posted Apr 17th, 2024 - Time has come for the start of the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 in China, where the competition draw for the three 4-way events has been posted. The numbers and letters for the ten rounds are identical in 4-way Open, 4-way Women and 4-way VFS.

The 4-way Junior category is not a part of this FAI/ISC event for the first time since 2016 when the Canadian Air Devils won the first 4-way Junior title at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016. The competition in this category was put on a hold after only two countries had registered 4-way Junior teams for the 4th FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championship 2023.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2024
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings
1	Arizona Airspeed	US
2	Aethers	FR
3	Qatar Tigers	QA
4	Echochamber Oceanside	SE
4	Papea	ES
4	Fly X	IT
4	Qatar Lions	QA
4	Crazy Dragons	CZ
4	Out Of The Blue	NL
4	Netunos	BR
11	Só Pressão	BR
11	Qatar Cheetahs	QA
-	China	CN
-	Indonesia	ID
-	Singapore	SG
-	Malaysia	MY
-	Thailand	TH
-	South Korea	KR
-	Singapore 2	SG
-	Indonesia 2	ID
-	Singapore 3	SG

The NSL Power Rankings for the upcoming indoor competition are showing 21 registered teams in 4-way Open and nine teams in 4-way Women. Almost half of the teams on both leaderboards compete for the 1st FAI Asian Indoor Skydiving Championships 2024, which is embedded in the event, seven national teams in 4-way Open, four nationals teams in 4-way Women.

The same event also includes a separate leaderboard for the 3rd FAI European Indoor Skydiving Championships 2024, where six national teams from Europe can win additional FAI medals in 4-way Open. Only NFTO (Great Britain) and Fire Phoenix (Italy) represent European countries in 4-way Women, which is not enough to support an additional leaderboard for this category, as well.

The 4-way Open Class leaderboard is most likely not offering tight competition for the three medal positions. Arizona Airspeed is facing the French opponent Aethers for the second time within five weeks after the Shamrock Showdown, and once again with a different lineup. This time, Nephtys member Pamela Lissajoux replaces Tom Mattoni, as the NSL News reported on April 12th. It would require a big upset to defeat the current Airspeed lineup in their last indoor competition.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2024
Rank	4-way Women Power Rankings
1	NFTO	UK
1	XPG4	US
1	China	CN
4	Fire Phoenix	IT
-	Yangon	MM
-	Thailand	TH
-	Singapore	SG
-	Indonesia	ID
-	China 2	CN

The Qatar Tigers may have hopes to get close to the substituted French Aethers lineup. However, it will probably be just as difficult for the Tigers to threaten Aethers as it is for the French team to get close enough to Arizona Airspeed. Without NMP PCH HayaBusa as a medal contender in China, the three top positions seem to be taken.

The potential lack of suspense on the very top of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard could be compensated for by an exciting battle for the 4th place behind the three medal contenders. Seven teams may have a chance to take the position that is usually occupied by one of the four full-time competitors. The absence of NMP PCH HayaBusa opens up the 4th place for one of the seven teams who will probably complete the Top 10 rankings.

There is actually another and new full-time team on the recent indoor and outdoor leaderboards, the Qatar Lions. They have shown their potential as future successors of the Qatar Tigers, who have been winning FAI medals for their country since 2021. The three 4-way teams from Qatar, Tigers - Lions - Cheetahs, are full-time competitors in their military and police positions, guided ny professional coaches Andy Grauwels (Tigers) Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen (Lions - Cheetahs).

It could already be difficult for the regular top contenders for the positions behind the FAI medals, the unofficial amateur teams, to fend off the Qatar Lions. Recent leaderboards have provided enough information to consider the new generation of Qatar Formation Skydiving competitors as strong opponents for the other best 4-way teams in the world.

Brazil's So Pressao and Qatar Cheetahs may have to wait for one of the Top 10 contenders to slip before they can claim their own Top 10 position. The NSL News records of the nine other Asian teams on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard do not offer enough information for an estimated position.

The situation on the top of the 4-way Women leaderboard is much more promising for an exciting battle. NFTO is in China with their strongest lineup, the reigning indoor world champions in this category at the 4th FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championship 2023, Elizabeth Kennedy, Anna Lea, Vana Parker and Sian Stokes.

U.S. team XPG4, winners at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2023 in Norway will try to carry their outdoor strength to indoor competition with new member Jennifer Davidson, herself 4-way Women and 8-way world champion with the Golden Knights. NFTO are the indoor experts at the moment and may have this advantage. There is one unknown factor though that Solly Williams brought into the 4-way Women game. He has been coaching the Chinese team in this category, and he was recently impressed with the performance leading up to the indoor world cup in their home chamber. There could be a surprise waiting for the two known top contenders. Fire Phoenix is the only other team with a scoring history on the 4-way Women leaderboard.