	16	13	19	14	16	15	19	18	16	167	16.7
29	Stardust	BE	21	15	12	17	16	16	11	18	17	13	156	15.6
30	Nova	CH	21	14	12	16	13	13	11	17	19	16	152	15.2
31	Barak	ES	25	19	17	21	16	19	14	19	0	0	150	15.0
32	Wood Fella’s	UK	17	13	10	16	13	13	11	17	19	13	142	14.2
33	Draconis	UK	16	13	12	13	12	15	10	15	13	15	134	13.4
34	Free Burds	IE	16	10	11	11	13	12	11	15	15	13	127	12.7

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NFTO - Chimera - Eros - Pajama Pumas at the World Challenge 2019

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It is apparently not quite clear at this point in time, for which FAI event Alola will be registered by the British Parachute Association. The all-female team qualify for the British 4-way delegation as last year's AA Class winner, while they are also eligible for the 4-way Women competition at the world cup.

The national delegations have the option to send their all-female teams either into the 4-way Open Class competition, or sign them up in 4-way Women. It would not be the first time that an all-female team competes in the 4-way Open Class. The French national team in 4-way Women finished in 5th place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard of the FAI World Cup 2012.

NFTO were the best 4-way Open Class and 4-way Women team at last year's national championship, and the British Parachute Association could register the team for the 4-way Open Class competition in Eloy, which would leave space for Alola only on the 4-way Women leaderboard. There is also the option that both teams compete in 4-way Women.

NFTO will not be able to get to the FAI medal positions in 4-way Open, while they seem to be very close to the French top spot in 4-way Women. The British Parachute Association has interesting options...