posted Aug 17th, 2015 - The Sun Path Products NSL News coverage of last week's events begins with the French Nationals 2015.

Ten rounds were on the French agenda at the competition in Vichy, and only four were eventually completed. It was a good start with three rounds on Thursday, however, the weather and meet conditions then allowed only one more round for the 4-way teams, while the French 8-way teams completed a total of five rounds.

The French national teams in 4-way Open and 8-way did not compete in Vichy, even though several members once again joined the lineups that they have been jumping with at the two Coupe de France events earlier this year.

French Nationals 2015		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class	18,20,P	4,2,8	A,M,21,16	E,19,L,11	Total	Avg
1	French Girls	20	17	21	23	81	20.3
2	Artemis Espoir Saumur	15	16	19	21	71	17.8
3	Smooteam PCP Maubeuge	16	12	21	17	66	16.5
4	Just In Time Niederschaefolsheim	13	13	16	15	57	14.3
5	Monaco Vitalsea	13	13	14	10	50	12.5
6	Invidia PCP Maubeuge	11	10	13	14	48	12.0
7	Kindair Le Blanc Nantes	11	9	10	12	42	10.5
8	Armee Air Nice	9	10	9	10	38	9.5
9	Griffor EDCL Maubeuge	6	5	11	7	29	7.3
10	Cad Hors Cahors	5	4	10	3	22	5.5

4-way Open Class member Laurence Herve competed with the French Air Force team from Nice. National coach and 8-way member Mathieu Bernier was once again in the B-Team lineup of Artemis Saumur. His 8-way team mates Julien Degen (4-way Smooteam) and Manu Sarrazin (8-way Otter PCP) were also back as player coaches with their teams.

The French national team in 4-way Women, the French Girls, attended their second competition this year with the new and complete lineup.

The previous French Girls lineup (Laurence Herve, Perrine Sanchez, Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout) were also at the competition site for the opening ceremony. French government officials used the opportunity to honor their world championship title at the government building in Vichy.

July 4th, 2015		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	19,B,D,11	15,H,K,14	L,20,O,17	9,F,6	N,A,7,21	10,4,M	16,J,3	13,5,2	Total	Avg
1	French Girls	21	20	21	28	20	16	18	15	159	19.9
2	Artemis Espoir Saumur	22	19	20	22	19	18	20	17	157	19.6
3	Smooteam PCP Maubeuge	19	16	19	24	19	16	19	12	144	18.0
5	Monaco Vitalsea	15	14	10	19	16	13	15	11	113	14.1
6	Just In Time Niederschaefolsheim	16	13	14	17	13	12	12	11	108	13.5
8	Invidia PCP Maubeuge	13	13	13	16	13	10	11	10	99	12.4
9	Kindair Le Blanc Nantes	10	11	11	13	11	11	10	9	86	10.8
10	Griffor EDCL Maubeuge	8	9	9	12	10	5	9	7	69	8.6
11	Armee Air Nice	8	7	8	9	8	6	10	9	65	8.1

Then it was time for the new lineup to show their current performance level on the road to defending the French gold medals in this event at the Mondial 2016. However, the new French Girls had only four rounds and still used them well.

The distance between the French Girls and Artemis Saumur was only three points at the Coupe de France event in July (19.9 - 19.6) where both teams competed, as well. The French Girls finished significantly farther ahead (20.3 - 17.8) after last week's four rounds and increased the distance to Smooteam in 3rd place, as well.

In fact, most of the French 4-way Open Class teams had lower meet averages at the French Nationals compared to the Coupe de France event in July, while the French Girls were showing progression. The next meet for the national team is the showdown with the Golden Knights at the World Cup 2015 in Teuge...