posted Jan 22nd, 2020 - The end of each year is a good reason to take a closer look at the annual team world rankings that the SKYLEAGUE.COM database generates based on all recorded scores at all recorded meets. The first part of this series is 4-way AAA Class outdoor competition.

The SKYLEAGUE.COM database has scores of 149 teams for the 2019 season, which is ten teams more compared to 2018. AZ Defiance of the Arizona Skydiving League was the busiest team of the year attending ten of the ASL meets.

The Top 10 teams attended significantly lesser meets in 2019 (15) compared to 2018 (29). This is probably not a big surprise, as the top teams usually try to get more outdoor competition practice when a World Championship of Formation Skydiving is the highlight of the year.

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World Rankings 2019			Meets	Average
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	28.9	28.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26.2 - 24.6	25.4
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	26.2 - 22.8	24.5
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24.4	24.4
5	Golden Knights Gold	US	21.2	21.2
6	France 4-way Women	FR	20.4 - 20.4 - 20.9	20.6
7	Tanay Wolves	RU	20.2	20.2
8	Mass Defiance	US	20.8 - 19.1	20.0
9	Joey Who ???	US	19.8	19.8
10	Amnesya RW4 Team	IT	19.7	19.7
Click here for complete rankings

Six of last year's Top 10 teams did not even compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019, while seven of the Top 10 teams in 2018 traveled to Australia for the FAI World Meet. The seven national teams of 2018 alone attended 25 of the 29 Top 10 meets.

Only one team of the Top 10 in 2019 posted a higher average over the year compared to the 2018 season. It was NMP PCH HayaBusa who finished with the highest meet average in 4-way outdoor history at the USPA Nationals 2019. The difference between the team in 1st place (28.9) and the runner-up (25.4) is higher than ever before.

World Rankings 2018			Meets	Average
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	27.6 - 27.9	27.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26.4 - 25.4 - 25.5 - 27.7	26.5
3	France 4-way Open	FR	24.5 - 25.7 - 22.1 - 23.5 - 25.1	25.1
4	France 4-way Women	FR	23.5 - 24.0 - 22.3 - 23.5 - 25.7	24.4
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	24.8 - 22.3	23.6
6	Qatar Tigers	QA	22.9 - 23.4	23.2
7	Echochamber	SE	21.1 - 21.1 - 21.5	21.2
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	20.8	20.8
9	Airspeed Odyssey	US	20.6	20.6
10	NFTO	UK	15.0 - 20.3 - 20.6 - 20.2	20.4
Click here for complete rankings

The Top 10 of 2019 together combined for a 22.5 average last year, compared to the Top 10 of 2018 who scored a 23.4 average all together. Even a few 19+ averages were enough to make it to the Top 10 in 2019.

U.S. teams dominate the Top 10 positions for the 2019 season and increased the 3-team presence in 2018 to five last year. Airspeed Odyssey (11th) and Ranch 2nd Generation (14th) barely missed the Top 10 and could have even added to the U.S. dominance, which was also demonstrated with the 4-way Open Class sweep at the FAI Outdoor World Cup.

The French Weembi Girls barely managed to maintain their presence as the only 4-way Women team in the Top 10.

SDC Rhythm XP and Qatar Tigers both benefited from the French focus on 8-way training and competition, and both left the French 4-way teams behind. The battle between SDC Rhythm XP and Qatar Tigers will probably become the most exciting part of the 2020 season, first at the Shamrock Showdown 2020, followed by the FAI World Meet in Tanay. Both teams are separated by an extremely thin 0.1 average point in the world rankings.

The German national team Oceanside AtomiX is the most improved team, even though they did not make the Top 10, after tying Airspeed Odyssey in 11th place. The Germans were 32nd in 2017 (17.0) and finished in 22nd place in 2018 with a 17.2 average. Now they moved up by 11 ranks to the 11th place. It will surely again require a 20+ average this year to make the Top 10.

The 2018 rankings were in perfect order compared to the results at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia. The 2019 order is at least reversed between the two U.S. top teams. Arizona Airspeed has the higher average than SDC Rhythm XP out of the two meets that both teams attended. Finally, and last but not least, Joey Who? will probably never compete again with this lineup, even though Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Joey Marshall are Airspeed team mates now...