posted May 11th, 2019 - The aftermath of the World Challenge was far from complete when the next major event started, the FAI Indoor World Meet, and it's time to go back to the biggest 4-way competition in the world.

Both events were related to each other in many ways. One connection were the six national teams that used the World Challenge as the last test before the indoor world championship: NMP PCH HayaBusa (Belgium), Arizona Airspeed (United States), Tigers (Qatar), Airheads (Switzerland), FlySpot Sky4Four, NFTO and ACM Weembi (Great Britain).

There were also a few individual competitors who competed at both events with different teams. Julien Degen and Clementine Le Bohec were in the Weembi Unicorns lineup in Bedford. Julien Degen then won FAI silver medals in 4-way Open with Weembi High Rollers on his home turf. Clementine LeBohec won gold with Nephtys Weembi in 4-way Women.

SDC Rhythm XP's Andrew Happick, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz posted a 30.1 average at the World Challenge before winning 8-way gold with Paraclete XP8 and a 31.6 average at Weembi Lille. Martial Ferre competed with Tenanine for Mauretania in Bedford and then won FAI 8-way silver for France in Lille.

World Challenge 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,H,Q,5	19,16,E	L,3,2	B,A,22,D	J,14,8	11,M,G,1	15,21,18	7,O,4	C,N,K,13	20,6,F	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	52	32	28	39	29	32	28	34	42	31	347	34.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	48	30	27	37	27	31	25	33	36	28	322	32.2
3	IFS-Moscow	RU	44	29	26	33	27	29	23	33	34	31	309	30.9
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	44	29	26	35	24	29	24	31	32	31	305	30.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	46	28	24	32	25	29	24	31	35	27	301	30.1
6	Airheads	CH	44	28	22	36	24	27	19	29	33	26	288	28.8
7	Weembi Unicorns	FR	43	28	23	32	23	28	19	28	33	26	283	28.3
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	40	26	24	33	24	25	19	25	28	26	270	27.0
9	NFTO	UK	35	25	24	29	24	25	20	27	30	24	263	26.3
10	Odin Parachute Systems	FR	35	28	21	29	22	25	20	25	29	25	259	25.9
10	Chimera	UK	36	24	21	27	23	27	21	25	29	26	259	25.9

Alena Chistova with IFS Moscow at the World Challenge 2019

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There was also a special kind of double-duty connection between World Challenge and FAI Indoor World Meet. Alena Chistova from Russia performed double duties that would not be possible at an FAI event. She competed in 4-way Open at the World Challenge with IFS Moscow and then battled for bronze medals in 4-way Women with Bubble Hubble at Weembi Lille.

The FAI rules do not allow a competitor to sign up for the same two categories at a world meet. However, the possibility that IFS Moscow and Bubble Hubble both would compete at the indoor world meet was not that far away. IFS Moscow lost the Russian indoor qualification for the FAI event against Black Cat, even though the Russian team delivered a very strong performance in Bedford.

In fact, IFS Moscow finished with a significantly higher meet average in Bedford compared to Black Cat in Lille (30.9 - 28.7) even though the competition draw was not faster at the World Challenge. The 30.9 average would have placed IFS Moscow in 4th place at the indoor world meet.

However, the same IFS Moscow lineup would not have been eligible for the FAI event, unless Alena Chistova had skipped the slot in the Russian 4-way Women lineup.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		M,K,D,14	Q,4,5	P,E,9,15	3,N,G,2	6,1,8	F,12,11	13,22,J	H,L,B,18	O,20,A,17	21,7,19	Total	Avg
1	Nephtys Weembi	FR	34	27	35	25	23	25	23	33	31	24	280	28.0
2	NFTO	UK	34	26	34	28	23	24	24	34	28	23	278	27.8
3	XPG4	US	34	26	33	24	21	24	24	28	25	23	262	26.2
4	Bubble Hubble	RU	29	25	33	24	22	23	22	31	25	21	255	25.5
5	China	CN	31	26	31	22	23	24	22	30	22	23	254	25.4
6	Team X	SE	26	25	28	24	20	22	23	28	24	23	243	24.3
7	No Mercy	PL	29	22	25	21	19	17	21	23	20	22	219	21.9
8	Skynamite	DE	28	20	26	20	17	17	19	26	18	19	210	21.0
9	Voss Vind Girls	NO	27	22	24	18	18	19	20	23	19	19	209	20.9

Alena Chistova with Bubble Hubble at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019

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The 30.9 average by IFS Moscow in Bedford was the second highest Russian meet average in 4-way history. Only a different Black Cat lineup (Valentin Ilin, Vladimir Pavlenko, Vasily Korotkov, Alexander Kvochur) had scored higher (31.6) at FAI's European Indoor Championship 2018.

Alena Chistova was the highest-scoring female 4-way competitor at the World Challenge this year, where IFS Moscow outscored SDC Rhythm XP with JaNette Lefkowitz. In Bedford, she also joined Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout, Clementine Le Bohec, Pamela Lissajoux, Laurence Herve and JaNette Lefkowitz, all with 30+ averages in their records.

The Russian world class competitor is not only a 4-way indoor expert. Alena Chistova also competed with Evolution Pro, the former Russian national 8-way team, at world meets and world cups. She won FAI 8-way bronze at the outdoor world meets in 2004 and 2006, after competing for Russia in 4-way in Gap 2003.

15 years after winning her first FAI 8-way medal in Croatia, she finished 3rd with IFS Moscow in Bedford and missed the next FAI medal in 4-way Women with Bubble Hubble in Lille by seven points...