posted Aug 10th, 2016 - The recent Sun Path Products NSL News updates have been relating more and more to the upcoming World Championship of Formation Skydiving at the Mondial 2016.

The race for the bronze medals has been a topic for a longer time, as NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed seemed to be in a league of their own for the gold and silver medals.

This week's unfortunate news from Arizona may change the world meet picture.

Airspeed will surely do everything it takes to find an adequate replacement as quickly as possible, and the Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up as soon as possible.

However, the reigning Belgian 4-way world champions are finding themselves in an even stronger position all of a sudden.

CISM 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Men	M,3,F,E	M,J,M,2	M,8,N,B	M,1,Q,D	M,H,G,4	M,P,A,6	M,7,O,C	M,L,K,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	38	38(-1)	37	38	32(-4)	34	32	32(-2)	281	35.1
2	Qatar Tigers	32	34(-1)	32	31	30	33	24	26(-1)	242	30.3

Airspeed's misfortune may also change the race for the bronze medals.

The top contenders (France 4-way Open, Russia's Black Cat, Qatar Tigers) will probably see an opportunity to compete for silver medals now, as Airspeed has only a month to find a replacement and add as many training jumps as possible with the new lineup.

The French 4-way Open Class team has recently posted impressive scores on the 23+ level and is not far from the scoring level where Arizona Airspeed was at the Shamrock Showdown 2016. Black Cat posted a 23+ average already at the World Air Games 2015 in December last year.

The Qatar Tigers were two average points behind Black Cat at the same event (21.4) and posted a similar average (21.5) in DeLand, which did not seem to be competitive enough at that time.

World Air Games 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
R.	AAA Class		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	11,20,3	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	29	26	23	36	28	23	31	24	27	22	269	26.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	27	22	36	28	19	29	25	30	20	265	26.5
3	Black Cat	RU	23	23	21	30	21	21	26	23	27	19	234	23.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	21	17	28	23	19	27	19	21	17	214	21.4
5	Evolution	CA	21	22	17	28	20	15	24	20	22	16	205	20.5
6	Dubai Asaar Black	AE	21	20	17	20	20	17	23	19	20	17	194	19.4
7	FLY-IN	FR	24	20	18	29	20	17	19	19	22	-	188	20.9
8	Vision 99	UK	18	12	15	23	18	15	18	17	-	-	136	17.0
9	Rotor Out	AU	17	16	14	22	17	15	21	13	-	-	135	16.9
10	Ex3mo	IT	16	16	12	21	16	17	14	15	-	-	127	15.9
11	AtomiX YUU	DE	14	12	14	20	16	13	17	14	-	-	120	15.0

The Tigers could still be closer to the French and Russian 23/24 average level than it may seem, and the scores at the CISM World Military Parachuting Championship indicate the potential silver/bronze medal challenge from Qatar.

NMP PCH HayaBusa and Qatar Tigers both competed at the CISM championships and at the World Air Games, and the recent HayaBusa scores provide numbers that can also indicate the current outdoor performance level of the Qatar Tigers.

It turns out that the Qatar team with new coach Jeremie Rollett can be expected at a 23+ scoring level with FAI/IPC rules after the 30.3 average at the CISM championships.

French coaches Jeremie Rollett (Qatar Tigers) and Mathieu Bernier (France), former 4-way and 8-way world champion team mates, could become opponents in a tough battle for bronze or silver medals at the Mondial 2016 - depending on Airspeed's situation in September

Shamrock Showdown 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,13,9	G,6,21	10,20,11	18,4,B	F,1,14	19,5,7	P,Q,16,A	C,15,M,12	J,L,K,2	E,O,22,17	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	22(-1)	24	24	29	25	29	24	243	24.3
2	French Girls	FR	21	22	17	21	23	20(-3)	27	21(-1)	27	22(-1)	221	22.1
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	22	16	21	19	19	29	20	28	22	215	21.5
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	19	15	19	21	20	26(-2)	19	25	21	204	20.4
5	Satori XL	UK	19	18(-1)	16	20	19	20	26(-1)	18(-2)	24	22	202	20.2
6	TurBu 2.0	US	15(-1)	19	15	15(-1)	19	20	24(-1)	15(-1)	21(-1)	20	183	18.3
7	Teiwaz	US	11(-2)	13(-1)	12	13	12(-2)	13(-2)	16	11	17	12	130	13.0