posted Sep 10th, 2003 - The 4-way Women's event has turned into the tightest competition of all events at the World Meet. It was close from the very beginning between the Norgie Girls and V-Max. And it has also been a hot race for the third place between U.S.A., France and Italy. Norway seemed to have the control throughout the first five rounds of the meet until the exit Cat+Acc in round six stopped the dominant performance. V-Max could not hang on to the lead in round seven. However, when they lost their first lead of the whole meet and fell back to the second place, it brought back the British energy that had came out in round six. The V-Max performance in round eight was the best one of the whole meet.

In addition to their own first-class skydiving, V-Max also profited from a penalty for the Norgie Girls. The Norwegian team had a good round, as well. However, the key of the Block 20 completion (Piver - Viper) came too early, one tail grip was still an inch away from the Viper. This made the one-point loss a three-point situation with V-Max. Now there are only two rounds left, and Norway is two points behind. Can they manage to come back once again by themselves? Or will they need V-Max help? The British team was in the lead after a great round six where they had to come up with a move. And then they slowed down when they were in the lead. V-Max coach Solly Williams explains: "You can get tight when you are in the lead and think too much about keeping the lead. It is better to continue skydiving as if you are still behind." V-Max is back in the lead. Today's round nine will show how both teams will deal with their situation.

The tight competition for the bronze medal still includes three teams. U.S.A., France and Italy were all performing just as well as the leaders in this round. Italy and France continue to keep the race for the bronze medal open. It surely is not the race that the U.S. team was planning to be a part of. However, it is the bitter reality in France, and Synchronicity at least succeeded in taking possession of the bronze medal position. Italy and France are both one single point behind the defending world champion and are skydiving on the same pace that the U.S. team has gone so far. The surprisingly high performance level of both teams has also become reality in this meet. Synchronicity will have to "come out of their shell" (Shannon's quote) to move further away from France and Italy.