posted Oct 8th, 2023 - The 8-way competition of the USPA Nationals 2023 was not much different on the top of the leaderboard as it was in 4-way Open. The U.S. national teams had no serious opponents, which is including XPG4 in 4-way Women. The winning margin for all three teams has never been of a similar dimension in U.S. history. XPG4 did not even have any opposition in the 4-way Women qualification event.

Arizona Airspeed's 8-way lineup have been winning the USPA silver medals every year since they gave up serious 8-way training and the 4-way lineups focused on their specific event after the USPA Nationals 2009. First the Golden Knights took over the 8-way domination in 2010, followed by Paraclete's XP8 lineups beginning in 2018.

There was still competition for the 8-way top spot at the national championship in 2018 (197 - 189) and 2019 (198 - 174) before the difference grew to the current situation (18 - 59 - 39). Arizona Airspeed's pick-up team with the complete 4-way lineup, plus Eliana Rodriguez, Michelle Karamon, Craig Girard, Kurt Isenbarger and Brendan Haddon on camera, at least managed to reduce the difference from 59 points in 2022 to 39 this year. The situation is not much different for GKXP8 on the international leaderboards. The winning margin of 51 points over the Qatar Falcons at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving was the highest one in the history of FAI outdoor world championships and world cups, and there is no indication that this could change until the next FAI outdoor event in 2023.

USPA Nationals 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	P,F,9,A	Q,15,H,20	6,22,B	12,13,C	N,8,1	E,14,10	3,7,5	19,17,D	J,O,4,21	L,11,C,2	Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	23	24	23	20	22	17	23	19	22	20	213	21.3
2	Airspeed 8	20	20	20	13	18	15	16	16	19	17	174	17.4
3	Prison 9	14	15	15	11	15	12	14	12	16	13	137	13.7
4	Bra Nok XP	12	14	13	12	11	11	13	10	14	10	120	12.0
5	FIGJAM	11	12	12	9	10	9	11	9	10	10	103	10.3
6	Saboteurs & Conspirators	7	7	10	9	10	6	10	8	10	7	84	8.4

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GKXP8 - Prison 9 - Bra Nok at the USPA Nationals 2023 - Video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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The new combination of Paraclete XP8 members and Golden Knights have picked up the pace where the previous lineup left it at the end of the 2022 season. The NSL News introduced the new and current lineup with the update on 2 December 2022. The previous XP8 lineup won the gold medals at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, and GKXP8 launched their time with the 31.3 average at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship, followed by the 22.8 at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving.

Two other U.S. 8-way teams had competed in Norway, and Prison 9 took the 3rd places at the outdoor world cup and again at the USPA Nationals a month later. They finished at both events on exactly the same 13.7 performance level, while GKXP8 scored higher in Norway than on home turf at Skydive Paraclete XP.

It was a very similar outcome for Prison 9 at both events. The Qatar Falcons had taken the 2nd place with their 17.7 average at Skydive Voss, and Arizona Airspeed's 8-way team won the USPA silver medals with 17.4 last month. There was neither a serious challenger for Prison 9 at the outdoor world cup nor at the USPA Nationals. Bra Nok competed at both events, as well. The NSL News reported the preparations of the 8-way team for the trip to Norway on July 19th, where they competed with a different lineup and finished with a 9.5 average in 6th place. The 12.0 average that they posted a month later at the national championship could have been enough to challenge the French Mojo team for the 4th place in Norway.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		3,G,N,19		11,17,L		13,7,C		2,D,O,8		14,K,J,12		9,M,P,H		5,4,18		15,1,10		16,21,E		F,20,6		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	US	27		22		19		19		20		24		24	-1	25	-1	23		25		228	22.8
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	18		18		16		13		16		20		16	-3	20		20		20		177	17.7
3	Prison 9	US	16		14		12	-1	11		12		13	-1	15		16		13		15		137	13.7
4	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		11	-1	12		8	-1	10	-1	14		12		13	-1	13		13	-1	121	12.1
5	Ap8thy	UK	11		9		10		7	-1	10		10		10	-1	11		10		11		99	9.9
6	Bra Nok XP	US	12	-3	6	-2	10		7	-2	9		10	-1	11	-2	11	-1	13		6	-4	95	9.5
7	Deton8	UK	4		2		4		0		0		3		3	-1	2		3		3		24	2.4

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GKXP8 - Prison 9 - Bra Nok at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving - Video footage courtesy of InTime/FAI/ISC

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Bra Nok qualified for the U.S. delegation at the outdoor world cup with the 4th place and the 10.8 average at the USPA Nationals 2022. Seven original members then competed in Norway (Shannon Catalano, Kim Hollander, James Hall, Carl Kallgren, Brandon Kashani, Chris Normandeau, team videographer Joss Martin) where the two XPG4 members (Anna Brunner, Brenn Richards) focused only on their prime event in 4-way Women. SDMW NEXT member Katie Healy and Matthew Hunt filled the open slots.

Almost the complete original lineup was back at this year's USPA Nationals, where only Christine Bruchac replaced Shannon Catalano. The 12.0 average at Skydive Paraclete XP won again the 4th place, behind GKXP8, Arizona Airspeed and Prison 9.

Prison 9 finished with the team's highest meet average since SDC Rhythm XP members Doug Barron and Andrew Happick launched their 8-way project in 2016. They trained and competed together in 4-way and 8-way until they won the 4-way silver medals at the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021. Andrew Happick was then selected for the new XP8 lineup, while Doug Barron recruited a new 4-way lineup for SDC Rhythm XP and continued with the 8-way project. The new and current Prison 9 lineup, including three SDC Rhythm XP members (Doug Barron, Keith Conner, Chris Webb) trained and competed without any personnel changes this year, except for the camera slot, posted their 8-way record average in Norway, then confirmed it exactly at the USPA Nationals.