posted Nov 11th, 2010 - The NSL-TV coverage of the 8-way competition at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 now concludes with the meet videos of the missing Rounds 9 and 10.

It doesn't mean that the NSL News will be done looking at the leaderboard, the results and the stories of the meet. In fact, updates of the situation in 8-way after Menzelinsk will follow very soon.

The new French national coach, Jeremie Rollett, who is the reigning 4-way world champion and 8-way world champion of 2006 and 2008 and has been assigned to Jérôme David's position, just informed the NSL News that he has finalized the French national lineups for the new 2-year cycle of 2011 and 2012. The NSL News will follow up very soon with this lineup information.

World Meet 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open Class	3,21,N	6,20,9	E,G,17,5	K,16,2	12,C,22	B,D,M,1	7,15,J	13,L,P,11	4,18,O	10,14,19	Total	Avg
1	France	25	19(-1)	16(-1)	21	22	25(-2)	18	19	23	15	203	20.3
2	USA	23	17	18	20	22	27	20	17(-2)	21	11(-3)	196	19.6
3	Russia	20(-2)	19	16	17(-2)	22	20(-2)	18(-2)	19	20(-2)	14(-1)	185	18.5
4	Norway	8	5(-3)	6	7(-1)	7	7	8	9	10	5	72	7.2
5	Kazakhstan	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	4	0.4

The videos of Round 9 and 10 in Menzelinsk show the drama of the 8-way competition at the closing time of this event. France had a good start into the meet winning the first two rounds by two points each. However, the Golden Knights eventually caught up and even took a 1-point lead in Round 7. The 2-point deduction in Round 8 put the US team back behind France by one point.

The 8-way competition was obviously wide open at this point in time, as a 1-point difference can change the lead at any time. The winning round for France was actually Round 9, which is now featured on NSL-TV. France added two points to the lead after great and clean performances by both top contenders.

The new French 3-point lead secured the gold medal position and put all pressure on the Golden Knights for the last round. Neither team had won a round by more than two points so far, and the US team had to win Round 10 by three points to force France into a jumpoff round. This had to be done in the round with the slowest sequence of the competition.

Rounds 9 and 10 in 8-way at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk

It was an impossible task. The Golden Knights had to deliver a perfect round and could only hope for a meltdown of the French 8-way machine. It didn't turn out that way, as it could not be expected. The experienced French team was just cruising safely through the slow sequence to save the lead, while the Golden Knights lost three points during the attempt to turn it around in the last minute.

The Russian Barkli 8-way lineup, with three Sky Panthers, showed once again that the team was actually able to keep up with France and USA as of speed and technique. Only the 11 point deductions (France -4, USA -5) and one bad round (6) did not allow Russia to get closer to the top positions.

Disregarding all penalties in the other nine rounds Russia would have ended up tied with the US team. Even after penalties, Russia won the last four rounds in this duel after the devastating Round 6 by two points (71 - 69). However, the final leaderboard after Round 10 is the only thing that eventually counts.

By the way: Kazakhstan was the cleanest 8-way team of the meet with no point deductions at all and scored a point in each of the last three rounds. The pickup team in Menzelinsk even built the Donut in Round 10 successfully and then said good bye to the audience in a special way. Watch the video.