posted Mar 21st, 2022 - Neither of the two top teams at the German Indoor Nationals 2022 are registered for the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 at the beginning of April in Charleroi, Belgium.

Airbus Oceanside Illertissen had made clear earlier that outdoor training and competition would have the highest priority this year. Jochen Schweizer Arena's Airfource indoor experts represented Germany at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019, after winning the national indoor championships in 2019, while they have no plans to travel to Belgium next month.

There will be no German team on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, however, the NSL News reported on February 15th that two other teams will compete for Germany in 4-way Women at the event, Piteraq and Skynamite.

Germany is the only known country that separates 4-way Open Class and 4-way Women with two different leaderboards at their national indoor and outdoor championships, as FAI/ISC has been doing it since 2000 at outdoor world meets and world cups, and for several years at indoor events, as well. Piteraq actually placed 3rd on the combined AAA Class leaderboard at this year's German indoor nationals, tied with former national outdoor team Paratec-Saar.

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Germany Indoor Nationals 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,17,J	A,O,5,D	9,H,2	10,12,21	E,M,3,C	16,8,K	B,7,P,4	L,15,14	G,19,N,22	18,20,13	Total	Avg
1	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	24	34	29	19	32	23	30	24	23	15	253	25.3
2	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	24	30	27	17	34	20	26	23	23	20	244	24.4
3	Piteraq	DE	22	29	23	17	31	19	26	19	20	17	223	22.3
3	Paratec-Saar	DE	22	29	26	16	26	17	26	22	22	17	223	22.3
5	Skynamite	DE	21	24	25	17	27	20	24	19	21	17	215	21.5
6	Paranodon 4way Illertissen	DE	21	22	21	15	27	15	23	18	17	13	192	19.2
7	EOS	CH	20	24	21	13	24	18	22	13	14	17	186	18.6
8	NeVa FSZ Saar	DE	16	23	20	15	23	17	23	15	17	15	184	18.4
9	Bardarbunga Flystation Munich	DE	16	22	19	15	21	15	21	18	16	16	179	17.9
10	Buena Vista Tunnel Club	DE	14	20	18	14	19	15	19	17	16	12	164	16.4
11	Funknown Spätis	DE	12	14	19	14	21	16	20	17	14	11	158	15.8
11	Feierabendflieger	DE	16	14	18	11	22	15	16	16	16	14	158	15.8
13	Air-W	CH	13	16	19	12	19	13	18	16	13	11	150	15.0
14	Das KO's Saar	DE	13	14	10	11	18	13	17	13	12	11	132	13.2

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Piteraq's 22.3 was a new team record average and promises even more than only the 1st place in Germany's 4-way Women competition and the 3rd place on the 4=way Open Class leaderboard. The NSL News mentioned in the indoor world cup preview on March 15th that the exclusion of the Russian 4-way Women world champions, Bubbles, and the missing British top team NFTO, turn Piteraq into a serious contender for the bronze medals.

However, the results of the German Indoor Nationals indicate an interesting situation within the small German 4-way delegation alone. Skynamite used to be Germany's national indoor and outdoor team in 4-way Women. They represented their country outdoors in Australia 2018 and in Eloy 2019.

Skynamite lost the outdoor title to Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen at the German Outdoor Nationals 2021, who will compete this year at the next outdoor world meet. Skynamite still held the indoor title of 2019 and had confirmed the German top spot in 4-way Women at the 3rd edition of the Fly Challenge 2020. After that event, Piteraq and Skynamite both had enough personnel changes that Thomas Spielvogel, who is in charge of Germany's indoor qualification, ordered a special duel between the two teams to select the official national indoor team in 4-way Women.

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Germany Indoor Nationals 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		1,17,J	A,O,5,D	9,H,2	10,12,21	E,M,3,C	16,8,K	B,7,P,4	L,15,14	G,19,N,22	18,20,13	Total	Avg
1	Piteraq	DE	22	29	23	17	31	19	26	19	20	17	223	22.3
2	Skynamite	DE	21	24	25	17	27	20	24	19	21	17	215	21.5
3	EOS	CH	20	24	21	13	24	18	22	13	14	17	186	18.6
4	Das KO's Saar	DE	13	14	10	11	18	13	17	13	12	11	132	13.2

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Piteraq - Skynamite at the Germany Indoor Nationals 2022

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The special qualification event took place at the beginning of January, and Piteraq eventually took away the last remaining Skynamite title (220 - 198) quite easily. Both teams were still eligible to sign up for the indoor world cup, and they did so, with Piteraq now in the position of a bronze medal contender.

Then came the German Indoor Nationals earlier this month, and Piteraq may have a new home-grown opponent for the bronze medal position in Charleroi. Piteraq finished with a team record average, which was still not enough to keep Skynamite from moving a lot closer than expected.

There was only an 8-point difference between both teams after Round 10, as Skynamite lifted their scoring and performance level from 19.8 in January to 21.5 this month, which is a new team record average, as well.

Skynamite cannot win back the national indoor title until next year and cannot compete at the outdoor world meet this October. However, the new lineup seems to have a serious chance to catch up with Piteraq in Charleroi and take the FAI bronze medals away from the German indoor champions in 4-way Women. This German showdown is coming up in three weeks.

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Qualification Germany		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women	11,12,J	O,9,F,H	8,G,16	A,22,14	Q,21,1	L,M,4,C	6,B,P,15	10,3,20	19,2,7	N,E,17,D	Total	Avg
1	Piteraq	15	43	19	16	19	24	23	17	18	26	220	22.0
2	Skynamite	16	35	17	14	18	21	21	15	19	22	198	19.8

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