posted Dec 27th, 2017 - The topic of the 3rd consecutive FAI gold medals in 4-way Open for NMP PCH HayaBusa at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving has been a part of NSL News updates here and there.

The last time it was mentioned again was during the NSL Live Talk with HayaBusa coach Gary Smith on 8 December 2017.

He was coaching the Qatar Falcons 8-way team at Skydive City and took some extra time for the NSL News with updates from Belgium and Qatar.

It is no secret that HayaBusa is trying to win again next year in Australia, which would complete the mission of winning FAI gold medals three consecutive times and extending the time period of the William H. Ottley Sword for Formation Skydiving Competition, also known as the Excalibur, in Belgian possession to six years.

It was still unclear whether this would be a unique achievement. Gary Smith and HayaBusa members remembered that Arizona Airspeed came close with the original lineup (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Mark Kirkby, Dan BC, John Lemming on camera) with 4-way gold medals in 1995 and 1997.

FAI World Meet 1995			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	16	26	26	20	18	23	21	18	21	18	207	20.7
2	France	FR	16	25	26	18	17	21	23	17	21	21	205	20.5
3	Touche	DK	15	21	22	18	16	19	18	15	18	17	179	17.9
4	DeLand Norgies	NO	13	23	21	14	14	20	22	15	16	13	171	17.1
5	DeLand Equanimity	ZA	13	19	21	16	16	17	19	15	18	14	168	16.8
6	Russia	RU	14	17	22	13	14	19	20	13	17	16	165	16.5
7	Belgium	BE	13	19	21	12	16	18	14	13	15	15	156	15.6
8	Switzerland	CH	13	21	14	14	14	18	18	11	15	9	147	14.7
9	Daedalus	DE	14	17	13	14	15	18	18	13	15	-	137	15.2
10	Japan	JP	12	19	16	16	13	15	13	11	16	-	131	14.6
11	Sweden	SE	11	18	17	13	13	17	17	11	13	-	130	14.4
11	Monkey Circus	AT	12	15	19	15	11	16	17	12	13	-	130	14.4
13	Spain	ES	11	19	21	13	14	15	14	11	11	-	129	14.3
14	Australia	AU	10	15	16	13	13	12	15	11	16	-	121	13.4
15	Sebastian XL	UK	9	16	16	13	12	12	16	11	13	-	118	13.1
15	Canada	CA	11	13	17	13	12	13	15	11	13	-	118	13.1
17	Netherlands	NL	10	11	14	12	12	12	14	9	-	-	94	11.8
18	Finland	FI	11	13	12	13	7	14	14	8	-	-	92	11.5
19	Croatia	HR	8	15	12	11	11	11	12	8	-	-	88	11.0
20	Hungary	HU	11	8	15	11	9	12	10	9	-	-	85	10.6
21	Italy	IT	10	5	13	11	11	11	14	8	-	-	83	10.4
22	Luxemburg	LU	7	9	9	7	10	11	8	9	-	-	70	8.8
23	New Zealand	NZ	8	10	7	4	9	10	9	8	-	-	65	8.1
24	Yugoslavia	YU	6	3	7	4	5	4	9	6	-	-	44	5.5
25	Ireland	IE	7	6	9	6	0	5	5	5	-	-	43	5.4
26	Israel	IL	5	5	9	6	6	1	6	3	-	-	41	5.1
27	Latvia	LV	5	6	0	6	6	0	7	2	-	-	32	4.0
28	Indonesia	ID	5	3	4	4	2	3	6	2	-	-	29	3.6
29	Mexico	MX	1	8	1	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	3.5

They also know that the U.S. delegation won 4-way Open Class gold medals three consecutive times between 2004 and 2008. However, three different teams collected the U.S. gold medals in this time period, DeLand Majik in 2004, DeLand Fire in 2006 and Arizona Airspeed's Odyssey lineup in 2008.

The question mark was behind the earlier time period when France was dominating 4-way competition between 1987 and 1993.

Fact is that French 4-way teams won the FAI gold medals at four consecutive world meets and that the lineups usually change after two or four years. The French national coaches are in charge to select the A- and B-teams for the French delegation at international FAI/IPC events.

Jérôme Bunker, Frank Mahut, Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno won the gold medals for France with the TAG team in 1987 and 1989. The lineup changed after the second consecutive victory, when Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno continued with new members Jérôme David and Patrick Saget, Jean Marc Champilou on camera. This lineup competed under the team name France Essonne.

Both lineups won two times in a row for the four consecutive sets of French 4-way gold medals between 1987 and 1993. Arizona Airspeed then copied the French example in the next four years when they won two consecutive gold medals with exactly the same lineup.

FAI/IPC medals at World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985

No other teams copied the three 4-year periods with two consecutive 4-way gold medals ever since, not even NMP PCH HayaBusa. Only three Belgians (Dennis Praet, David and Andy Grauwels) and videographer Danny Jacobs continued after the first gold medals in 2014. Jeroen "Bob" Nollet replaced original member Roy Janssen and was in the next HayaBusa lineup that won the second set of gold medals.

Three identical lineups have each won two consecutive sets of FAI gold medals in 4-way history so far, two from France and Arizona Airspeed's original lineup. However, there are two French 4-way competitors who have won gold at four consecutive 4-way world championships: Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno (1987 - 1989 - 1991 - 1993).

HayaBusa brothers David and Andy Grauwels will be able to get closer and win their third consecutive 4-way gold medals next year in Australia. They will also have Dennis Praet in their lineup who will match their records after joining the team in 2011 and winning in Prostejov 2014 and Ottawa 2016.

In fact, HayaBusa will be able to claim the first time that three team members won three consecutive 4-way gold medals together, while newest member Jeroen Nollet will be one step behind. NMP PCH HayaBusa will first have to win next year before claiming anything though, and Arizona Airspeed and RealFly-Sion will try everything to hinder this Belgian success.

And then there is still the record of another 4-way competitor who has his own place in history. Arizona Airspeed's original member Mark Kirkby collected 4-way gold medals in 1995, 1997, 2001, 2008 and 2012. Even Dennis Praet, David and Andy Grauwels would have to continue and win two more times to match this outstanding number - if HayaBusa wins in Australia 2018...