posted Sep 21st, 2016 - The outcome of the race for the bronze medals at the Mondial 2016 was not a big surprise for the Sun Path Products NSL News audience, as the latest results of the bronze medal poll are showing.

This does not mean that the battle for the 3rd place was not exciting enough. In fact, it was probably the toughest competition in the 4-way Open Class category, as the first two places were settled early, after Round 4 at the latest.

France (158), Black Cat (158) and Qatar Tigers (155) were separated by only three points after Round 7, and France managed to turn the 3-point deficit after Round 6 into a 7-point advantage at the end of the 10-round competition.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
3	France	FR	21	20	30(-1)	21(-3)	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8
4	Black Cat	RU	22	20(-1)	30	24(-1)	17	21	24	33(-1)	21	19	231	23.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	20	30(-1)	24	17	20	23(-1)	36	17(-2)	18	226	22.6

The new French national team in 4-way Open lived up to the expectations of the audience and the French delegation, even though it was a serious challenge, as the scores of the battle between the three teams are showing.

It took a new record average of the French Open Class team to finish in 3rd place, and the two new team members, who had not competed in 4-way at a world meet, had the opportunity to prove competitive 4-way skills under pressure.

Damien Gouriou had competed for France in 4-way Open in Prostejov 2014 where the team missed the medal rankings, and Laurence Herve won gold medals with the French Girls in 4-way Women at the same event. Kevin Mansion and Charles Rommel had previous world meet experiences only in the French 8-way lineup of 2014, while videographer Loic Campy attended his first world meet.

The French 4-way Open Class team followed up on the results at the French Nationals 2016 where the current lineup finally outscored the French Girls, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on August 8th.

This time, neither of the French 4-way teams needed the internal French competition, as both teams had more than enough work in their own categories.

The new and young French 4-way Open Class team had their eyes probably not only on Black Cat and Qatar Tigers, beginning in Round 5. France was in striking distance of NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed in the second half of the meet and even tied the highscore in Round 7. The same lineup will continue for two years, and coach Marin Ferre has new French 4-way gold medals in his mind...