posted Oct 8th, 2019 - The FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 began with the 8-way competition on Tuesday morning, and the new NSL Reality TV video clips feature the teams getting ready for the first round.

The NSL News had given the first round of a Formation Skydiving competition special attention at the USPA Nationals 2019, and several high-profile competitors explained for the audience how different Round 1 is compared to later rounds.

Tanay's 8-way team and Paraclete XP8 shared the preparation time for Round 1, the ride to the boarding area and in the Twin Otter with each other and concluded the meet opener. The team rotation is in the reverse order of the previous FAI event, which was the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018 in Australia, where the United States won gold (Golden Knights) and Russia (Tanay) the silver medals.

The new French national 8-way team was called to the boarding area much earlier than Tanay and XP8. In fact, they were in the first competition load, as France did not have an 8-way team in Australia. The first video clip features the French 8-way team throughout the preparations and the take-off from the boarding area.

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FAIOutdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		13,11,16		P,22,4		O,7,21		9,20,G		18,15,L		K,10,3		6,14,C		1,M,A,17		F,D,Q,8		2,5,E		B,N,12,H		Total	Avg
1	Tanay 8	RU	19		26		18		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		63	21.0
2	France	FR	20		24		18		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		62	20.7
3	Paraclete XP8	US	21	-1	24	-1	16	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		61	20.3
4	Arizona Airspeed	US	18		21		16		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		55	18.3
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	-1	20	-1	14	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		50	16.7
6	Airbus Illertissen	DE	14	-1	15		12		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		41	13.7
7	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	11		16		10		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		37	12.3
8	Monster	US	12		13	-1	10	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		35	11.7
9	Groomed	UK	7	-2	9		8	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		24	8.0

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The second video clip follows up with the two other medal winners of 2018, while the Qatar Falcons, last year's FAI bronze medalists, shared the ride to the boarding area with British team Groomed. MicroClim8 had secured this slot with the 4th place in Australia.

The 8-way leaderboard presents a different picture of the 8-way competition after Round 3 though. The three traditional 8-way powerhouses (United States - Russia - France) are back in the three top spots with the return of a strong French 8-way team.

In fact, the new and very young lineup impresses the opponents and has taken the 2nd place after Round 3. The French 8-way team could be the youngest lineup in the history of 8-way competition at world championships. It includes 19-year old Alban Rumolo, who also competes with the French national team in 4-way Open.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier had to give up a lot of 4-way training to bring his 8-way team back to the top, and the 4-way Open Class team cannot keep up with the best 4-way experts in the world. There is another 19-year old competitor at the world cup. Pro Team's Kalle Pohjola is of the same age as Alban Rumolo, and he tied the French score for Round 1 with his team. Last and not least, the first meet day is also Eliana Rodriguez' birthday. Happy Birthday, Eliana...

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Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/IPC/OmniSkore!HD

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