posted Jan 30th, 2019 - The NSL News covered events and the situation in Germany several times last year. The last update on 24 December 2018 was related to the Belgian Indoor Nationals 2018 where the new German 4-way team Airfource competed as a guest team.

The world class performance of the new team lifted the level of excitement in Germany's 4-way community instantly, as the new team will put pressure on the two best teams of the past years, national team Airbus and AtomiX.

Airfource took Germany's national indoor top position with the 25.6 average in Belgium and are now the top favorite for the national indoor championships, which are scheduled for March. Airfource confirmed that their goal is to win the event and compete for Germany at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 at Weembi Lille.

The previous update mentioned that Airfouce is stirring up the 4-way establishment in Germany, which can only be beneficial for the country's 4-way community. Airbus/FSZ Saar have been dominating Formation Skydiving competition for a long time before AtomiX began to put some pressure on the long-standing 4-way and 8-way champions.

Belgian Indoor Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		16,G,K,Q	D,20,H,3	2,9,P	5,19,7	22,10,8	B,21,6	L,18,A,N	J,14,C,17	12,F,15	M,O,E,11	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	40	35	39	32	21	31	35	31	30	43	337	33.7
2	Weembi Legion	FR	36	25	31	27	19	24	30	29	24	35	280	28.0
3	ISR FireFlash	BE	34	25	31	24	18	26	30	26	22	36	272	27.2
4	Airfource	DE	32	17	28	24	18	26	25	27	21	38	256	25.6

Airfource at the Belgian Indoor Nationals 2018 - Airbus and AtomiX at the German Indoor Nationals 2018

Airfource have not confirmed yet that they will also enter 4-way outdoor competition after the FAI Indoor World Meet. However, only the possibility of this move alone creates a much more interesting situation.

AtomiX is preparing for the final charge towards the team's first national outdoor championship title and has recently acquired the support by former Swiss and German 4-way competitor Mike Vetter, who is operating a few skydiving centers in California. The team's new name is Oceanside AtomiX, and the first outdoor training camp in California is scheduled for the end of February.

The NSL News introduced the new Airbus lineup on 10 December 2018, and it included two new names, Sarah Mertes and Alexander Prendinger, who is a member of the Airbus 8-way lineup, as well. He was recruited with his complete 4-way team Eyjafjallajökull for the Airbus 8-way lineup last year, which was a significant change of 4-way generations in the national team.

Oceanside AtomiX had launched the beginnings of a different situation with more competition on the top of the national leaderboards when the team with new 4-way names began to charge upwards year by year. Three of the original members are now on their way to win the national outdoor title for the first time.

German Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,11,7	C,9,3	K,4,1	5,L,H,G	18,19,M	D,17,13	22,P,12	E,20,8	O,14,N,10	16,Q,J,15	Total	Avg
1	Airbus 4-way FSZ Saar	22	24	19	26	19	19	15	19	18	19	200	20.0
2	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	20	18	16	21	18	16	13	14	16	17	169	16.9
3	Paranodon Bardarbunga	19	17	15	16	16	14	14	15	15	-	141	15.7
4	Dark Energy	17	19	13	17	15	14	12	14	14	15	150	15.0
5	NeVa FSZ Saar	17	14	12	16	13	12	10	13	13	13	133	13.3
6	Skynamite FSZ Saar	17	14	11	15	12	11	11	13	11	10	125	12.5
7	Wolf Pack	14	13	10	15	12	11	9	12	9	12	117	11.7
8	Skyweed Illertissen	14	14	12	14	11	10	8	12	11	10	116	11.6
8	Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull	16	15	14	13	11	11	11	14	11	-	116	12.9
10	HorschD FSZ Saar	14	13	8	11	11	6	9	11	8	12	103	10.3

Airbus and AtomiX at the German Outdoor Nationals 2018

Airfource is now the third German team on a national winning level. In fact, they are the top favorite for the indoor championship, and they will join Airbus and AtomiX on the same outdoor level if they decide to jump from planes after the indoor events.

The competition for medal positions at this year's national outdoor championships will probably feature a completely new situation in Germany. It has barely been a duel in the past years, and there was only competition for the bronze medals far behind the two top teams.

This year, three teams may battle for the three top spots, and others will try to get as close as possible at least to the bronze medal position. The Airbus 8-way lineup will probably generate two competitive 4-way teams, as they did last year with Eyjafjallajökull and Bardarbunga, and Dark Energy was already challenging Bardarbunga for the bronze medals at the German Nationals 2018.

The increasing competition with more and new 4-way competitors in the medal range will make it more interesting for teams and audience, and the performance and scoring level will most likely be lifted, as well. Airfource has done this with the meet average in Belgium and will add to it at Weembi Lille in April, while AtomiX plans the same for this year's outdoor competition. The German Outdoor Nationals are scheduled for the end of August...