posted Sep 25th, 2007 - The NSL News has not completed yet the coverage of the German Nationals 2007. The story on September 14 indicated that the members of the 4-team FSC Eisenach (Markus Bastuck, Dieter Schwarz, Dr. Jörn Thiele, Max Thiele and Alexander Hau on camera) were on their way to win the 4-way and 8-way titles both.

FSC Eisenach had won the 4-way event with an 18.9 average, and the EADS line-up (FSC Eisenach plus Jens Goennemann, Thomas Spielvogel, Olaf Biedermann, Goran Meyer) also took the 8-way title with a 15.3 average and without much serious competition. The defending champion, FSC Remscheid, ended up in 2nd place with a 12.4 average.

FSC Eisenach's double-gold feature in Germany has been accomplished, but where does this leave the German national teams on the international stage? FSC Eisenach and EADS plan to continue with the 8-way project throughout the World Meet 2008 in France. FSC Eisenach will also represent Germany in 4-way.

The 4-way and 8-way line-ups both already had their first experiences with the double duties at the FAI World Cup 2007. The 4-way team finished in 7th place with a 19.7 average, and the 8-way team ended up in 4th place with a 15.0 average.

The NSL News had introduced the German 4-way team with the story on April 24 and followed up on July 8 after the team had posted a 20.3 average at the June meet of the Deutsche Sky Liga.

The story on April 24 included a brief evaluation of the international 8-way competition and the potential chances of an underdog to get into contention for a medal position. The new line-up of the German 8-way team EADS seemed to have a promising potential, with the best two German 4-way teams in history joining forces in 8-way.

The situation at the end of the 2007 season has apparently slowed down the German momentum in 4-way and in 8-way. The focus on both events might have made it difficult for both teams to show great progression in either of the two Formation Skydiving events.

FSC Eisenach has pretty much remained on the same scoring level (20.3 - 18.1 - 19.7 - 18.9) throughout the whole 2007 season, and the EADS 8-way line-up has not moved closer to the Italian 8-way team Ex3mo. EADS posted a 15.0 average at the FAI World Cup 2007 where Italy finished in 3rd place with a 15.8 average.

Ex3mo followed up with a 16.8 average at the Italian Nationals 2007 at the end of August, while EADS posted a 15.3 average at the German Nationals 2007 two weeks later. The road to 8-way medals does not only have the three 8-way powerhouses (France, USA, Russia) as the major obstacles on the way. Italy's 8-way team Ex3mo has become a very serious contender.

Germany's former national 8-way team, FSC Remscheid, still beat the Italian team in a tough battle (14.0 - 13.9) for the 4th place at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia. FSC Remscheid trained and competed only in 8-way, while EADS was the German national 4-way team at the same time. The positions were already reversed at the World Meet 2006 in Germany (14.8 - 14.2 for Italy) where FSC Remscheid was still competing for Germany.

The new German EADS 8-way line-up was motivated to close the gap to Italy and eventually re-capture the 4th place while moving closer to the medal positions. However, the current situation does not indicate a German momentum in that direction, and the situation will not become easier between now and the World Meet 2008 in France.

Italy's 8-way team Ex3mo focuses only on the 8-way event, and the team has already moved up from a 13.9 average in 2004 to a 16.8 average this September. Italy will send a separate 4-way team to the world meet next year.

Germany has improved the 8-way average from 14.0 in 2004 to 15.3 in September 2007, and the distance to Italy has obviously been increased. The young and talented 4-way line-up of FSC Eisenach has also not moved any closer to the top of the 4-way world this year. There seems to be a lot of work ahead of the German teams.

EADS' 8-way coach of 2007, Italian Marco Arrigo, former Sinapsi PD member, should be able to explain to the EADS line-up why Italy seems to have a stronger progression. He has now been an active member of the Ex3mo line-up for a few years, while he is working with the German team.

The 2007 season is over for many teams, and the evaluation of the passed year will be followed by plans for the 2008 season. The NSL News will follow up with as much new information from as many teams as possible during the off-season.