posted Apr 29th, 2023 - Gary Smith and Kirk Verner were a part of the NSL News countdown towards the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023. They provided their thoughts and expectations during NSL Live Talk on April 11th. Gary Smith was on the way to Qatar, while Kirk Verner was working at Paraclete XP.

The NSL News was hoping to follow up with both in the next conversation after the completion of the event. It was even more difficult to coordinate the three different agendas at that time.

Jeana Billings mentioned during the NSL Live Talk with Arizona Airspeed and XPG4 that she was heading back to Paraclete after the indoor world championship for 8-way training. Kirk Verner had the same schedule, as they both continue with the new XP8 lineup. The 1-week training camp was on the XP8 agenda shortly after the conclusion in Slovakia.

Gary Smith traveled from Qatar to Spain, where he was working with Qatar's new 4-way teams at Skydive Madrid. He said that the Qatar Tigers with coach Andy Grauwels would instantly switch back to outdoor training somewhere else in Spain, as well. Jeremie Rollett and the Qatar Falcons 8-way team had selected a third different location for their training in Spain at the same time.

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NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith

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Gary Smith in Spain found a time window to follow up with more NSL Live Talk for the aftermath of the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, and he may join soon again when Kirk Verner will hopefully be available again to discuss the outcome of the event.

Gary Smith was following the competition action at the Hurricane Factory Tatralandia as much as he could. He said that he did not miss much of the competition by watching the live streaming of the actual competition and additional information on the NSL News.

He has had very close coaching relationships with two of the four medal contenders. NMP PCH HayaBusa won their first 4-way world championship title in 2014 under his guidance, and together they defended it successfully three times, even after changes in the lineup.

The Qatar delegation had already hired Gary Smith to work with their teams while he was still coaching NMP PCH HayaBusa, first in 8-way (Falcons) and then in 4-way (Tigers). Both teams won their first FAI medals under the guidance of Gary Smith and Jeremie Rollett.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,14,3		K,F,22,17		O,7,5		N,2,18		L,P,12,15		M,10,D,H		16,9,C		1,G,J,8		4,Q,21		6,20,A		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		35		39		27	-2	31		38		38		29		28	-1	31		323	32.3
2	France 4-way Open	FR	27		33		38		26	-2	28		33	-3	35		28		30		30		308	30.8
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	26	-1	30		33	-3	26	-3	28		37	-1	37		28		29		30	-1	304	30.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24		29	-1	32	-1	26		25	-3	32		30	-2	26		25	-1	26	-1	275	27.5
5	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	22	-2	28	-1	33		22		25		30	-2	31		24		24	-1	25	-1	264	26.4
6	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	22		26	-1	30		17	-5	24		28	-3	27	-2	23		24		25	-1	246	24.6
7	FLY X	IT	19	-4	27		30	-1	20	-1	21	-1	29	-2	30	-1	23	-1	22	-2	24	-1	245	24.5
8	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	-2	23	-1	29	-1	22		20	-2	30	-2	29		24		20	-3	25		242	24.2
9	Purple Maze	FI	22		26		29		19	-3	21		29		27		25		21	-3	21	-2	240	24.0
9	Papea	ES	23	-1	24	-2	29	-2	19	-5	21	-2	28	-2	28		25		21	-1	22	-2	240	24.0
11	Out of the Blue	NL	22		23	-2	27	-2	21	-1	21		26	-1	26	-1	22	-1	21		22		231	23.1
12	Agera	NO	22		24		29		19	-1	23		25	-2	26	-2	23		19	-2	19	-3	229	22.9
13	Meraki	UK	17	-4	24		26	-3	22		19	-2	27		28		22	-1	23		18	-5	226	22.6
14	INIT-Y	BR	19	-2	20	-3	29		15	-4	19	-1	27		27		23	-1	23		20	-2	222	22.2
15	Realfly Fire	CH	20	-1	21	-2	26	-1	17	-2	20		27		24	-2	23		20	-1	19	-3	217	21.7
16	Bronteroc	HU	20	-1	22	-1	24	-3	18	-1	20	-1	26	-1	25	-1	19	-1	21		18	-2	213	21.3
17	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	21		21	-1	24	-3	16	-2	21		27		25		17	-6	20	-1	20	-1	212	21.2
18	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	20	-1	21	-2	21	-3	16	-2	23		26	-1	25	-1	16	-3	20	-1	20	-1	208	20.8
19	Magic 4	LT	17	-1	19	-2	23		15	-4	20		27		25	-1	18	-3	19		18	-2	201	20.1

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NMP PCH HayaBusa - Qatar Tigers at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, video footage courtesy of FAI/InTime

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Gary Smith is still working for the Qatar delegation. He and former HayaBusa member Luc Verstrepen are now preparing the new generation of Qatar 4-way and 8-way competitors for the time when the current members of the national teams will not continue. while Andy Grauwels (Tigers) and Jeremie Rollett (Falcons) are coaching the national teams in 4-way and 8-way.

Gary Smith explained that it is still a challenging road for the new French 4-way Open Class team, NMP PCH HayaBusa and Qatar Tigers to catch up with Arizona Airspeed. Each competition makes the indoor and outdoor world champions become more familiar and comfortable with the world's top speed, while the opponents first have to find a way how to get there.

The Airspeed members said that there is plenty of time until the next outdoor world championship in Israel 2024, while Gary Smith thinks that it takes quite some time and experiences to get to the same comfort level that Arizona Airspeed has been developing.

The situation in 4-way Women was very similar to 4-way Open where four medal contenders were far ahead of the rest of the field. Gary Smith said that NFTO ended up in 3rd place due to an average performance only through all ten rounds. He still thinks that the British team would be able to outscore France and XPG4 both on a different day. The HF Cubs finished below their potential, as well.

FAI World Championship 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		E,14,3		K,F,22,17		O,7,5		N,2,18		L,P,12,15		M,10,D,H		16,9,C		1,G,J,8		4,Q,21		6,20,A		Total	Avg
1	France 4-way Women	FR	24	-2	30	-1	34	-1	22	-1	27		36		34	-1	27		25		26		285	28.5
2	XPG4	US	25		28	-1	33		25		25	-2	36		29	-3	24	-2	26		25	-2	276	27.6
3	NFTO	UK	25	-1	29		30	-2	20	-3	22	-3	32		34	-1	27	-1	23	-2	26		268	26.8
4	HF Cubs	CZ	22	-2	25	-3	33		23	-1	19	-5	31	-1	33	-1	25	-3	23	-4	24	-2	258	25.8
5	Piteraq	DE	22		19	-2	25		19		20		27		24		20		21		21		218	21.8
6	Airdrops	CH	18	-1	19	-2	23		13	-3	19		24		22	-1	19		21		16	-4	194	19.4
7	Windabona Angels Chicas	ES	18		16	-1	20	-1	16	-1	16	-1	22		16	-4	16	-1	18		17	-1	175	17.5
8	Fire Phoenix	IT	17		17	-1	20		14		14	-2	20	-2	16	-2	14	-1	16		16		164	16.4
9	Kiss My Grips	SK	13	-1	14	-2	19		14		12		19		16	-3	16	-1	16		13	-2	152	15.2

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France - XPG4 - NFTO at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023, video footage courtesy of FAI/InTime

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