posted Aug 30th, 2009 - Things have become one step more serious today at the FAI World Cup 2009. The scores of the World Cup 2007 have now been replaced with the new leaderboard for the upcoming event in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

There are no scores posted yet, as the competition begins on Tuesday morning. However, all registered teams already have their spot on the new leaderboard, and the names of all lineups have been updated on the team pages. New and up-to-date photos will be added soon.

The vast majority of the 4-way teams did not need a new team page. There is hardly a team that has not attended a competition earlier this year. Two team pages needed immediate attention though. The new official Norwegian national team Nexus already posted the score for one round at an earlier meet in Norway that was battered by bad weather.

The NSL News was still not in possession of a team photo. Nexus made a few training jumps today and kindly lined up for the NSL News at the end of the day.

Ellen Burchardt, Yngve Haugom, Marianne Nordlund, Kristine Willadsen and Børre Christian Mørch on camera are planning to add more training jumps tomorrow.

It was also time to update Sinapsi's team page with a new photo. Italy's bronze medalist of the World Meet 2006 in Germany formed the new lineup (Pete Allum - Tail, Steve Hamilton - Center Outside, Luca Marchioro - Center Inside, Livio Piccolo - Point) already in 2008. The NSL News had a team photo of 2008 on Sinapsi's Italian page, which has now been replaced with a new one taken today.

The 2008 and 2009 Sinapsi lineup made approx. 200 training jumps this year and becomes automatically one of the top contenders for medals at the World Cup 2009. Arianna de Benedetti, Sinapsi bronze medalist of 2006, is also competing in Prostejov. She is a member of the Vertigo lineup, together with Antonio Rubeca, Sara Mercati, Marco Mancini and Francesco Borgogni on camera.

The busiest teams of the 2009 season at the World Cup are Phobia (UK), Evolution (Sweden), Cross Road (Russia) and the Bad Boys (Czech Republic). Each of these four teams will compete at its 5th competition this week.

The Bad Boys are the most improved team at the same time. The chart of the scoring progression over the five years since the team was founded in 2005 shows a consistent upswing. This week's challenge for the Bad Boys is to beat the team's 14.9 average posted this month at the national championship.

There is an interesting situation in the female 4-way category where the French bronze medalist of 2008, Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge, will probably only compete with themselves and with remote observers from the USA and the United Kingdom. However, there is a guaranteed battle waiting, probably for the silver medals.

The two female lineups from Germany, Chicas and Incognito Leutkirch, fought it out with each other already twice this year and are driving each other to new heights. The new battle will once again feature the Chicas' skills and experiences versus Incognito's young talent and energy.

Most of the logistics are in place now, and the NSL News will probably have the opportunity to provide the first videos and more updates from the competition site tomorrow.