posted Aug 21st, 2014 - Round 1 of the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 is scheduled for next Tuesday, August 26th. The latest 2-year cycle comes to its conclusion in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

The Sun Path Products NSL News has launched the preview of the event with several stories, and the polls for the prediction of the winners in the four Formation Skydiving categories have been out there for a while, as well.

The current results of the polls offer no surprises at all, and serious competition for the gold medals are expected only in two of the four events. In fact, even the votes in 4-way Open Class competition have NMP-PCH Hayabusa far ahead of the other three optional top contenders.

Mondial Dubai 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	27	34	27	22	23	23	32	25	40	26	279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	25	34	27	21	23	24	32	27	40	25	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart (FR)	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5
4	Evolution (CA)	22	31	24	17	19	21	28	22	30	22	236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli (RU)	19	29	22	21	21	18	28	20	35	20	233	23.3

The current vote for the Belgian national team makes a lot of sense, according to the facts. NMP-PCH Hayabusa performed on gold medal level two years ago at the Mondial Dubai 2012 and lost only in the very last second after an infringement. Of the five expected top teams (USA - Belgium - France - Canada - Russia) Hayabusa is the only team coming back with the same lineup after two more years of full time training.

Arizona Airspeed, defending world champion, has two new members, and the situation is the same for the French national team Volt'R. Both teams had two years to get ready with the new lineups, while Hayabusa has completed four years with the same lineup for the first time in the team career.

The three Lemay brothers of Evolution from Canada have trained and competed with Katie Woods as a new team member for two years, and Russia's 4-way team Barkli had to replace 4-way and 8-way veteran Oleg Shalamykhin. It does not seem to be a surprise at all that NMP-PCH Hayabusa is so far ahead of all other teams.

The facts and the results of the votes together may indicate that there will not be too much serious competition on the very top level in the 4-way Open Class. However, the Turning Points column for Blue Skies Mag on 11 August 2014 explained carefully that the opposite could also be the case and how high the stakes are in the 4-way Open Class competition.

Arizona Airspeed is famous and has a history in getting to the top scoring level very quickly. It would be a surprise if the reigning world champions would not make it very difficult for the Belgians to win the gold medals.

Insiders are also speaking very highly of the Canadians and even expect them in contention for the gold medals. The three Evolution brothers (Martin, Vincent, Benoit Lemay) are also competing in VFS 4-way. Is it possible to be on medal level in both events at the same time? Will the new Barkli lineup be able to keep close to the other four top teams just by talent and experience? All the answers will come round by round next week in Prostejov...