posted Oct 7th, 2012 - Last and surely not least, there is the 4way Open Class competition at the Mondial 2012, and it will wrap up a new record participation at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving if all registered teams make it to Dubai.

4way competition is once again by far the most popular event. 34 national teams from all over the planet (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Equador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Singapore, Slovania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arabian Emirates, Ukraine, United States) have signed up for the event, while 16 teams compete in 8way and 14 in the female 4way category.

The total number of 64 teams in the three traditional Formation Skydiving events is the best participation in the history of the sport. Additional nine teams are registered for the VFS 4way event.

The Mondial 2012 will also include the 6th World Championship of Formation Skydiving that the NSL News will bring live from the competition site to the attention of the online audience. The first live coverage came from the Mondial 2003 in Gap, France. Dubai 2012 is the 10-year anniversary of NSL News live coverage.

Dubai seems to become a new center of the skydiving world and has blown a lot of fresh and strong air into the sails of the sport. The first class facilities of Skydive Dubai have hosted three major events, while a brandnew indoor training center offers everything that skydivers need for training.

4way and 8way world champions Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez have brought skydiving expertise and a wealth of knowledge and experiences to Dubai and generate new "skydivers with grippers on their jumpsuits" all the time, as Craig Girard put it for the NSL News.

There was actually one World Championship of Formation Skydiving that attracted an even higher number of 4way and 8way teams. Turkey hosted the World Meet in 1997, and there was no female 4way category by then. 51 teams competed in 4way (38) and 8way (15) in 1997.

38 teams in the 4way Open Class is still the standing record participation, while this year's 34 teams match the participation number in Spain 2001. The 16 teams competing in 8way in Dubai are a new sole and unique highscore. The same counts for the 14 teams in the female 4way category.

The highest total number of teams since the introduction of the female 4way category in 2001 was recorded the same year in Spain with 54 teams. The 64 teams in Dubai this year leave this number in the dust. All curves are pointing up in the chart, and the hibernation period of the past four years seems to be over...