posted Feb 17th, 2009 - The NSL News story on 9 February 2009 reported that the World Challenge 2009 at Bodyflight Bedford already registered new record participation at the beginning of the month.

The total number of 41 4-way teams by then became old news quite quickly. Bodyflight owner Paul Mayer updated the NSL News shortly after the story was published, and the number was already up to 44 teams. Team Sparky and Top Hat have joined the AAA Class field, and Fast Arrows from the Czech Republic brings additional top quality to the AA Class competition. The guests from the Czech Republic increased the number of participating nations to 13 (Austria - 2, Belgium - 3, Czech Republic - 1, Denmark - 3, Finland - 1, France - 5, Hungary - 1, Italy 2, Lithuania - 2, Russia - 2, Sweden - 1, United Kingdom - 17, USA - 3), with one international lineup.

Paul Mayer's Bodyflight staff also provided the NSL News with a list of the team rosters, which made a closer look at the 44-team field even more interesting.

The international lineup of Area 51 includes two original members of the DeLand Norgies, Lise Nansen and Pal Kolbenstvedt, who won bronze medals together at the World Meets of 1999, 2001 and 2003. Pal Kolbenstvedt retired from serious competition, while Lise Nansen came back as a player coach for the Norwegian female lineup at the World Meet 2008, Fortitudo. Both have also joined forces in the past years for the annual Norgies' reunion at Norway's national championships.

Igor Galvan from Italy and Alex Jordaan from South Africa complete the lineup for the World Challenge 2009. The NSL News had introduced Igor Galvan with the story on 17 December 2008 (Archives > 2008 > News > Search for "Galvan"). He is a passionate 4-way and NSL fan who made one of his dreams come true with this lineup in Bedford. Alex Jordaan trained and competed with a team from Georgia, Inviscid, in 2003 and 2004.

Igor Galvan seems to be responsible for the team name. He has the nickname "Tunnel Alien", and Area 51 is a nickname for a military base located in the southern portion of Nevada, north-northwest of Las Vegas. Situated at its center is a large secretive military airfield. The base's primary purpose is to support development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. Igor Galvan said that he loves "all the stuff about aliens..."

The lineup of Team Sparky is an interesting combination, as well. Claire "Sparky" Scott, multiple 4-way world champion in the female category, mentioned in the NSL News story on 19 January 2009 that "...there are also rumours that a Storm/Airkix/Elan hybrid mix will be putting in a fun team for the World Challenge 2009!"

This plan seems to materialize, as names of three Team Sparky members are already registered: Marco Arrigo, Tarnya Hollis and Claire "Sparky" Scott.

Tarnya Hollis battled with Team Elan against Sparky's Bodyflight Storm lineup for the UK's top spot in 2007. Marco Arrigo is one of the most experienced and high-profile Formation Skydiving competitors from Italy. He was an original member of the Sinapsi PD lineup and recently guided the Italian 8-way team Ex3mo to bronze medals at the World Meet 2008 in France. It will be interesting to see who will fill the open 4th slot in this colorful lineup.

Another very interesting combination hides behind the team name "Veloce", which is a French word and translates to swift or fast. The four competitors who plan to go fast at the World Challenge 2009 are Marin Ferre, Martial Ferre, Damien Sorlin and Stephane Zunino.

The NSL News introduced the French national 4-way coach Marin Ferré with the story on 29 January 2009, which included a live interview.

The same story mentioned already the Ferré family relations in skydiving competition. Marin and Martial Ferré are brothers, Damien Sorlin is their brother in law. Martial Ferré and Damien Sorlin are now team mates in the new French 8-way lineup. The NSL News did not know of their plans to compete at the World Challenge 2009 when Marin Ferré visited DeLand and the NSL office for the interview.

Last not least, another high-profile competitor comes back for the indoor competition in Bedford.

Arianna De Benedetti, already featured on the NSL Profiles pages after winning the bronze medal for Italy's Sinapsi PD lineup of 2006, has focused more on free flying and her artwork ever since the World Meet 2006 in Germany. She teams up with Marco Mancini, Sara Mercati and Antonio Rubeca for "Vertigo the Zoo".

The NSL News will continue to study the team rosters and follow up with more interesting information.