posted Apr 24th, 2024 - The NSL News took a first closer look at the combined leaderboard of the 4-way Open and 4-way Women events at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 after the second day, which ended after Round 8. The 4-way events apply the same competition draw, which allows a direct comparison of the scores.

Main reason at that point in time was the 3rd place of China's team in 4-way Women on the combined leaderboard after Round 8. The related update pointed out that the Qatar Tigers were only three points behind China's 4-way Women lineup and still had the chance to change the situation in the last two rounds.

However, China won Round 9 by two points over the Tigers, tied them in Round 10 after a point deduction, and secured the 3rd place on the combined leaderboard. China could not take away the 4-way Open Class bronze medals from the Tigers who eventually moved up from the 4th place at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2023 to the 3rd place in the absence of NMP PCH HayaBusa. The 3rd place of a 4-way Women team on the combined leaderboard was the first time at an indoor competition. However, Echochamber member Martin Baecklin pointed out that another 4-way Women team had accomplished the same at an outdoor world championship: "The French Weembi Girls were right behind Hayabusa and Airspeed in 3rd place overall back in Australia 2018."

FAI Indoor World Cup 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		8,C,7		K,G,12,B		6,4,H		20,1,5		15,10,A		F,O,P,21		19,M,9		J,13,E,22		16,3,N		L,Q,D,18		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	35		36	-2	32		29		29		44		39		29		31		39		343	34.3
2	Aethers	FR	32	-1	33		31		27		26		40	-2	36		28	-1	30		36	-1	319	31.9
3	China	CN	27	-4	33	-1	31		26	-1	21	-3	44		32	-3	29		29		33	-1	305	30.5
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	29	-1	32	-1	25	-3	25		25	-1	41		35		28		27		33		300	30.0
5	NFTO	UK	26		27	-1	25	-1	25		23		36	-3	32	-1	27		23	-2	32		276	27.6
6	XPG4	US	29		28	-2	26		25		24		39		31	-1	25	-1	23	-3	26	-3	276	27.6
7	Papea	ES	30		28		25		24	-1	23	-2	38	-1	33		25	-1	22	-1	26	-3	274	27.4
8	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	24	-2	30	-2	27		25		22	-1	37		29	-3	24		25		28	-1	271	27.1
9	China	CN	25		27		26		24		22		33	-4	29	-2	25	-1	20	-3	30		261	26.1
10	Fly X	IT	27	-1	26	-2	23	-2	22		22	-1	37	-2	30	-1	24		21	-3	27	-2	259	25.9
11	Qatar Lions	QA	23	-2	22	-5	26		21	-1	19	-2	35	-2	30		25		25		26	-3	252	25.2
12	Crazy Dragons	CZ	24	-1	24	-2	21	-2	20	-1	18	-3	34		30		23		21	-1	26	-2	241	24.1
13	China 2	CN	25	-2	30		25	-1	19	-2	14	-4	34		27	-1	19	-4	20	-1	19	-5	232	23.2
14	Netunos	BR	19	-2	27		21	-2	18	-2	16	-2	30	-5	29	-1	23		21	-1	27	-1	231	23.1
15	Out Of The Blue	NL	23	-3	23		19	-2	19	-2	17	-1	34		27		21		22		22	-3	227	22.7
16	Indonesia	ID	22	-4	23	-5	21	-3	18	-4	18	-1	30	-2	25	-1	20	-1	16	-5	26		219	21.9
17	Indonesia	ID	23	-3	21	-6	15	-7	15	-4	16	-2	30	-3	24	-1	19	-2	18	-3	21	-3	202	20.2
18	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	21		19	-2	20	-1	19		13	-3	27	-2	25	-1	22		14	-4	19	-1	199	19.9
19	Só Pressão	BR	18	-2	22	-1	17	-1	18		13	-3	25	-5	22	-2	19	-1	19		23		196	19.6
20	Singapore	SG	19		13		19		13		15		26	-4	16	-5	17	-1	17	-1	18		173	17.3
21	Fire Phoenix	IT	16	-5	15	-4	16	-1	14		14	-1	23	-2	19	-2	17	-3	13	-2	19		166	16.6
22	South Korea	KR	14		18		18		10		14		22	-3	18		16		16		16		162	16.2
23	Singapore	SG	17		15	-3	16	-1	14		11	-2	23	-4	16	-3	15		13	-1	17	-1	157	15.7
24	Thailand	TH	12		15		14		11		12		22		18		14		14		12		144	14.4
25	Thailand	TH	11	-8	15	-3	15	-3	11	-2	11	-2	20	-5	17	-2	13	-3	15	-1	14	-1	142	14.2
26	Yangon	MM	8	-11	15	-2	16		10	-3	12	-1	23	-1	16	-3	15		10	-5	15		140	14.0
27	Indonesia 2	ID	12		11		13		13		11		20	-1	19		13		11		15		138	13.8
28	Singapore 2	SG	10		12		12		5		9		18	-5	18		13		13		11		121	12.1
29	Singapore 3	SG	6		10		13		8		9		10	-9	12		8		11		8		95	9.5
30	Malaysia	MY	2		2		1		3		3		7	-2	5		4		6		3		36	3.6

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Arizona Airspeed - France Aethers - China Women at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024

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Martin Baecklin's Swedish 4-way Open Class team had competed at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018 in Australia without him, and they ended up in 6th place on the combined leaderboard, due to the 25.7 average of the French 4-way Women team who claimed the 3rd place, while winning easily in their own category.

As for China last week, there was no serious opposition for Weembi Girls in 4-way Women at the outdoor world championship in Australia 2018, where they won by 55 points over NFTO in 2nd place. China won the 4-way Women competition by 29 points over NFTO and XPG4 both.

The French Weembi Girls of 2018 even outscored their national team in 4-way Open by six points (257 - 251). France had current Aethers member Damien Gouriou in the 4-way Open Class lineup of 2018 (Laurence Herve, Kevin Mansion, Charles Rommel, David Ricard on camera).

China Women were not able to outscore the French 4-way Open Class lineup at last week's indoor competition, while Arizona Airspeed were once again out of reach for any other team, with a 24-point lead after Round 10 and the highscores in all ten rounds. China tied two of the Airspeed scores in Round 6 and Round 8, while the French Weembi Girls even outscored NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed both in Round 5 in Australia 2018.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	29	-1	20		24		22		25		56	-1	23		18	-2	22		18	-1	257	25.7
4	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
6	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
7	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
8	NFTO	UK	20	-3	15		22	-1	19		18		38	-2	18		17		19		16		202	20.2
9	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
9	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1
11	Evolution	CA	21	-1	13	-2	22		18	-1	15	-3	43	-2	15	-5	15	-2	19		15		196	19.6
12	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	-1	14	-1	17	-5	17		16	-1	45	-1	15	-3	14	-1	18	-1	15		192	19.2
13	Tanay Wolves	RU	22		14		18	-1	17		16	-2	35	-3	17	-3	14	-1	18	-1	14		185	18.5
14	Rotor Out	AU	21	-1	13	-1	18	-2	14	-1	16	-1	32	-3	13	-7	13	-1	18		14		172	17.2
15	Team X	SE	17	-3	10	-3	18		16		14		36	-3	15	-3	13		18		12	-1	169	16.9
16	Phoenix XP	US	17	-2	12		17		14		15	-1	37		16	-1	12	-2	14	-2	13		167	16.7
16	Boomerang Betty	AU	19	-1	11	-1	18		14		15		32	-2	15		13		17		13		167	16.7
18	CTR Optimum	BR	19		10		17	-1	15		13	-1	31		14		14		18		13		164	16.4
19	Fuzion Voltige	CA	17	-1	9	-2	18		14		15	-1	34	-2	14	-2	13	-2	14	-2	13		161	16.1
20	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	13		18		13	-1	13		28	-3	14	-1	14	-1	13	-2	12		155	15.5
21	Skynamite	DE	19		12		16	-1	14		14	-1	27	-1	13	-3	12	-1	15		12	-1	154	15.4
22	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	16	-1	11	-1	13	-3	14		15	-1	28	-2	15	-1	15		14	-2	12	-1	153	15.3
23	Meraki	ZA	14	-3	11		14		14		13		28	-1	12	-1	12		14		12		144	14.4
24	Method	NZ	10	-4	9		12		11		10		21		7	-3	11		10	-1	11		112	11.2
25	Paraguay	PY	10	-1	8		10	-1	7	-2	9		17		7	-4	8	-1	10		8	-1	94	9.4
26	Cyprus	CY	13	-1	8		9	-2	8		7	-2	19	-1	7		8		9		5	-2	93	9.3

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NMP PCH HayaBusa - Arizona Airspeed - Weembi Girls at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018

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There was a direct connection between the two events where a 4-way Women team finished in 3rd place on the combined AAA Class leaderboard. The connection is once again Pamela Lissajoux, who is actually a current member of the French national team in 4-way Women.

The NSL News reported on April 12th that Pamela Lissajoux would substitute for the Aethers in the French 4-way Open Class lineup, as outside center Tom Mattoni was not ready to go back into 4-way action after his injury right before the Shamrock Showdown 2024 at Skydive DeLand in March.

Her own team, the Nephtys, had no plans for the indoor world cup in China, and Mathieu Bernier, who had substituted for Aethers in DeLand, asked Pamela Lissajoux to help out this time. She did so and defended the 2nd place for France in 4-way Open over Qatar Tigers and did not allow China's 4-way Women team to place even higher on the combined leaderboard. The connection with the 2018 event comes with the fact that Pamela Lissajoux was also in the lineup of the French Weembi Girls (Clementine Le Bohec, Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout, Michel Laynaud on camera) who placed 3rd on the combined outdoor leaderboard in Australia and even outscored NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed in Round 5. Pamela Lissajoux was also the only female 4-way competitor who outscored the Chinese 4-way Women team on their home turf.