posted Jan 14th, 2020 - The 8-way competition at the Shamrock Showdown 2020 is promising the dimension of a historic event, as the NSL News pointed out on January 10th. The 8-way field is so strong that the 4-way competition is almost taking the backstage, even though it is usually the prime event of the Shamrock Showdown.

However, it surely is not a backstage event. In fact, the 4-way competition at Skydive City in March is just as much a preview of the FAI World Meet 2020 as the 8-way competition is. The current field of seven teams includes four national 4-way teams who will all compete for FAI medals at the world meet in August.

SDC Rhythm XP and Qatar Tigers are expected to be in a tough battle for the silver medals behind NMP PCH HayaBusa. Actually, both teams are hoping for a chance of gold medals, which would require their peak performances in Russia and a poor showing by the Belgian 4-way world champions.

Nothing is impossible, and the competition for gold medals at the FAI World Meet 2018 is a great example that a serious challenger or underdog can still put a lot of pressure on the top contender. Qatar Tigers and SDC Rhythm XP have exactly that in mind when they meet each other at the Shamrock Showdown.

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Shamrock Showdown 2020 with $2,000 Prize Money and the popular Skins Game March 19 - 21 at Skydive City

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The Qatar Tigers have won the last two duels, which were both indoor meets, the Wind Games and the World Challenge last year. SDC Rhythm XP had the upper hand at the last outdoor duel, which was the Shamrock Showdown 2018.

The recent change in SDC Rhythm XP's lineup will not make it easier for the U.S. national team in 4-way Open, as the Qatar Tigers have been training hard under the consistent guidance of HayaBusa coach Gary Smith. The situation of both teams was recently covered by NSL News updates, Qatar Tigers on 23 December 2019, SDC Rhythm XP on January 8th. There is no way to the FAI gold or silver medals for SDC Rhythm XP without leaving the Qatar Tigers behind.

The two French national teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women are underdogs in the 4-way competition, as national coach Mathieu Bernier is aiming at 8-way gold medals with the combined lineup of the two 4-way teams, and for additional gold in 4-way Women. The 8-way competition at the Shamrock Showdown has the same priority as it has at the world meet.

However, the 4-way Women team would probably be able to keep up with Qatar Tigers and SDC Rhythm XP with a similar performance as at the FAI World Meet 2018, where they finished with a 25.7 average. SDC Rhythm XP's highest outdoor average was the 26.2 at the USPA Nationals 2019 with the lineup of the last four years. The Qatar Tigers have a 24.4 average in their record book that they just posted at the ASIANA Championship in November 2019.

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Shamrock Showdown 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open - NSL Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Aerodyne Cypres	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Aérodyne Hauts de France	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Qatar Lions	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	SCZ ZEUS	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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Despite the recent personnel change for SDC Rhythm XP and the higher record average over the Qatar Tigers, the French national team in 4-way Women is only an underdog in 4-way Open at the Shamrock Showdown. Both French 4-way teams are in action all the time, and the 8-way training keeps them in great shape. However, especially the lack of enough exit training and sub-terminal pages makes it almost impossible to keep up with the best 4-way teams in the world.

The scores and placements of both French 4-way teams at Skydive City in March will still show how well prepared the 4-way Women team is for the challenge by NFTO and whether the 4-way Open Class team has a chance to be in the race for FAI medals in August or not.

The Shamrock Showdown will also be a very realistic test of the double-duties at the world meet. Both events are running 4-way and 8-way competition on the same days, and the teams have to spend half a day in one event before switching to the other one for the remainder of a meet day.

New SDC Rhythm XP member Andrew Starr will have the same double-duties at the Shamrock Showdown as the team captain of the Golden Knights 8-way team. It will be easier for him at the world meet where he competes only in 4-way. Arizona Airspeed's complete 4-way lineup will most likely be at Skydive City, as well. However, Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine compete only in 8-way with Airspeed XP8 and have to focus on the extremely challenging confrontation with France, Russia, Qatar and Golden Knights at their first competition for the U.S. national 8-way team. The Shamrock Showdown is open for other 4-way teams, as well, who can register for the exciting event at any time...