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Did You Know...

... that the new 8-way battle between Golden Knights and France begins this year?

Arizona Airspeed's turn in 1999
posted Jul 18th, 2015 - The history of modern 8-way Formation Skydiving competition has been dominated by the three FS powerhouses. USA, France and Russia have won all medals since 1985, with two exceptions: Canada in 1985 (bronze) and Italy in 2008 (bronze).

Of the three leading 8-way nations, the US teams have won 11 of the 16 sets of gold medals. The Golden Knights have claimed ten of the 11 US world titles and are by far the most successful 8-way team project in history.

The US Army's 8-way team won all gold medals at world meets between 1987 and 1997 after the Coors took the 1st place for the USA in 1985. The Golden Knights were forced into 2nd place in 1998 by Arizona Airspeed, who won gold for the USA in Australia 1999.

World Meet 2010Rd. 1Rd. 2Rd. 3Rd. 4Rd. 5Rd. 6Rd. 7Rd. 8Rd. 9Rd. 10TotalAvg
Rank8-way3,21,N6,20,9E,G,17,5K,16,212,C,22B,D,M,17,15,J13,L,P,114,18,O10,14,19TotalAvg
1FranceFRNews2519162122251819231520320.3
2Golden KnightsUSNews2317182022272017211119619.6
USA vs. France at World Meets between 1985 and 2014
Russia's turn in 2001 and 2003
Then the Russian national 8-way team had their turn in 2001 and 2003 before Arizona Airspeed won again in 2004. Two years later, France launched a 6-year dominance in 8-way and won the gold medals in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

The Sun Path Products NSL News story on October 29th, 2009, explained how the Golden Knights came back into 8-way business at and after the USPA Nationals 2009. Arizona Airspeed had won the USPA 4-way and 8-way titles and decided to focus only on 4-way.

Golden Knights team captain Brian "BK" Krause was in the middle of re-building a world champion 8-way lineup when Airspeed forwarded the 8-way slot in the US delegation for the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk to the team in 2nd place, the Golden Knights. Six members of the 2010 lineup (Sean Sweeney, Justin Blewitt, Joshua Coleman, Matthew Davidson, Kurt Isenbarger, Larry Miller) are still the foundation of the current lineup, and 2010 videographer Andrew Starr has moved to a slot in front of the camera. Jeshua Stahler completes the lineup, and Sherri Jo Gallagher is filming the team.

World Meet 2012Rd. 1Rd. 2Rd. 3Rd. 4Rd. 5Rd. 6Rd. 7Rd. 8Rd. 9Rd. 10TotalAvg
Rank8-wayN,21,B,514,C,1322,M,2017,H,16J,E,12,47,19,15G,K,8,2O,L,F,P,A10,11,189,Q,D,1TotalAvg
1Golden KnightsUSNews2119272626182028192522922.9
2Aerodyne MaubeugeFRNews2219222327202028192522522.5
France's turn in 2006, 2008 and 2010
The same six Golden Knights who were in the 2009 lineup have been through several battles with the French national teams and know each other very well, while the duel continues.

France won the 8-way gold medals in 2010, even though three of the 2006 and 2008 world champions (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Guillaume Bernier) were pulled out of the world champion 8-way lineup of 2008 and assigned to winning 4-way gold medals for France, together with Mathieu Bernier who competed in both events.

The same Golden Knights 6-way, with Brian Krause and Mike LaRoche, then won the gold medals in 2012 where they defeated an even stronger French 8-way team with six of the 2006 and 2008 world champions (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier, Manu Sarrazin, Bruno Perin) plus 2010 world champions Julien Olek and Thomas Perrin Gachadoat.

World Meet 2014Rd. 1Rd. 2Rd. 3Rd. 4Rd. 5Rd. 6Rd. 7Rd. 8Rd. 9Rd. 10TotalAvg
Rank8-wayE,3,C,5F,G,D,2119,H,2M,4,1O,14,A,P8,J,167,11,1222,20,1517,G,1813,B,9TotalAvg
1Golden KnightsUSNews2422152622211926212021621.6
3VenturiFRNews1916142318131819151617117.1
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Golden Knights' turn in 2012 and 2014
The Golden Knights replaced only Brian Krause with Jeshua Stahler for the next two years and won the gold medals in Prostejov 2014 after a 10-round walk in the park.

France had tried to re-build the 8-way lineup when Julien Degen, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier went back to 4-way competition only, with Manu Sarrazin in the lineup. The new 8-way lineup ended up in 3rd place after a jump-off with Russia's Barkli lineup, and the French 8-way plans for the next two years changed again.

The World Meet 2016 will bring back together the same Golden Knights 6-way of 2010, now with Jeshua Stahler and Andrew Starr, and the complete French 8-way lineup of 2012. Both teams will check each other out this year, as both are registered for the World Cup in Teuge. The 8-way battle is back on, and it begins early...

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