posted Dec 29th, 2016 - Yesterday's update from the Golden Knights headquarters was not only interesting due to the recent personnel changes, which brought 4-way Women world champion Jennifer Davidson into the new 8-way lineup.

The Golden Knights have won the gold medals at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving three consecutive times (2012 - 2014 - 2016) and have finalized their plans how to add the next set of 8-way gold medals to the collection.

The U.S. Army team has been dominating the world's 8-way competition in an unprecedented way since 2012, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on October 4th. The Golden Knights have not lost or tied a competition round since December 2012, and the 40-point distance to France in 2nd place this year was the third largest winning margin in the history of the sport. The Golden Knights had won by 45 points in Prostejov 2014, and only the legendary Golden Knights lineup of 1997 did even better and concluded the "Decade of Excellence" (1987 - 1997) with a 53-point victory (224 - 179) over Russia.

FAI World Meet 1997			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,18,J	14,C,B,12	11,1,2	3,K,F,E	D,9,8	5,H,21	P,4,10	16,Q,M,15	A,17,22	7,N,6	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	21	23	30	16	18	24	31	22	17	224	22.4
2	Russia	RU	20	17	16	21	17	14	20	14	19	13	171	17.1
3	France	FR	16	15	17	19	14	14	17	19	11	13	155	15.5
4	Germany	DE	13	11	15	16	12	12	14	18	12	10	133	13.3
5	Australia	AU	15	14	14	15	12	11	13	12	12	9	127	12.7
6	Canada	CA	13	12	11	10	11	10	13	14	11	9	114	11.4
7	Great Britain	UK	10	11	11	12	8	7	11	11	7	-	88	9.8
8	Japan	JP	9	8	9	10	4	9	10	11	5	-	75	8.3
9	Netherlands	NL	7	8	9	9	5	4	9	12	8	-	71	7.9
10	Brazil	BR	8	9	4	5	7	7	7	7	7	-	61	6.8
11	Spain	ES	6	9	6	9	1	1	7	12	-	-	51	6.4
12	Austria	AT	6	6	7	0	5	5	7	7	-	-	43	5.4
13	Israel	IL	3	4	0	1	4	1	4	3	-	-	20	4.6

Chances are little that the 8-way dominance of the Golden Knights will change any time soon. New member David Flynn has a 21.0 average in his records for a starting point after his first serious test at the USPA Nationals 2016, and new member Jennifer Davidson will surely not slow down the team.

The next World Championship of Formation Skydiving is still two years away, and nothing is impossible, as France and Russia have enough talent and experience to field a world class 8-way team. However, the Golden Knights have a head start that almost guarantees the next set of 8-way gold medals in 2018.

The expected 8-way gold medal would move Jen Davidson closer to a unique achievement in the modern history of Formation Skydiving competition since 1985. Only one single competitor has won world meet gold medals in three of the currently four categories.

FAI World Meet 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	HayaBusa Defence	BE	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Sky Panthers	RU	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5
5	Arcteryx	NO	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
6	Evolution	CA	25	27	22	17	24	18	26	16	175	21.9
7	Spin Team	IT	23	21	16	13	21	16	21	-	131	18.7
8	Dynamic Fource	NL	22	20	16	12	21	16	22	-	129	18.4
9	VIVA	CH	19	23	17	13	21	15	18	-	126	18.0
10	FSC Eisenach	DE	21	17	14	13	21	15	21	-	122	17.4

As Jen Davidson did this year, Eliana Rodriguez won her first gold medal with Synchronicity in 4-way Women at the world meet in Empuriabrava 2001. Three years later, she added 8-way gold in Rijeka 2004 with Arizona Airspeed. Jen Davidson could copy this double gold a year sooner if the Golden Knights win the 8-way competition again in 2018.

Airspeed discontinued the 8-way efforts after the 2nd place in 2006 and focused on 4-way competition. Eliana Rodriguez was in the new Odyssey lineup and won her 4-way gold medal in Maubeuge 2008, seven years after her first gold medal in 4-way Women.

Jen Davidson will be right behind Eliana Rodriguez with Formation Skydiving accomplishments after winning the expected 8-way gold medal, as no other female FS competitor has won gold medals in two events so far. Adding the missing 4-way Open Class gold medal would eventually tie her with Eliana Rodriguez, which could happen as early as in 2020 and would be three years quicker. Jen Davidson continues casually in 4-way with the same lineup that won bronze medals at this year's USPA Nationals, while pursuing the next 8-way gold medals for the Golden Knights...