posted May 1st, 2016 - Savolo defended the South African national 4-way championship title successfully last week and will represent the country at the Mondial 2016 later this year.

It will be the second World Championship of Formation Skydiving for Savolo, who took Voodoo's spot for South Africa after the Mondial Dubai 2012. Savolo is carefully preparing for the next attempt of challenging the Top 10 teams at a world championship and at least making the first cut.

Arizona Airspeed's Thomas Hughes has been coaching the South African team, and the national championships last week were the third competition for Savolo this year. There was no serious competition in South Africa for the old and new national 4-way team. However, the first ten outdoor meet rounds define the starting point of the world meet season.

South African Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	N,8,17	H,12,22	4,19,P	K,L,9,11	Q,10,E,5	18,20,D	B,2,15	F,1,7	C,13,3	14,O,A,16	Total	Avg
1	Savolo	17	14	16	15	17	14	17	19	11	15	155	15.5
2	Excession	10	12	12	12	14	10	10	15	10	11	116	11.6
3	Tick Tick Boom	8	8	9	9	7	8	9	11	7	8	84	8.4
4	Celerity	8	8	9	10	8	6	9	10	7	8	83	8.3

It was the complete lineup (Amy Kirtland, Debbie Lamsley, Bailey Edmunds Jnr., Alex Jordaan) who won the national title last week, and who had also competed at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016.

Savolo has a 5th member who is a very well trained alternate. Verve XP member Andre van Heerden is South African and has been with Savolo from the very beginnings of the team, as well. He replaced Alex Jordaan at the World Challenge 2016, where Savolo finished with almost exactly the same average (21.1 - 21.2) compared to the Paraclete meet.

Andre van Heerden had also been in the lineup that attended the team's first world meet in Prostejov 2014. Debbie Lamsley joined Savolo at the end of the 2014 season.

Paraclete Indoor 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	4,19,7	C,18,6	21,2,15	P,B,J,E,5	A,8,M,1	F,20,10	9,Q,14	L,K,G,H,22	N,16,O,12	D,11,3	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights Gold	24	27	23	44	29	24	32	31	25	23	282	28.2
2	Golden Knights Female	23	28	23	41	26	24	29	31	24	27	276	27.6
3	SDC Rhythm XP	21	24	22	44	26	23	30	29	25	24	268	26.8
4	Perris Fury	22	23	23	40	25	23	30	31	23	23	263	26.3
5	Savolo	15	18	18	33	20	20	26	22	20	19	211	21.1

World Challenge 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,2,10	8,F,15	G,14,17	L,H,E,13	M,7,O,1	16,21,11	N,D,4,9	18,20,A	Q,19,3	C,K,B,22	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	27	31	28	39	35	25	38	30	31	36	320	32.0
2	FLY-IN France	FR	24	26	26	34	32	23	33	23	27	28	276	27.6
3	Black Cat	RU	21	26	25	33	31	22	33	25	26	33	275	27.5
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	26	25	31	34	23	33	23	27	31	275	27.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	23	26	22	31	32	23	31	23	27	30	268	26.8
6	Satori XL	UK	23	25	22	30	29	20	33	24	24	28	258	25.8
7	Savolo	ZA	19	19	20	26	28	15	24	17	21	23	212	21.2
8	Tigers	FI	17	20	18	23	25	12	23	16	20	21	195	19.5
9	Amnesya RW4 Team	IT	16	21	16	22	25	17	20	15	19	19	190	19.0
10	Bad Boys	CZ	18	19	18	22	23	14	21	16	15	18	184	18.4
11	Lupus	EE	18	21	18	19	19	13	18	15	17	19	177	17.7
12	Atmosfera G4	PT	17	16	17	21	23	12	18	16	17	19	176	17.6
13	H4O	IE	14	15	16	22	21	16	19	15	19	18	175	17.5

It was in 1997 when a team from South Africa made the Top 10 at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving for the last time. In fact, DeLand Equanimity (Solly Williams, Gary Smith, Robbie Spencer, Fred Whitsitt) won a bronze medal for South Africa in Turkey. After that, even Voodoo never made the first cut. Voodoo's 11th places in Croatia 2004 and Dubai 2012 were the closest calls so far.

Savolo's first attempt in Prostejov 2014 resulted in 12th place with a 13.8 average. The complete 2016 lineup posted a 15.5 average last week, which would have been enough for the 10th place two years ago.

Savolo finished within the Top 10 of all national teams in Bedford. It is still a long way though, as a few Top 10 nations were not represented (Canada, Dubai, Germany, Australia) at the World Challenge. However, South Africa's chances to place in the Top 10 are probably better than ever since 1997...