posted May 2nd, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News has mentioned the upcoming and potentially very exciting battle for bronze medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving at the Mondial 2016 randomly several times. Five national teams have been mentioned related to this topic: Evolution (Canada), Black Cat (Russia), FLY-IN (France), Tigers (Qatar), Satori XL (Great Britain).

There was not much competition for the bronze medals at the last World Meet 2014 in Prostejov. Evolution was even dangerously close to Arizona Airspeed and had no challenger from behind. The situation will be completely different this year, where the battle for the bronze medals will be at least as exciting as the race for the 1st place.

The Mondial 2016 is coming closer, and the Sun Path Products NSL News offers the audience the opportunity to join in on the run-up to the top event of the year. The previews related to this topic begin with the introduction of the teams and more details of the teams’ progression since 2014.

World Meet 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
3	Evolution	CA	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9
4	VoltR	FR	24	26	18	23	26	20	20	13	24	21	215	21.5
5	Barkli	RU	24	23	20	22	25	21	19	16	18	26	214	21.4

The Sun Path Products NSL News will disregard two additional teams who could win bronze medals in the 4-way Open Class competition. French Girls and Golden Knights will both try to win gold medals for their countries in 4-way Women, even though they are strong enough to medal in the Open Class.

Four of the five contending teams met each other at the World Air Games 2015, where Great Britain was still represented by Vision 99. Satori XL will compete at the Mondial 2016 and is probably the underdog in this expected battle for bronze medals.

The defending bronze medalist, Evolution from Canada, experienced at the World Air Games how difficult it will be to finish in the same position at the Mondial. The personnel change after Prostejov 2014 had a serious impact, even though the three LeMay brothers have continued with Evolution.

World Air Games 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,C,17,2	N,19,4	13,14,F	6,E,O,L	7,1,A	D,18,P,22	M,H,5,15	16,9,12	21,K,G,Q	Total	Avg
3	Black Cat	RU	23	23	21	30	21	21	26	23	27	215	23.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	21	17	28	23	19	27	19	21	197	21.4
5	Evolution	CA	21	22	17	28	20	15	24	20	22	189	20.5
7	FLY-IN	FR	24	20	18	29	20	17	19	19	22	188	20.9

Former Point Katie Woods had a wealth of 4-way experience and talent that helped the three LeMay brothers to climb up to the medal rankings after the 4th place at the Mondial Dubai 2012.

New member Jean-Christophe Ouimet has the same talent but needs time and training jumps to get to the scoring level of 2014.

The same lineup is also planning to compete in 4-way VFS, which makes it even more difficult to keep up with the other exclusive 4-way Open Class experts.

However, Evolution's chances for any world meet medals are probably better in VFS, where even the gold medals could be in reach. It's a gamble for Evolution.

Rank	Team		Indoor 2016	Avg
1	FLY-IN	FR	27.6	27.6
2	Black Cat	RU	25.5 - 27.5	26.5
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	24.4 - 27.5	26.0
4	Evolution	CA	25.8	25.8
5	Satori XL	UK	23.7 - 25.8	24.8

Only Qatar Tigers and Satori XL have posted any outdoor scores so far this year, both at the Shamrock Showdown 2016. All five teams have competed at wind tunnel meets, and a closer look at the indoor results indicates how close the teams are to each other.

Outdoor averages are significantly lower and bring teams closer together on the leaderboards. Evolution is currently behind the three potential top challengers for the bronze medals. However, it's not much of a difference, and nothing seems to be impossible for the Canadians...