posted Apr 10th, 2020 - One of the major events that fell victim to the corona virus crisis was the World Challenge at Twinwoods Adventure in Bedford. The biggest annual 4-way competition in the Formation Skydiving history was once again scheduled for the first weekend in April and then canceled in March when travel restrictions and other related domestic rules and regulations made it impossible to run the event.

The World Challenge has been offering world-class indoor competition year by year, and it was also the British indoor championship at the same time. Once again, this year's event was promising the next battle for the British 4-way indoor top spot between the same three teams who have been facing each other at the same event since 2017: NFTO - Chimera - Eros.

The internal British ranking between the same three teams has been the same throughout the whole 2019 season, even though the outdoor competition at the UK Nationals was a thriller with an 8-point difference between 1st and 3rd place. NFTO, Chimera and Eros then confirmed the same outdoor order at the FAI World Cup 2019 in Eloy.

Chimera had lost the British top spot to NFTO at the UK Nationals 2018, after finishing as the best British 4-way team at the World Challenge 2018. Before that, Chimera had been ahead of NFTO since the team was formed in 2016.

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World Challenge 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Weembi Unicorns	IN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Chimera	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Eros	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Ketchup ADV	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Jazz Republic	ZA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	Ayro	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Ballista	IE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Lola	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	XPerimental	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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NFTO and Chimera both increased their performance and scoring levels consistently, while the progression of the national team in 4-way Women was slightly better. Result was the change of the positions in this duel at the UK Nationals 2018.

However, Chimera did not only accept the challenge and continued with new plans and coach Niklas Hemlin, which could bring back the British top spot at some point in the near future. NFTO had defended this position successfully last year, even though Chimera moved significantly closer after NFTO's takeover at the national championship in 2018.

After the last meet with all three British top teams in Eloy, Eros competed at the Weembinamic 2019, and NFTO followed up with new team member Julia Swallow at the Wind Games in January 2020. Chimera used the winter season to train with new team member Will Cooke who replaces Chris Judd in the tail slot.

Chimera's second training camp with the new lineup in Empuriabrava, Spain, became the beginning of the impact of the corona virus crisis on 4-way training and competition. The team had already arrived at the wind tunnel in Empuriabrava, ready to train with NMP PCH HayaBusa member Andy Grauwels, when the facilities were shut down.

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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
12	ACM Weembi	UK	38	22	24	28	21	24	21	25	29	26	258	25.8
13	Gavroche Weembi	FR	38	27	23	26	21	25	14	27	28	23	252	25.2
14	Tenanine	MR	37	25	22	22	20	24	19	26	29	22	246	24.6
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	36	19	18	26	20	22	19	25	21	21	227	22.7
16	Eros	UK	27	21	22	24	19	23	17	24	27	21	225	22.5
17	Jazz Republic	ZA	29	22	18	23	19	20	18	24	23	22	218	21.8
18	Falco	BE	22	20	17	19	20	20	17	24	26	19	204	20.4
19	Blackjack	FI	24	20	17	23	19	19	15	21	22	18	198	19.8
20	Pajama Pumas	UK	27	21	16	21	19	19	16	21	20	17	197	19.7
21	Tempo	FI	26	18	18	23	18	19	15	21	20	18	196	19.6
22	Aladeen	HU	28	21	19	16	16	19	13	19	18	20	189	18.9
23	Alakran	ES	26	18	12	18	17	21	17	23	18	18	188	18.8
24	FlyPonots	FR	26	19	17	21	16	18	10	18	18	18	181	18.1
25	Nefertit	UK	24	18	16	18	15	16	13	20	17	16	173	17.3
26	Windobona Angels	ES	20	16	14	18	16	17	15	21	17	18	172	17.2
27	Ayro	BE	16	18	15	18	17	15	14	19	19	17	168	16.8
28	Koloncok	HU	21	16	13	19	14	16	15	19	18	16	167	16.7
29	Stardust	BE	21	15	12	17	16	16	11	18	17	13	156	15.6
30	Nova	CH	21	14	12	16	13	13	11	17	19	16	152	15.2
31	Barak	ES	25	19	17	21	16	19	14	19	0	0	150	15.0
32	Wood Fella’s	UK	17	13	10	16	13	13	11	17	19	13	142	14.2
33	Draconis	UK	16	13	12	13	12	15	10	15	13	15	134	13.4
34	Free Burds	IE	16	10	11	11	13	12	11	15	15	13	127	12.7

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Chimera were able to make two jumps at the drop zone in Empuriabrava and then had to travel back to Great Britain. They had spent the rest of the three days in Spain with "hiking, running, eating, swimming and cocktails". Back in Great Britain it was time to review the plans for the 2020 season.

Chimera had also scheduled indoor and outdoor training camps with Airspeed coach Niklas Hemlin. The indoor camps at Twinwoods Adventure had to be canceled first, and the trip to Skydive Arizona was the last and most recent part of the training plan for 2020 that could not be executed.

The review of Chimera's 2020 schedule after the trip to Spain concluded with an earlier switch as planned from indoor to outdoor training. The training camp with Niklas Hemlin in Eloy in March was a part of the adjusted plan.

Chimera is the British national team in 4-way Open for the FAI World Meet 2020, and the earlier focus on outdoor training would not be too painful, even if the World Challenge would have taken place as scheduled.

Then all indoor and outdoor training options eventually faded away with the implications of the corona virus crisis. All indoor and outdoor teams are currently in the same situation, and only time will tell when NFTO, Chimera and Eros will face each other again at a 4-way competition...

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UK Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		2,H,7	17,M,J,4	F,13,A,P	20,15,Q	10,21,1	12,22,C	9,E,11	D,K,L,8	O,18,B,16	6,5,19	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	21	22	28	17	15	15	18	18	20	19	193	19.3
2	Chimera	UK	20	20	26	15	15	13	22	20	17	19	187	18.7
3	Eros	UK	21	20	25	17	15	14	19	19	18	17	185	18.5
4	4mula	UK	19	18	24	16	14	14	19	18	18	15	175	17.5
5	Pajama Pumas	UK	16	17	19	12	11	11	16	16	14	12	144	14.4
6	H40	IE	13	15	17	13	11	10	14	16	11	11	131	13.1
7	Game of Clowns	UK	15	11	17	9	11	10	13	14	11	12	123	12.3
8	Quadriga	UK	13	14	17	7	10	11	14	14	5	11	116	11.6
9	Draconis	UK	11	12	16	8	10	8	16	11	11	11	114	11.4
10	Alola	UK	12	12	17	8	9	8	14	12	12	9	113	11.3
11	Team	UK	13	11	11	7	10	8	12	11	10	10	103	10.3
12	Barely Grown Ups	UK	12	11	14	8	0	8	9	9	0	0	71	7.1
13	Free Burds	IE	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	9	5	7	30	3.0

NFTO - Chimera - Eros at the UK Nationals 2019

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