posted Jun 9th, 2017 - The Sun Path Products NSL News began with the preview of the FAI World Cup 2017 on 18 May, just a few days before the registration deadline.

The official preliminary registration list is showing the second largest field of 4-way teams since 1998. Thirty 4-way teams plan to travel to Saarlouis and compete in Germany at the end of July. There has been only one FAI World Cup with a higher number of 4-way teams in the past, the event in Portugal 1998 where 32 teams attended.

21 teams had competed in Saarlouis at the FAI World Cup 2011, and nine additional teams are curious enough about an experience of the German hosting services this year.

20 teams had competed in 4-way Open at the FAI World Cup 2015 in Teuge, Netherlands, and the number of 30 teams two years later makes 4-way competition once again by far the most popular event at the most relevant international Formation Skydiving competition of the year.

FAI World Cup 2011			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	22	27	23	22	26	25	25	24	24	37	255	25.5
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	27	23	21	24	25	21	23	24	39	249	24.9
3	Paratec-Saar	DE	16	23	19	15	19	18	16	19	20	31	196	19.6
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	18	21	19	16	19	16	15	19	19	33	195	19.5
5	Gradient Alpha	RU	17	21	17	13	20	20	19	18	17	27	189	18.9
6	EX3MO4	IT	15	19	17	17	17	16	19	18	16	28	182	18.2
7	Bardagi	SE	15	20	17	15	16	14	19	15	17	29	177	17.7
8	Dynamite	DE	14	18	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	-	149	16.6
9	Rotor Out	AU	14	18	15	13	17	18	16	15	17	-	143	15.9
10	SonicNutz	UK	11	16	16	12	15	16	16	16	16	-	134	14.9
11	Whooops	NL	11	15	13	11	14	12	16	13	13	-	118	13.1
12	Maubeuge NPC B2	FR	11	17	14	13	15	16	15	16	-	-	117	14.6
12	Maubeuge NPC B1	FR	14	16	15	14	13	15	16	14	-	-	117	14.6
14	Unagi	UK	10	16	12	13	12	13	13	11	-	-	100	12.5
15	Atmosfera G4	PT	12	16	11	11	11	12	14	12	-	-	99	12.4
16	Escondido	UK	12	15	10	11	12	12	12	9	-	-	93	11.6
17	Neva	DE	9	14	10	9	9	9	11	11	-	-	82	10.3
17	Evolution	IT	10	13	9	9	10	12	12	7	-	-	82	10.3
19	Skyraiders	AT	10	7	10	8	9	9	9	9	9	-	80	8.9
20	Lupus	EE	7	9	9	9	8	7	10	10	-	-	69	8.6
21	Turkey	TR	3	3	2	2	2	3	1	0	-	-	16	2.0

Six teams will compete in 4-way Women, which is higher than in Saarlouis 2011 (5) and in Teuge 2015 (4). Seven 8-way teams are registered for this year's event, after a field of six 8-way teams in 2015. The number of 4-way VFS teams is consistent (6 - 6).

This year's FAI World Cup is also the first one since 2002 where a US team travels to Europe to compete in 4-way Open. Three US teams placed in the Top 5 at the FAI World Cup 2002 in Spain, and DeLand Majik won by two points over Arizona Airspeed and by three points over France (224 - 222 - 221). The Golden Knights Gold lineup placed 5th.

Two US teams travel to Germany 15 years later, and SDC Rhythm XP will try to keep close to the best European teams from Belgium, France and Russia. Mass Defiance will competed for the US delegation, as well, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 21 April 2017.

FAI World Cup 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,4,D	E,3,L,G	C,16,N,9	13,J,11	Q,2,A,14	K,7,8	P,18,21	15,12,F	B,22,O,10	20,5,M	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	32	32	24	23	24	24	22	23	24	250	25.0
2	Black Cat	RU	21	26	27	18	23	24	21	19	20	20	219	21.9
3	VR4 France	FR	20	26	25	19	23	20	22	18	20	24	217	21.7
4	Artemis Saumur Espoir	FR	18	23	21	18	21	21	19	17	20	20	198	19.8
5	4mula	UK	16	23	23	16	18	15	17	16	15	16	175	17.5
6	Final Fire	AT	15	19	21	15	17	19	16	16	15	18	171	17.1
7	AtomiX YUU-Skydive	DE	13	17	17	13	16	16	17	15	14	16	154	15.4
8	Barguzin	RU	15	21	18	14	19	14	18	16	14	-	149	16.6
9	XO Team	RU	17	20	12	14	17	17	16	13	12	-	138	15.3
10	M4trix	NL	15	17	17	14	14	13	16	14	14	-	134	14.9
10	eX3mo	IT	12	19	19	15	15	14	15	14	11	-	134	14.9
12	VAF Warriors	DK	16	19	13	15	17	14	13	11	15	-	133	14.8
13	Energy Italia	IT	14	17	18	12	15	16	15	13	-	-	120	15.0
14	Eclipse	UK	14	17	17	12	14	15	16	13	-	-	118	14.8
15	Sky 4 Four	PL	12	9	13	11	12	11	11	9	12	-	100	11.1
16	Phoenix	UK	11	16	12	11	14	13	14	8	-	-	99	12.4
17	Tanay Wolves	RU	11	12	11	13	13	14	10	12	-	-	96	12.0
18	Impulse	AU	10	12	13	9	10	11	12	10	-	-	87	10.9
19	Barak	ES	11	12	7	9	10	12	10	8	-	-	79	9.9
20	TNT	RO	8	10	7	6	10	9	8	8	-	-	66	8.3

US teams later attended an FAI World Cup when Skydive Arizona hosted the event in 2005. 15 teams competed in Eloy, and three US teams took exactly the same places as in 2002. Arizona Airspeed won, with DeLand Fire in 2nd place and Fastrax in 5th.

This year, it will be difficult for a US team to get to the world cup top spot, as NMP PCH HayaBusa's current lineup has been undefeated at indoor and outdoor events since January 2015. France (RealFly-Sion), Russia (Black Cat) and Qatar (Tigers) will also be in the 4-way Open mix for FAI medals.

SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed will challenge each other at Paraclete this weekend before Rhythm and Mass Defiance will measure up with the international competition in Germany and collect additional meet experiences under high pressure.

The British delegation is sending the maximum number of four teams to Saarlouis, and the Sun Path Products NSL News will soon follow up with more details of the field of teams in all events.