posted Nov 19th, 2013 - The great interest of the Sun Path Products NSL News audience in the historic battles of Formation Skydiving competition and videos from the NSL-TV archives is more than enough reason to visit events of the past more frequently. New live coverage will very soon kick back in, as the final preparations for SkyQuest 2013 are in the works.

The previous trips into the past (10 November 2013 and 11 November 2013) covered top teams at the Shamrock Showdown 2005. This time, the Sun Path Products NSL News goes even further back and found videos of the Florida Skydiving League meet in May 2001.

The World Meet 2001 in Spain included the first official female 4way competition as a new Formation Skydiving category. Three female lineups used the FSL competition to get competition practice a few months before the first new FAI medals would be handed out. Two of the teams at Skydive DeLand eventually ended up in medal positions in Spain.

Rank	FSL 2001 - May Meet	Round 1 10-11-B	Round 2 A-14-23	Round 3 H-G-13-7	Round 4 20-24-16	Round 5 F-4-17	Round 6 5-D-Q-J	Total	Av.
1	DeLand Norgies (NO)	18	19	23	17	23	22	122	20.3
2	Sebastian XL (UK)	>17	18	22	17	19	25	118	19.7
3	Optic Nerve (US)	13	14	14 (-2)	14	17	17	89	14.8
4	V-Max (UK)	12	13	17	12	14	16	84	14.0
5	Teiwaz (US)	11	13	16	11	14	18	83	13.8
6	4-Pleasure (SE)	12	12	16	12	13	15	80	13.3
7	Skydive America (CA)	11	12	14	11	13	14	75	12.5
7	Norgie Girls TNT (NO)	11 (-2)	13	16	13	10 (-2)	12	75	12.5

FSL May 2001 - TV	FSL May 2001 - 4way Women

The distance between the three teams in May 2001 in DeLand was significant with nine points after six rounds between V-Max and TNT/Norgie Girls. It was reduced to three points after ten rounds between the same three teams in Spain, and the ranking order was completely reversed.

The first official competition in 4way Women was a thriller, where all four teams had their turn to get to the top position. Norway had the lead until Round 4 before Sweden caught up in Round 5, took the 1st place in Round 6 and still had the lead going into Round 10.

However, US team Synchronicity, with Eliana Rodriguez who would later win a gold medal in the Open Class, gained momentum and won the gold medals with the strongest Round 10. V-Max ended up without a medal after a bad Round 1. This changed in 2003 when the team won gold for the United Kingdom.

World Meet 2001		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	19,E,9	B,8,P,1	6,11,J	21,16,5	10,O,C,3	14,2,D	K,H,7,22	12,Q,A,4	15,N,17	F,M,13,20	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity (US)	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	Norgie Girls/TNT (NO)	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4-Pleasure (SE)	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max (UK)	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1

The May meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2001 did not only feature the world meet preview of the first competition in the female 4way category. The same event also included another showdown between the DeLand Norgies, bronze medalist at the World Meet 1999 in Australia, and Sebastian XL.

The British team was eager to take the bronze medal position in 2001 after finishing one single point behind the Norgies in 1999. The Norgies won by four points in DeLand and defended the bronze medal position successfully by seven points a few months later.

Last not least, the FSL meet also included the epic battle between Optic Nerve, with the late Dr. Joel Shugar, and Teiwaz. The NSL Shugar Cup will once again be handed out to the winner of the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2013 this weekend.