posted Apr 12th, 2015 - The Sun Path Products NSL News mentioned on a regular basis during the live streaming coverage of the World Challenge 2015 that there was not much serious competition for the Golden Knights in 4-way Women.

Team members and coach Solly Williams had their eyes mostly on the leaderboard of the AAA/Open Class and sometimes even on the live performance of the French team Weembi Lille in the flying chamber. Two members of the French Girls (Sophia Pecout, Christine Malnis), 2014 world champions in 4-way Women, competed in the AAA/Open Class and with the same competition draw.

However, it was not only the performance of the two French Girls that was under observation of the Golden Knights delegation. The scores on the AAA/Open Class leaderboard were the target, as well.

World Challenge 2015			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		15,K,E,F	11,22,A	16,H,M,19	3,10,D	17,18,P	4,12,O	5,N,L,G	14,B,C,20	2,1,21	J,Q,6,13	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	40	24	32	25	29	26	38	30	24	33	301	30.1
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	36	24	28	22	28	23	34	26	23	29	273	27.3
3	Weembi Lille	FR	36	20	31	25	23	23	31	29	21	29	268	26.8
4	Gavroche	FR	34	23	30	23	25	23	32	27	22	24	263	26.3
5	Golden Knights	US	34	21	28	21	25	22	33	27	23	28	262	26.2

Only one all-female lineup ever scored higher than the Golden Knights did at the World Challenge 2015. Deep Blue, French world champions in 4-way Women at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, finished with a 27.2 average in 7th place at the World Challenge 2010 on the Open Class leaderboard, a year before host Paul Mayer added a separate category for 4-way Women.

The 27.2 average by Sophie Deremaux, Bérangère Duplouy, Françoise Simons-Hamouchi and Amélie Tirman was boosted by a Super Sequence and is still standing as the highest meet average posted by a female lineup. The Golden Knights were also looking closely at this record average...

UK Team Elan placed better in 2007. Emma Beyer, Julia Foxwell, Tarnya Hollis and Amanda Kemp finished in 6th place with a 20.3 average. Only one team was able so far to match the 5th place that the Golden Knights accomplished on the combined leaderboard of the World Challenge 2015.

World Challenge 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	T.	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	17,18,19	5,16,6	4,N,13	P,F,12,M	J,D,10,K	G,3,O,C	H,22,14	20,2,8	1,21,11	15,7,L	T.	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	27	29	28	36	32	36	25	21	24	33	291	29.1
2	XL	25	25	21	34	28	30	23	21	23	33	263	26.3
3	VoltR (FR)	26	24	23	33	28	32	23	22	21	31	262	26.2
4	Gavroches (FR)	23	25	24	33	31	31	20	18	21	28	254	25.4
5	Aerodyne French Girls (FR)	23	25	19	32	29	29	22	19	21	28	247	24.7
6	SportLoto (RU)	24	26	20	30	21	30	24	21	20	27	243	24.3
7	Golden Knights (US)	21	21	21	31	28	28	22	20	21	28	241	24.1

The 2014 lineup of the French Girls (Laurence Herve, Perrine Sanchez, Sophia Pecout, Christine Malnis) finished in 5th place last year and were six points ahead of the Golden Knights in 7th place.

The difference between two of the French Girls with Weembi Lille and the Golden Knights was exactly the same at the World Challenge 2015, however, the Golden Knights outscored SportLoto this year and ended up only one single point behind Gavroche, who were 13 points ahead last year.

The complete French Girls lineup had trained in Dubai until shortly before the World Challenge and did not make the trip to Bedford with the whole team. It will still be a little while until Golden Knights and the new French Girls will face each other directly for the first time, most likely at the World Cup 2015 in Teuge, Netherlands.