posted Aug 29th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News introduced the field of the 4-way Open Class competition at the Mondial 2016 with the preview story on August 17th.

The teams on the new leaderboard were ranked according to the placing of each country's national team at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Prostejov 2014.

Teams that did not compete for their country at the last world meet were added to the bottom of the leaderboard.

Several national championships and other events have taken place this year where the national teams posted real scores. Previous World Team Ranking stories have covered the topic in a more general way.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Evolution	CA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	France	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Black Cat	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Satori XL	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	Airbus	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Rotor Out	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Ex3mo	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Pangaea	DK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Savolo	ZA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	Final Fire	AT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	M4trix	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	China	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	H4O	IE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17	Ukraine	UA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	MeXtreme	MX	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Rank	Team	Country	Meets	Av.
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24.8	24.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	24.3	24.3
3	France 4-way Open	FR	23.7 - 23.4	23.6
?	Evolution	CA	?	?
?	Black Cat	RU	?	?
6	Qatar Tigers	QA	21.5	21.5
7	Airbus Illertissen	DE	20.8	20.8
8	Satori XL	UK	20.2 - 20.3 - 20.4	20.3
9	eX3mo 4	IT	18.4	18.4
10	Final Fire	AT	18.0	18.0
11	Rotor Out	AU	17.6	17.6
12	Savolo	ZA	15.5	15.5
13	Pangaea	DK	13.7 - 16.3 - 14.9	15.0
14	M4trix	NL	13.6	13.6
15	H4O	IE	13.3	13.3
16	China	CN	?	?
17	Ukraine	UA	?	?
18	MeXtreme	MX	?	?

The up-to-date hard data with 2016 scores now allows a more accurate look at the Mondial 2016 situation, for the actual and current power rankings two weeks before Round 1.

Not much has changed around the medal contenders.

The same five teams have the top spots, with Canada (Evolution), France and Russia (Black Cat) in the expected battle for bronze medals, plus the Qatar Tigers as the underdog in this group.

The first surprising change has happened between Great Britain (Satori XL) and Germany (Airbus). The Germans still have an opportunity to confirm the strong position in front of Satori XL, as their national championships begin this week.

Ex3mo (Italy) is ahead of Final Fire (Austria) and Rotor Out (Australia) in the battle for the 9th place, after a very fast competition draw at the Italian Nationals 2016.

The Austrian national 4-way team will surely move up in the rankings compared to Prostejov 2014 and might have the best chances for the 9th place.

South Africa and Denmark finished next to each other on the 2014 leaderboard, and it could happen again. Savolo is still the South African national team, while Pangaea replaces the VAF Warriors for Denmark.

M4trix, the new Dutch national team for Cool Runnings, will try to keep as close as possible to Savolo and Pangaea. At the same time, H4O has posted promising scores for Ireland and seems to be ready to challenge M4trix.

There is always a question mark behind the teams from China. The lineups are changing, as the scores are. Fact is that a team from China posted a 16.9 average at the Asiana Championships in September 2015 in Dubai. An increased performance level by the same team could bring China into contention for the 9th place. China has come up with surprises before, the biggest one at the FAI World Meet 1989 in Empuriabrava. The U.S. team from DeLand needed a jump-off round to hold off the Chinese team from taking the bronze medals...