posted Nov 3rd, 2012 - The USPA Nationals 2012 are over, and the NSL News aftermath begins.

One of the highlights was the 8way competition between the Golden Knights and Russia's national team Sky Panthers Barkli. Both current lineups were recruited at about the same time. Golden Knights team leader Brian "BK" Krause began to put his new group together for the 2009 season, while Russian team captain Oleg Shalamykhin added four 8way competitors to his Sky Panthers Barkli 4way lineup.

Both teams competed for the first time with and against each other at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia. The Golden Knights (19.6) won the silver medals and Sky Panthers Barkli (18.5) finished in 3rd place, France won the 3rd consecutive 8way gold medals with the Aerodyne Maubeuge lineup.

USPA Nationals 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way Open Class	3,6,5	2,D,14	C,P,B,M,11	22,9,A	L,4,G,13	E,F,8,10	7,N,1	18,O,K,J	H,Q,21,17	15,20,12	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights 8 (US)	23	19	25	22	24	18	23	19	21	25	219	21.9
2	Sky Panthers Barkli 8 (RU)	21	17	24	17	21	18	19	15	21	18	191	19.1

Golden Knights and Sky Panthers Barkli met again a year later at the World Cup 2011 in Saarlouis, Germany. The Russian 8way team had lost ground and fell behind (20.7 - 16.3) while the Golden Knights had increased the scoring level and even outscored the French world champions by a single point.

Sky Panthers Barkli then put some more efforts into the 8way project and came to DeLand in March this year for the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 and a new showdown with the Golden Knights. The US Army team was once again on a new and higher performance level and won the 10-round meet easily.

However, the Russian team's efforts also showed, and the distance between both teams was significantly smaller (21.9 - 19.1) compared to the World Cup 2011.

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way Competition	8,7,E	O,4,14	Q,H,18,1	D,L,N,B,13	21,20,5	17,A,19	10,15,11	P,K,22,F	16,J,3	6,M,9	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights 8 (US)	18	24	23	21	17	18	23	26	29	20	219	21.9
2	Sky Panthers Barkli 8 (RU)	15	21	20	21	17	16	19	19	29	14	191	19.1

Sky Panthers Barkli then made plans to travel to Skydive Arizona after the fall training camp in DeLand for another showdown with the Golden Knights at the USPA Nationals 2012. It is quite amazing that both teams finished with exactly the same number of total points and meet averages that they both had posted at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012.

The Golden Knights were ready to challenge the 22.4 record average of the US Army lineup in 1997, while Sky Panthers Barkli was eager to get once again a little bit closer to the gold medal contender at the Mondial 2012. Eventually, both teams finished short of both goals and maintained exactly the same scoring level of March 2012.

There is still a slight difference between the March and November scores. The competition draw at the DeLand meet included a very fast sequence in Round 9 where both teams posted 29-pointers. The Eloy draw was much slower, and both teams can take credit for matching their own meet averages of March.

The pursuit of the 22.4 record average of 1997 is a very difficult task. The current Golden Knights lineup performs generally on a higher performance and scoring level. Three factors make it so hard to beat the 22.4 average. The 1997 draw included two very fast sequences where the Golden Knights first posted a new world record for a single round with a 30-pointer and then even followed up with a 31-pointer four rounds later. In addition, the current 8way dive pool is generally slower than it was in 1997.

However, it seemed like the current US Army lineup would be ready to score a higher 10-round average at any time now, no matter whether there would be a fast sequence in the draw or not. The Golden Knights also lost three points in the judging room, and it could have been a 22.2 average. It did not happen in Eloy last week, but it could still happen in Dubai.

Eric Heinsheimer, Golden Knights member of 1997, was following the 8way competition online. He acknowledged the great Golden Knights performance: "Looks like a very slow draw and some impressive scores none the less." He will be judging in Dubai and possibly watch the current Golden Knights lineup steal his world record - or not: "We will see if Dubai will draw a new record - or will I have to live with it for 16 years...?"