posted Jan 18th, 2012 - The situation on the top level of female 4way competition seems to be more open at the beginning of the 2012 season than in the Open Class where three top contenders are just in a league of their own in the race for World Meet medals in Dubai.

The French national team of 2010, Aerodyne Deep Blue, was all alone on the top of the world in Menzelinsk, as was UK's Team Bodyflight in 2nd place. Only the bronze medal position was more contended between US team Spaceland Blue and ISB Air Remscheid.

The group of top teams in the female category moved closer together in 2011, even though not all teams were present at the World Cup in Germany. Main reason were personnel changes, especially for the French Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders. France defended the top position successfully with the new lineup, but things changed again at the end of the 2011 season when 2010 world champion Sophie Deremaux stepped back, as well.

World Cup 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17 (-1)	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15 (-1)	19 (-7)	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13 (-2)	16	23 (-1)	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13 (-1)	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12 (-1)	14	14	23 (-1)	148	14.8

There were only three female 4way teams at the 3rd Dubai Championship 2011, however, the results provided the evidence that everything seems to be possible in the 2012 race for 4way medals in the female category. France was vulnerable with the new lineup, and the UK pickup team Bodyflight with four very experienced competitors won the meet and the money, while none of the three teams was even close to the 20-average level.

The first two major meets of the 2012 season will show how close the top teams really are this year and how exciting the race for the Dubai medals will be. Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders, Golden Knights and Polaris have signed up for the Shamrock Showdown 2012 and will provide the first insights with the first scores this year.

The French and Norwegian teams will then travel to Bodyflight Bedford where ISB Air Remscheid and probably a strong UK team will join for the World Challenge 2012. The German team will not be ready for the Shamrock Showdown since Sarah Hajooze still has a follow up surgery in February. However, she is already training in the windtunnel and will be ready for the indoor competition.

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The new French lineup, with only Amelie Tirman as a reigning world champion of 2010, will surely look much better in DeLand in March than in Dubai last December. However, Golden Knights and Polaris both will most likely still be closer to the French team than they were at the World Cup 2011.

Polaris has the same lineup and has been training consistently since the World Cup, while France was trying to work new member Stéphanie Texier into the system. The Golden Knights posted a 17.4 average at the USPA Nationals 2011 and have been in training all the time, as well.

Deep Blue Defenders, Polaris and Golden Knights alone guarantee a very exciting competition in the female category at the Shamrock Showdown, and there is a good chance that they will be even closer together than they were at the World Cup 2011.

3rd Dubai Championship 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	L,C,P,20	K,M,6,15	G,19,H,11	2,10,E	13,9,5	O,7,3	B,21,16	4,1,22	Total	Avg
1	UK Team Blue	21 (-1)	22	16 (-1)	16 (-1)	18	19 (-2)	20	15 (-1)	147	18.4
2	France Aerodyne DB Defenders	19 (-1)	20	20	15	16	20	17	14	141	17.6
3	Russia Illusions	19 (-1)	18 (-1)	14 (-4)	14	11 (-2)	18 (-1)	15 (-1)	14	123	15.4

The Golden Knights will then carefully watch what ISB Air Remscheid and the UK team have to offer at the World Challenge, unless the US Army team also decides to make the trip across the Atlantic. The German team has the same very promising lineup that was in preparation for the 2011 season when Sarah Hajooze was injured. It would be no great surprise to see ISB Air Remscheid on the same scoring level with France and UK in Bedford.

No female UK top lineup has been registered yet for the World Challenge 2011. Team Bodyflight Aerodyne competed at the World Challenge 2011 and then for the United Kingdom at the World Cup 2011. The Bodyflight Aerodyne lineup was still in the building phase and has not impressed yet with world class scores.

The question is whether the strong British 4way ladies and former world champions, Amanda Kemp and Sarah Cannon, will decide to continue the Bodyflight Aerodyne team project or if another pickup team will come out of the strongest group of female 4way competitors in the world. The list of teams for the World Challenge 2012 will soon provide hard data and the answer to this question...

Female 4way Competition in 2012
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